CLEVELAND — Nothing has come easy for the Yankees this year, and their final step to claiming the franchise’s 41st American League pennant was no different.
But for the first time in 15 years, they are finally headed back to the World Series.
Who else but Juan Soto played hero, delivering a two-out, three-run home run in the top of the 10th inning to send the Yankees to a 5-2 win over the Guardians at Progressive Field that secured the American League pennant and punched their ticket to the Fall Classic.
A third straight tense, dramatic game was left up to the bullpens.
It was Soto, the Yankees’ offseason trade prize that changed their outlook coming into the year, who came through with the biggest swing in Game 5.
Luke Weaver, coming off his first career blown save in Game 3, nailed down the final three outs of a six-out effort to send the Yankees rushing onto the field for a wild celebration.
“We didn’t come here for this,” Aaron Judge said in the champagne-soaked clubhouse. “We came here for the ultimate prize.”
But the captain allowed himself to soak this in after coming up short in his first three trips to the ALCS, which built the scar tissue that stuck with him over the years.
“You make friends through good times, but adversity builds a family,” Judge said. “It builds that trust that we’re going to have each other’s backs in the good times and bad times, and that’s what we went through. We went through a lot. I know we won our division, but there were some tough times, we had to answer some tough questions. But those tough times build moments like this. It makes us who we are.”
Since their last World Series appearance in 2009, the Yankees had made it to the ALCS five times and lost all five, the past three of them to the Astros.
This time around, they were coming off a disaster of an 82-80 season, but they knocked off the Royals in the ALDS, fended off the pesky Guardians in the ALCS and will face the Dodgers or the Mets in the World Series beginning next Friday.
“We’ve had some great groups, some great camaraderie, some great clubhouses,” manager Aaron Boone said. “This group is as close as I’ve ever seen, and they trust each other. They lean on each other. They love each other. They play for each other. Those are special things to have in a team sport.”
Austin Wells got the rally started with one out in the 10th inning, drawing a full-count walk off Hunter Gaddis.
Alex Verdugo came up next and hit a potential double play ball to second base that Andres Gimenez flipped to second, but shortstop Brayan Rocchio dropped it, allowing both runners to be safe.
One out later, Soto got into a 1-1 count before fouling off four pitches then clobbering a 95 mph fastball at the top of the zone for a 402-foot homer.
“Since I got here, that was the mentality since spring training, that’s what we talked about since Day 1 that we wanted to be in the World Series and we want to go all the way,” Soto said. “Right now, we just took another step closer.”
ALCS MVP Giancarlo Stanton had tied the game 2-2 in the sixth inning with a booming 446-foot home run off Tanner Bibee, who had mostly cruised to that point after escaping a first-inning jam.
It marked Stanton’s fourth hit of the ALCS, but all four were home runs as the veteran DH’s October legend gained another chapter.
After Carlos Rodon lasted just 4 ²/₃ innings, the Yankees bullpen was forced to account for 16 outs after having to get 15 in each of the past two days.
On Saturday, that meant two outs from Mark Leiter Jr., four from a gutsy Tim Hill (who was pitching for the third straight day and the fifth time in the past six days) and four from Jake Cousins (all on strikeouts) to bridge the gap to Weaver in the ninth.
Along the way, Boone pulled all the right levers as the Yankees finally got over the hump.
“To get there doesn’t mean much,” Stanton said. “We need to win it.”