NEW YORK _ There is pressure, and then there is what the Yankees faced going into Wednesday night's wild-card game in the Bronx.
Must-win doesn't begin to describe the situation. Do-or-die? That felt more accurate. And we're not merely talking about getting past the A's to stay alive in October.
A year after advancing to within one game of the World Series _ well ahead of schedule, we might add _ these Yankees were built to go one step farther, and the possibility of being knocked out by Oakland was too grim to even consider. Unacceptable, really.
And the Yankees made sure failure was not an option Wednesday, eventually rolling to a 7-2 victory. They started with Aaron Judge's two-run homer in the first inning and wrapped it up with another Luke Voit Experience as they took a 6-0 lead in the sixth. Voit drove in two runs with a double off the top of the right-field wall and scored _ chains bouncing, jersey lapels flapping _ on Didi Gregorius' sacrifice fly.
In between, Luis Severino exorcised last year's demons with four-plus scoreless innings, striking out seven. Dellin Betances appeared in the fifth _ bullpenning! _ to strand two and retire six straight, punctuating his night with a nifty shimmy-shake off the mound.
When you've won 27 championships, and spent close to $190 million, you're not supposed to lose wild-card games. Sounds pompous to say, but these are the Yankees, and that mindset is as anchored to the Bronx as the Macombs Dam Bridge.
It also helps when the A's and Twins _ last year's wild-card victim _ keep showing up at your door, two teams that basically exist as October speed bumps for the Yankees on the road to greater things. The Yankees have now eliminated the A's in all four of their playoff meetings, with a 10-4 record overall. It's automatic this time of year. Like the leaves turning and the arrival of pumpkin-flavored everything.
Then again, these Yankees were constructed with bigger goals in mind, and putting the small-market A's in their place was step one toward vindicating some of Brian Cashman's bolder moves _ namely hiring Aaron Boone and trading for Giancarlo Stanton, who tacked on another spectacular homer Wednesday night.
Dumping a proven manager like Joe Girardi and replacing him with a former player from the ESPN broadcast booth was a radical decision, then Cashman doubled down on this year's team by acquiring Stanton _ and absorbing his $265-million salary through 2027.
Cashman pushed his chips to the center of the table. All-in, but not for a 100-win season, or simply qualifying for a wild-card berth. This was done with a World Series in mind, or at least an epic October battle or two.
Losing a wild-card game? To the A's? Indefensible.
Believing that, I asked Boone before Wednesday's game if this one night in the Bronx would instantly define whether 2018 was a success or failure for these Yankees.
"You know what, I leave that to you guys," Boone said. "I'm consumed with this. I feel like we're prepared and ready as we can be. And hopefully we'll go out and put our best foot forward and take care of business and move on.
"But as far as judging what all this means, you know, I didn't get it into it for that. That's for you guys, respectfully."
In the past, when not staring at elimination, Boone has maintained that the World Series is always the Yankees' singular goal. That's what every Yankees manager is expected to do. It's the script that's been handed down, generation by generation, since Miller Huggins. In most cases, a manager like Boone would get a pass in his rookie year, especially because he had never done this before, at any level.
But not this season, when there was no time for growing pains _ and no acclimation period for Stanton, who heard boos for weeks in the Bronx. Patience doesn't wear pinstripes, and Stanton knows the Yankees didn't pick up his tab for a one-and-done.
"Now it's a brand new start," Stanton said on the eve of his first playoff game. "And we've just got to show up."
Stanton's right. The Yankees are loaded, bolstered by the late-season acquisitions of Voit and Andrew McCutchen, and also were able to heal up during the last few weeks. That was bad news for the A's, and could be trouble for an old friend come Friday in the Division Series.
No wonder the "We Want Boston" chants stirred to life in the sixth inning. The anxiety in the Bronx was over. Everybody had moved on to what's next.
