NEW YORK (AP) — ed the playoffs the same way they played the regular season: They got hurt Carlos Ruiz Jersey , stood up and kept on going. Hicks doubled home the winning run in the 11th inning , just after a foul ball to an ankle sent him sprawling to the dirt face-first in pain, and the Yankees clinched an AL wild card for the second straight year with a 3-2 win over the Baltimore Orioles on Saturday.“It hurts. It’s going to be sore tomorrow, that’s for sure,” Hicks said after limping to his locker, his left ankle taped. “I think after I hit the ball, it was kind of all adrenaline.”Rookie manager Aaron Boone will lead the Yankees into the winner-take-all Oct. 3 wild-card game, most likely against Oakland. The Yankees are 1½ games ahead of the Athletics for home-field advantage and are 53-27 at home this season.New York acquired slugger Giancarlo Stanton from Miami during the offseason, and then boosted its offense with the early season call-ups of rookies Gleyber Torres and Miguel Andujar. Stanton will be in the playoffs for the first time following eight frustrating seasons with the Marlins.“There’s no feeling like it,” Stanton said after the Yankees celebrated with a bubbly spraying in their clubhouse, many wearing new “DEFEND THE BRONX” postseason T-shirts. “I’m going to enjoy tonight, enjoy this buzz and celebration, and just know we’ve got more work to do.”New York sprinted to a 54-27 record at this season’s halfway point and was ahead of Boston by percentage points in the quest for its first AL East title since 2012, but the Yankees slowed in the second half as Aaron Judge, Gary Sanchez, Gregorius and Aroldis Chapman got hurt. The Red Sox clinched their third straight division crown by beating New York on Thursday.Still, at 95-59 the Yankees matched their most wins since 2012 and equaled their season high of 36 games over .500. They will make their 54th postseason appearance — 21 more than any other team — and their 20th in 24 seasons.Boone replaced Joe Girardi last fall, having never managed at any level http://www.marinersfanproshop.com/authentic-edgar-martinez-jersey , tasked with leading the team to its first World Series title since 2009. He walked around the clubhouse during the celebration thanking each player individually.“Everyone in that room understands that we feel just as capable as any other team that’s going to have an opportunity to do something special,” said Boone , who set off a celebration at old Yankee Stadium with his pennant-winning homer against Boston in 2003.Chad Green, Chapman, Dellin Betances, Zach Britton, Jonathan Holder and Tommy Kahnle (2-0) each pitched a scoreless inning in relief of Lance Lynn. Holder escaped a second-and-third, no-outs, and bases-loaded, one-out jam in the 10th , helped by first baseman Luke Voit’s diving catch of a Chris Davis liner with the infield in.“I would imagine if we win big, we’ll look back and they’ll have played a huge role,” Boone said.Speaking in the afternoon, Boone called Hicks “one of the most underrated players in the game.”New York went ahead in the second inning against David Hess when Hicks hit his 26th home run and Voit hit his 11th in 32 games since he was acquired from St. Louis on July 29, a drive that hit the Toyota sign above the Yankees bullpen in right-center . Still learning about New York, Voit had trouble finding the D train on the subway to get to Yankee Stadium.“Man, this has been the craziest year in my life,” Voit said.Baltimore scored against Lynn when Cedric Mullins‘ tapper in front of the plate drove in a run in the third http://www.marinersfanproshop.com/authentic-edgar-martinez-jersey , and DJ Stewart singled in the tying run in the fifth . Lynn got out of bases-loaded trouble in the fifth when Adam Jones grounded into a forceout.Tampa Bay lost at Toronto as the ninth inning was about to start in the Bronx, putting the Yankees in position to clinch with a win. New York finally broke through after Gregorius singled off Paul Fry (0-2) starting the 11th.Stanton struck out, and the foul ball off Hicks’ foot caused a two-minute delay. Hicks took a ball and then lined a low, inside slider down the left-field line.Gregorius sped around the bases as left fielder John Andreoli picked up the ball by the wall, and Gregorius slid in headfirst ahead of shortstop Jonathan Villar’s relay throw and spread his arms wide. Hicks said X-rays on the ankle were negative — but his necklace was cut in half during the celebration.Now the Yankees will try to stay ahead of the A’s and host the wild card.“You got to come to this jungle here or us fly cross-country and go spend a couple days on the West Coast?” Stanton said. “I think we’d prefer to be here.”Judge, a veteran of last October’s run, kept the day in perspective .“Enjoy it. Soak it up,” he said. “But we’ve still got four more celebrations to go.”SINKINGBaltimore dropped to 44-110, one shy of the franchise record for losses set by the 1939 St. Louis Browns. The Orioles entered 60½ games out of first place and are assured of next year’s top pick in the amateur draft.Steve Wilkerson was thrown out at the plate twice, by Torres after the second baseman retrieved Sanchez’s errant throw and by Judge on Caleb Joseph’s single to right in the fifth . Wilkerson threw out Torres trying to score from third on Andrew McCutchen’s seventh-inning grounder to third.“We’re not in the playoff hunt, but it gives you a little experience of what the atmosphere is like,” Fry said. “Everyone’s against you.”STRUGGLINGA day after the Yankees said the struggling Sanchez would be their postseason starter, he allowed his major league-leading 15th passed ball — he tied for the high last year with 16. He also made his sixth error.TRAINER’S ROOMOrioles: RHP Andrew Cashner remains bothered by pain in his left knee. … RHP Hunter Harvey is to have his sore elbow examined Monday, according to manager Buck Showalter.UP NEXTLHP J.A. Happ (6-0, 2.39 ERA with the Yankees; 16-6, 3.62 overall) starts Sunday’s home regular-season finale and is lined up to start the wild-card game. RHP Alex Cobb (5-15) starts for the Orioles. He’s still pretty good."The free agent market has been painfully slow during this baseball offseason. MLB clubs will begin reporting to Spring Training next week, and yet more than 100 free agents remain unsigned and searching for homes in 2019. Some players may be feeling pressure to simply take the best offer presented to them rather than continue to wait for a team to pay them what they’re worth; for example, earlier today Jay Buhner Jersey , Curtis Granderson accepted a minor-league deal and a Spring Training invite with the bottom-dwelling Marlins, coming off a season in which he posted a 116 wRC+ and 13 home runs in 403 plate appearances.With that in mind, the Milwaukee Brewers are reportedly among the teams who remain interested in left-handed starter Gio Gonzalez:Gonzalez, as you’ll surely remember, finished last season with Milwaukee after arriving in a waiver trade with Washington on August 31st. He arrived ready to pitch “whenever they give me the ball” in what he called “an opportunity of a lifetime” and provided a shot in the arm to a starting rotation that desperately needed it during the final month of the season, posting a 2.13 ERA in five starts and 25.1 innings to help the Brewers capture an NL Central title. He would make two starts in the playoffs, leading a bullpen day in NLCS game one and taking the mound again in game four before exiting after one inning with an ankle injury that ended his postseason. Gio became a free agent for the first time in his career following the conclusion of the season.Now 33, Gonzalez has been one of the better left-handed pitchers over the last decade-plus and is the owner of a 3.69 ERA across 1,814 MLB innings and has generated between 29 and 35 wins above replacement (depending on one’s preferred metric). A pillar of durability, he’s made at least 31 starts in eight of the last nine years (and 27 in the other). The southpaw is, however, coming off his second campaign with a 4.00+ earned run average in the last three years. But while Gonzalez may no longer be the All-Star starter he was in his prime, the underlying metrics - especially after his trade to Milwaukee - suggest that he is still an above-average big league hurler.Gonzalez has never had the best control, and though his 4.21 BB/9 last season was the worst total he’s overall since 2011, it isn’t all that far off from his career rate of 3.77 BB/9 and his zone rate was right in line with where it’s been going back to 2015. His fastball doesn’t have quite as much zip on it as in his heyday, but his 90.7 MPH average velocity last year was actually up a tick from 2017. Gio’s overall 7.79 K/9 rate was below his career average, but his 9.5% swinging strike rate was above his career average. His 31.7% rate of hard contact allowed was well below the league average and the 17th-lowest among qualified starters. As usual, he did well suppressing homers Denard Span Jersey , allowing 0.89 per nine innings. DeservedRun Averaged viewed his overall body of work as 7% more effective than the league-average pitcher in 2018 (93 DRA-).Milwaukee’s coaches, scouts, and analysts made some alterations to Gio’s approach upon his arrival, slicing his sinker and curveball usage while upping his four-seam and changeup. It’s a small sample, but Gonzalez’s swinging-strike rate jumped up to 11.4%, his walk rate fell to 3.55 BB/9, and his DRA- was an ace-like 73 during those five memorable regular season starts.Gio Gonzalez remains not only viable, but a better-than-average MLB starting pitcher. At worst, he should be a durable innings-eater providing stability and certainty to the back end of the rotation. At best, the improvements he made down the stretch with Milwaukee stick and he turns in yet another All-Star caliber season. We don’t know exactly just how much he and his agent are seeking in a contract for 2019. But, if all it’s going to take is something like a one-year deal for $3 mil or less, or possibly even a minor league deal with a camp invite, why shouldn’t the Brewers sign Gio Gonzalez?Statistics courtesy of Baseball Prospectus and Fangraphs