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Yankees Lose, but Who Cares? Now Comes the Wild-Card Game

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A 91-71 regular-season record is enough to give the Yankees home-field advantage on Tuesday, when they will take on their favorite pushover — the Minnesota Twins.
The Yankees ’ 2017 regular season ended the way it began. With a loss.
Not that it really mattered, of course. The final play of their 2-1 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays on Sunday was a popout by Greg Bird, but few seemed to leave Yankee Stadium disappointed. And that is because there will be at least one more game at Yankee Stadium this year and, if things go right, perhaps a whole bunch more.
That is the benefit of the Yankees’ having captured the top American League wild-card berth, with a record of 91-71. It was a mark seven games better than their 2016 record and it was achieved by a younger, more athletic and decidedly less experienced roster than the one in place for much of last season.
The reward for this good work is a wild-card game on Tuesday against a visiting Minnesota Twins team that the Yankees have forever tormented in the postseason.
“I think our club is confident going into it,” Yankees Manager Joe Girardi said. And why wouldn’t the Yankees be?
Sunday’s regular-season finale had the air of a spring training game, with veterans pulled after one or two at-bats and little urgency on the field or in the stands.
Yankees starter Jordan Montgomery, who unexpectedly made the rotation after a strong spring training, worked five and one-third innings, allowing two hits and a fourth-inning run on a sacrifice fly by Jose Bautista.
The Yankees tied the game on a home run by designated hitter Matt Holliday in the seventh inning, but the Blue Jays regained the lead in the eighth inning without the benefit of a base hit.
It started when Rob Refsnyder, a former Yankee, struck out but reached first base safely after reliever Domingo German’s slider in the dirt got away from catcher Austin Romine. After German walked Ezequiel Carrera and both runners advanced on a sacrifice bunt, a soft grounder that traveled about 15 feet off the bat of Ryan Goins scored the winning run.
Aside from Holliday’s home run, his 19th of the season, the Yankees’ offense, which was without Aaron Judge, Gary Sanchez and Brett Gardner, was held in check by Blue Jays starter Brett Anderson, who had never beaten the Yankees in six previous starts.
But for the Yankees, this game was less about winning than it was about getting one more look at players who could make their postseason roster. The lightly used but speedy Tyler Wade could be carried as a pinch-runner, although he was thrown out trying to steal second in the fourth inning. The infield prospect Miguel Andujar, who had just one at-bat since being called up from Class AAA on Sept. 1, played the final seven innings in place of Todd Frazier at third, doubling in the seventh inning.
Girardi also wanted another look at reliever Adam Warren, who had been on the disabled list for the past four weeks with back spasms and had not appeared in a game since Sept. 1. Warren relieved Montgomery in the sixth inning and retired all three hitters he faced. Warren was followed by German, who took the loss, and Ben Heller, who pitched a 1-2-3 ninth inning.
After the third inning, the Yankees announced they would “significantly expand” the protective netting at Yankee Stadium and at George M. Steinbrenner Field, their spring training home in Tampa, Fla., for the 2018 season. The announcement, presented on the center-field message board, was met largely with indifference by the crowd, announced at 37,428.
Perhaps they had something else on their mind — the wild-card game on Tuesday night and potentially even more postseason games after that.

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