The Yankees’ best playoff moments of the decade

The 2010s have come and gone, and without a Yankees championship. However, we can still take this time to look back on the best moments the Bombers have had throughout the decade. The list is in chronological order and is not ranked in any particular way. Without further ado, let’s start in the 2012 ALDS.

2012 ALDS Game Three: Raul Ibanez ties—and later wins—the game for New York

With the series tied at one apiece, the Orioles entered the bottom of the ninth leading the Yankees 2-1 in Game Three. Baltimore’s closer Jim Johnson needed just three outs to put his team ahead in the series and have New York with their backs against the wall.

He would get the first out of the inning, then in stepped Raul Ibanez. Though the reason he even entered the game was thanks to a gutsy call made by manager Joe Girardi. He elected to pinch hit Ibanez for Alex Rodriguez, who was hitless in three at-bats with two strikeouts.

On the second pitch Ibanez saw from Johnson, he whacked it into the right-field seats for a game-tying home run. Two outs away from a loss, the Yankees had new life and Girardi’s bold move paid off. The two teams took the game into extras and into the 12th inning. Ibanez was due for his second at-bat of the game to lead off the bottom of the frame, and on the first pitch from Brian Matusz, Ibanez smashed a walkoff blast into the upper deck in right. He did it again and Yankee Stadium was rocking! New York would go on to win the series with the help of a complete game from CC Sabathia in the deciding Game Five, but would fall to the Tigers in the Championship Series.

2017 Wild Card Game: Didi Gregorius ties the game with a three-run shot

Even after winning 91 games in 2017, the Yankees found themselves in the Wild Card Game against the Minnesota Twins. Luis Severino started the for New York, which was the first playoff game of his career. It did not go well to say the least. He surrendered three runs and four hits in the first inning, including a leadoff homer by Brian Dozier and a two-run shot by Eddie Rosario which sent Sevy packing after getting just one out. Chad Green entered in relief and stopped the bleeding.

The top of the first inning deflated the crowd a bit, but by the time the bottom half was over, they were jumping and cheering again. Brett Gardner led off with a walk, followed by an Aaron Judge single into center. Didi Gregorius then stepped in and hit the biggest home run of his career. A three-run shot into the right field bleachers put the stadium in a frenzy. Some say that was the loudest the new Yankee Stadium has ever been. The Yankees went on to win the game 8-4 and faced the 102-win Cleveland Indians in the ALDS.

2017 ALDS Game Three: Yankees win 1-0 thanks to Greg Bird

After losing the first two games of the series and on the brink of elimination, the Yankees sent Masahiro Tanaka out to keep the team alive. He and Carlos Carrasco traded zeros for most of the game. Tanaka threw seven shutout innings while Carrasco hurled 5.2 shutout innings. Former Yankee Andrew Miller entered for the Indians in relief. He got the final out of the sixth inning, and came back out for the seventh to face Greg Bird with the game still tied at zero.

Miller left a fastball right over the plate for Bird to absolutely demolish. He bombed one into the upper deck in right field to give the Yankees a 1-0 lead, and that would eventually be the final in Game Three.

2017 ALDS Game Five: Didi Gregorius tags Corey Kluber twice in pivotal game

The Indians won Games One and Two, the Yankees won Games Three and Four. The winner of Game Five would advance to the ALCS. Cleveland’s ace and eventual Cy Young winner Corey Kluber took the ball for his team in hopes of sending them to the next round. However, Gregorius had other plans as he hit not one, but two home runs off of Kluber to propel the Yankees to a 5-2 victory.

2017 ALCS Game Four: Yankees rally in the eighth to take the lead

Down 2-1 in the series and 4-2 in the game, the Yankees needed to put runs on the board quickly. Todd Frazier started the inning off with a single, followed by a funky double by Chase Headley to put runners on second and third with no one out. Brett Gardner drove Frazier in with an RBI-groundout to cut the deficit to one. Aaron Judge followed by almost powering one into the left field seats, but instead it went off the top of the wall, but did drive in the tying run as Judge trotted in to second base. Gregorius followed with a soft groundball that got into the outfield, putting runners at the corners with one out. The inning was capped off with a clutch two-run double by Gary Sanchez to put the Yankees on top 6-4. That would be the final score in that game.

2018 Wild Card Game: Judge starts the scoring with a two-run blast in the first

The Yankees would end up having to play in their second-straight Wild Card Game, but this time they were the team to get on the board early. Andrew McCutchen led off the bottom of the first inning against the Oakland A’s with a walk. Judge followed up by crushing a no-doubter into the seats to put the Yankees up 2-0 early. New York would eventually win by the score of 7-2.

2019 ALCS Game Six: DJ LeMahieu ties the game in the ninth

With the Yankees trailing in the series 3-2 and just two outs away from elimination, the Astros put in their closer Roberto Osuna in an attempt send New York home packing. The Yankees had other things in mind though. Gio Urshela started the inning off with a single to bring up DJ LeMahieu as the tying run. Like he had all season, LeMahieu came up big and took Osuna deep to tie the game. It was one of the craziest moments in recent memory not only for the Yankees, but in all of baseball. Unfortunately for New York, the Astros would win the game in the bottom of the ninth, but that shouldn’t overshadow how big that home run was.