Yankees' Gerrit Cole does what an ace does to kick off AL East clinch celebration

After beginning the week with nine total chances to clinch the American League East (three games with the Orioles, three O's games in Minnesota, three Yankees showdowns with Pittsburgh), that number had been whittled down to seven opportunities entering Thursday's series finale.

The matchup was one for the aces: Baltimore's Corbin Burnes, the fire-breathing righty acquired this offseason in a package for not Spencer Jones, against Gerrit Cole, the AL East incumbent. Surely, they'd match wits and fastballs for a bit. Eventually, one would blink.

Spoiler alert? It was the guy who's new to the gauntlet.

A Giancarlo Stanton home run put the Yankees up 1-0, a lead Cole nursed all the way until the bottom of the sixth inning. That's when Burnes was removed from the game, still sitting under the 60-pitch mark. What was Brandon Hyde thinking? What was nagging his horse? Whatever the reason, the bullpen disintegrated in the bottom of the inning, allowing a bases-clearing double by Stanton and six additional runs.

Yankees clinch AL East division, powered by Gerrit Cole and Giancarlo Stanton vs. Orioles

In any other game, Stanton would be the well-deserved singular hero, and he deserves most of the focus of the first five paragraphs of this gilded recap. Aaron Judge, somehow, is a mere footnote after socking his 58th home run of the season, and fifth in five nights.

It was Cole who earned his keep in this finale, answering the bell so many times that the guy holding the bell told him he'd answered it enough and could take a break. When he needed to hold a 1-0 lead, he didn't relent for a second. When the lead expanded to 7-0, he didn't break stride, exiting only when the 100-pitch threshold had been broached and the job had been done.

In short, he wasn't just an ace tonight. He was the American League East's top-ranked ace. He responded forcefully once again to the "bad bad BAD" comments Jameson Taillon referenced after his nine innings in Oakland. And, notably, he ignited the champagne pops 24 hours after Alex Cora and the Red Sox were eliminated, put to sleep by the very same thing he brazenly claimed might wake them up.

Magic Number for the AL East: 0.

Magic Number to clinch the AL's top seed and avoid the Astros in the ALDS? Still two. Still work to do against Pittsburgh this weekend. But that's no reason not to celebrate tonight, and celebrate loud. Your ace went toe-to-toe with theirs in an effort to prevent things from getting a little hairy. He stared him down. And the other guy disappeared in a cloud of bubbles.

...........want to see some champagne videos? Of course you do.

Three more times would be nice. And deserved.

Austin Wells kinda beefed it, though.

We remember our first time.