The Yankees defeated the Guardians, 8-6, in Game 4 to take a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series, and they can clinch a World Series berth with a win Saturday.
Now the two teams meet again for Game 5 at Progressive Field.
Carlos Rodon draws the start for the Bronx Bombers against Tanner Bibee of the Guardians.
Will the Yankees get the best of Cleveland and make their first World Series since 2009, or will extend the series another game?
Follow The Post’s live updates for the latest score, news and highlights.
Juan Soto did his part to send the Yankees to the World Series.
And Yankees fans did their part in persuading him to stay in New York past this season.
After the Bronx Bombers slugger cranked a three-run homer that proved to be the series-winner in ALCS Game 5 on Saturday night, Yankees diehards at Cleveland’s Progressive Field made themselves loud in clear with how they feel about Soto.
Amid all the revelry on the field — with new hats, shirts and smiles on the Yankees — supporters in the crowd were loudly heard chanting “Re-sign Soto!”
CLEVELAND — Three relief pitchers that barely figured into the Yankees’ plans when spring training ended helped punch their ticket to the World Series.
CLEVELAND — Giancarlo Stanton didn’t have the game-winning homer this time, but he added to his October legacy with another mammoth home run in Game 5 of the ALCS, which the Yankees won 5-2 in 10 innings that sent them back to the World Series.
Prior to that, though, the Yankees once again relied on Stanton — who was named ALCS MVP during the ceremony postgame — to provide the offense in an October game, as he hit his fourth homer of the series, a two-run shot with two outs in the top of the sixth inning that tied the game at 2-2.
CLEVELAND — Nothing has come easy for the Yankees this year.
But for the first time in 15 years, they are finally headed back to the World Series.
The New York Yankees celebrate their AL pennant on the field in Cleveland. Jason Szenes / New York Post
The Yankees celebrate on the mound as they move on to the World Series. Charles Wenzelberg/New York Post
Who else but Juan Soto played hero, delivering a two-out, three-run home run in the top of the 10th inning to send the Yankees to a 5-2 win over the Guardians that secured the American League pennant and punched their ticket to the Fall Classic.
CLEVELAND — It was the whole point of the trade. It was the reason the Yankees gave what the Padres needed to make it happen.
Because last year was a non-playoff embarrassment for the Yankees. And 14 years without a pennant was a pinstriped eternity. So it took Michael King and a good prospect named Drew Thorpe and three other pieces plus a $31 million contract, and the knowledge that with all that, the Yankees were guaranteed only one year of Juan Soto, but that is what was necessary.
They would worry about 2025 and thereafter when the season was done. The key was that their season end in the World Series.
For the first time since 2009, the Yankees are heading to the World Series.
Luke Weaver recorded the final three outs in the 10th — completing a six-out outing in a postseason where he has pitched in all but one game — to make Juan Soto’s three-run homer in the 10th inning the difference in the Yankees’ 5-2 win that ended the ALCS after five games.
They’ll face the winner of the Dodgers and the Mets next week.
The moment captured everything the Yankees wanted out of Juan Soto when they acquired him in the winter. It captured everything they’d want out of Soto for years to come, if they can win his sweepstakes once free agency arrives. There are plenty of reasons why Brian Cashman traded for Soto, and his ability to meet the moment — and do it over and over and over again — remains near the top of the list.
His latest home run — with two outs and two strikes and two runners on base in the 10th inning of Game 5 — inched the Yankees closer to having a World Series berth before any offseason decisions are made and $600 million contracts are signed.
Soto crushed a pitch from Hunter Gaddis over the centerfield fence, giving the Yankees a 5-2 lead and scoring Jasson Dominguez and Alex Verdugo.
Emmanuel Clase did his job for the Guardians, and now Cleveland will have a chance to walk it off in the ninth and extend its season.
He got Aaron Judge to fly out. He struck out Giancarlo Stanton in his first at-bat since tying the game with a home run in the sixth. And after Jazz Chisholm Jr. singled, Oswaldo Cabrera grounded right to Brayan Rocchio — positioned perfectly by second base, with Chisholm stealing on the pitch — for the force out that ended the frame.
