The Yankees’ 2018 season is going to come down to one game. Next week’s AL Wild Card Game will mark the third time in four seasons that the Yankees will have to play a single-elimination playoff to decide their fate. Most likely, that game will take place at Yankee Stadium, with the Yankees having won the first Wild Card.
The one-game playoff is difficult no matter what. Legends can be made and scapegoats born based on one great play or a single mistake. The stakes are high and the pressure is stifling. This was true when the Yankees were shut out by the Astros in 2015, and when they stormed pasted the Twins last year.