As far as closing arguments go, Aaron Judge is certainly making a convincing one.
The Yankees are trying to do the same, though they will still need an 11th-hour injunction Sunday to stop the Blue Jays from winning the division.
Judge did his part while padding his AL MVP case and all but clinching the batting title, clubbing his 53rd home run and driving in three runs on the way to the Yankees’ seventh straight win, 6-1 over the Orioles on Saturday afternoon in The Bronx.
But north of the border later Saturday, the Blue Jays beat the Rays once again, meaning the AL East will come down to Sunday and Game 162 to determine the winner. The Yankees (93-68) and Blue Jays are tied, though with Toronto owning the tiebreaker, Aaron Boone’s club will have to finish a game ahead to secure a second straight division title and a bye into the ALDS.
If the Yankees beat the Orioles on Sunday and the Blue Jays lose to the Rays, the Yankees will be division champs. Any other combination and the Yankees will play Game 1 of the wild-card series Tuesday in The Bronx.
“Kind of crazy,” Boone said. “One-hundred and sixty-two games, and … it’s going to come down to that last day. That’s baseball, Suzyn. That’s the beauty of our sport. For those of us … and fans that live and die with their teams all summer long, it should make for an exciting day.”
Such a scenario evokes numerous games over the summer that the Yankees let slip away, which could have been the difference as they entered Sunday an MLB-best 33-14 since Aug. 6. But Boone insisted they were not spending much time thinking about that, instead focusing on Sunday’s game with Luis Gil on the mound and then what might come next after that.
“I wish we had a nice little cushion, a nice little lead in the division, but we’ll take it either way,” Judge said. “If it’s playing a wild-card [game] or playing a division [series], I think either will be fine. But I know the boys in here definitely want that division.”
Cam Schlittler kept that possibility alive by putting the finishing touches on his own case to be the club’s third starter in October, tossing a career-high seven shutout innings. The rookie struck out a career-best nine while scattering two hits, two hit-by-pitches and one walk. He will be on regular rest to start Game 3 of a potential wild-card series on Thursday, if needed, or an ALDS game should the Yankees get there.
Judge, meanwhile, finished the day batting .331 — which will almost certainly earn him the batting title — to go with a 1.149 OPS, numbers that dwarf the competition. He will become only the third player in MLB history to hit 50-plus home runs while winning the batting title. The only thing standing between Judge and a third MVP is Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh, who had hit 60 homers entering Saturday.
“The guy can do it all,” said Ryan McMahon, who joined Judge and Giancarlo Stanton in drilling a solo shot off Orioles right-hander Tomoyuki Sugano. “I think it’s a no-doubt MVP.”
Aside from the Blue Jays’ score, the Yankees’ only cause for concern Saturday was Jazz Chisholm Jr. leaving the game in the fifth inning after getting drilled on the left forearm by a 97-mph sinker. But X-rays and a CT scan were negative, offering hope the Yankees may have avoided the worst.
Judge gave Schlittler some early run support by blasting a home run in the bottom of the first inning off Sugano, his fourth in his last four games and 10th in his last 18 games. He later added a two-run single in the fifth inning to make it a 5-0 game.
Over his last 29 games, Judge is hitting .379 with a 1.362 OPS.
At this rate, the Yankees might take the playoffs beginning Tuesday so their captain does not have any time to cool off. The same goes for Stanton, who crushed a 427-foot shot Saturday after drilling a pair of homers Friday night.
“I definitely like where they’re at, how they’re playing,” Boone said. “How they’re swinging the bat. Those two guys are game-changers, obviously.”
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