With the Mets’ once-promising season abruptly ending Sunday night, the Yankees have the local baseball stage to themselves for as long as their quest of reaching the World Series for the first time since they captured the 27th championship in franchise history in 2009 stays alive.

A wild first game of AL division-series play — featuring Yordan Alvarez’s game-winning blast to complete the Astros’ comeback against the Mariners — was followed by a mostly businesslike 4-1 win by Gerrit Cole and the Yankees in their opener against the Guardians at the Stadium.

A few quick takeaways as we wait for Game 2 on Thursday night (weather permitting) in the Bronx:

• Cole has been prone to coughing up home runs all season, 33 to be exact, the most in the American League. And he tied the major-league record by allowing a homer in his seventh consecutive postseason start when Steven Kwan took him deep in the third inning for the first run of the game.