Yankees, Orioles announce rotations for possible AL East clinch at Yankee Stadium

The Yankees took care of a surprising amount of business this weekend considering they were entering a traditional house of horrors in Oakland (for the final time).

Entering the series, the Yankees had lost 26 of 39 games at the Coliseum since July 2012, their worst record in any park (by far) with a minimum of 10 games played. That's against varying degrees of Athletics, from "scrappy upstarts" to "bearded AL West contenders" to "straight-up tanking and stripped for parts." The Yankees lose to any and all of them in this ballpark.

But not this weekend. Gerrit Cole went nine innings, the bats came alive against old friend JP Sears, and Luke Weaver polished off two extremely impressive saves in a cathartic sweep. Combined with the Orioles' pair of dramatic losses to the Detroit Tigers, that whittled the Yankees' magic number for clinching the AL East alllllll the way down to one measly game. A single victory over the Orioles this week will get them what they want -- and, if disaster strikes, they'll still have three more chances to control their own destiny at home against the Pittsburgh Pirates to close the year.

With a second clinch celebration in a week hanging in the balance -- this one at home -- both the Yankees and O's will send out their top dogs for the three-game set.

Yankees announce rotation for potential AL East clinch with Orioles

Dean Kremer always befuddles the Yankees, and Clarke Schmidt will oppose him with a shot at redemption at stake, following a loss in the Hangover Game in Seattle. Nestor Cortes will get one final shot to prove he belongs in the postseason rotation against deadline addition Zach Eflin, and Corbin Burnes and Gerrit Cole will face off in an ace showdown in the finale, both coming off impressive bounce-back outings.

Just because the AL East clinch number is down to one (1) doesn't mean there isn't more at stake here, though. The Yankees have clinched a better record than the Astros, but their magic number to clinch the top seed and stay ahead of the No. 2 Guardians is down to three. A trio of victories/Guardians losses will lock in homefield advantage for the Yankees in the AL postseason; Cleveland has only five games remaining, while New York has six.

Regardless of how that settles, this'll be the first time the Yankees enter any postseason with homefield advantage over the Astros since the 2015 Wild Card Game. Hopefully, the Tigers knock them out in the Wild Card series and it doesn't matter anyway.