It had been 15 years since the Yankees last popped champagne bottles and doused each other in beer to celebrate a World Series berth.
But then Juan Soto hit his go-ahead homer in the 10th inning Saturday in Game 5, Luke Weaver recorded the final three outs of his six-out appearance and the celebration began inside the Progressive Field clubhouse after the Yankees defeated the Guardians, 5-2.
Everything began when Soto held the ALCS trophy and the rest of the Yankees gathered around him, and as the outfielder — who’d later field pitches from teammates to stay in free agency, even if it takes, in Jazz Chisholm Jr.’s estimate, $700 million — slowly lifted the trophy into the air, the players around him started spraying champagne and jumping.
“This is a great feeling,” Soto told YES Network from the middle of the celebration. “I mean, we’ve been doing this since day one. … Man, we’re going all the way.”
The ALCS trophy remained at the center of everything.
Giancarlo Stanton subtly rocked it — in a reference to the Guardians’ Josh Naylor during the 2022 ALDS — at the start of an interview, and it was passed along from player to player throughout the celebration.
Anthony Rizzo attempted to dump an entire bottle of champagne over Gleyber Torres as he conducted a postgame interview.
Jasson Dominguez, who scored on Soto’s homer after pinch-running for Wells, tucked two bottles of Budweiser inside his goggles and baffled Gerrit Cole, prompting the Yankees’ ace, now likely lined up to start Game 1 of the World Series, to joke, “A Martian just walked by.”
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While the Yankees didn’t necessarily have the prop of the Mets’ playoff pumpkin or the anthem of Jose Iglesias’ “OMG,” Saturday night marked their fourth champagne-filled celebration of the season — with the first occurring in Seattle when they clinched a playoff spot, the second occurring inside Yankee Stadium after they secured the AL East title, another following their ALDS-clinching win at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City and the latest soaking the clubhouse inside the Guardians’ ballpark.
And they’ll have a chance to secure one more with four wins in the World Series, where they’ll face either the Dodgers or the Mets starting Friday.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
