SEATTLE – A year ago, the New York Yankees were knocked out of playoff contention with a week to go in the regular season, ending a string of six straight postseason appearances.

Remembering what that was like made wrapping up a playoff berth with more than a week left this time around feel that much better to the Yankees.

“A lot of things have come together. Probably better health overall. Definitely an added focus for guys that were coming off tough years and simply put, we’re better. We weren’t a great team last year and this team has a chance to do something special,” New York manager Aaron Boone said.

After spending last year sitting at home when the postseason arrived, the Yankees wrapped up their place in the playoffs with a 2-1 win over the Seattle Mariners in 10 innings Wednesday night.

New York has the best record in the American League at 89-63 and leads second-place Baltimore by five games in the AL East with 10 to play. The latest victory ensured the Yankees at least a wild card.

It’s the 59th postseason appearance in franchise history, but the Yankees are still trying to end a World Series drought that dates back to 2009, when New York celebrated its 27th title.

Last year, the Yankees were hampered by an injury-riddled roster that was eliminated from playoff contention on Sept. 24. Before that, the Yankees hadn’t missed the postseason since 2016, when Aaron Judge had just 27 games of major league experience.

Now they’re headed back to the playoffs with Judge the MVP favorite in the American League, another hitting star in Juan Soto and a starting pitching staff that might have enough depth to carry the Yankees on a deep playoff run.

“(It’ll) definitely be exciting, especially after the season we had last year missing out on the postseason,” Judge said. “That’s what we came into the season to do, get into the postseason and give ourselves an opportunity to go out there and win a World Series. That’ll be step one, but we’ve got to get there first.”

The task over the final stretch is making sure that return to the playoffs includes going in as champions of the AL East. The recent slump by the Orioles has opened a gap in the division race and built perhaps enough of a cushion to take some of the drama away from next week’s three-game series between the teams in the Bronx.

But it only remains stress-free as long as the Yankees don’t stumble over the next few days. After closing out the series in Seattle on Thursday, the Yankees finish up their final trip with three games in Oakland.

They hope it’s the last time they have to be away from home for a while.

“Our goal is to win the division. That’s what we want to do,” Soto said. “We’re going to focus on that and try to finish the season strong.”

Soto is a big reason the Yankees are back in the playoffs and might end up with home-field advantage in the American League. While Judge is rightfully the favorite to win his second MVP in the past three seasons with 53 homers and 136 RBIs, the contributions from Soto have been equally important.

Soto reached the 40-homer mark for the first time in Tuesday’s series opener against the Mariners. It was also the 200th longball of his career, at just age 25 and heading into an offseason when he will be the top free agent. The duo will probably determine just how deep this Yankees playoff run goes.

“Getting a front-row seat this year, all year, watching him, watching him go about it, watching him day in and day out, just a great hitter,” Boone said.

___

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB