Saying Gerrit Cole was brilliant on Friday night would be an understatement. The ace of the New York Yankees gave everything he had against the Oakland Athletics, needing just 99 pitches to throw nine innings while allowing just one run and two hits.

Gerrit Cole tuned up for the postseason by holding the Athletics to one run in nine innings and Juan Soto came off the bench to hit an RBI double in the 10th, giving the New York Yankees a 4-2 win on Friday night in the opener of the final scheduled homestand ever in Oakland.

Given that the Yankees are currently three games ahead of the Baltimore Orioles in the AL East with 12 games to go for both teams, the Yankees would need at least nine wins/Orioles' losses in order to finish the regular season with the same record as Baltimore. However, in that scenario, it is very likely that Baltimore would hold the tiebreaker.

New York clinched a postseason berth thanks to Anthony Rizzo's go-ahead RBI double in the tenth inning. In the bottom of the tenth, Julio Rodríguez got picked off third when he strayed too far from the bag avoiding Randy Arozarena's bat after he lost it on a swinging strike three. Check it out:

The MLB playoff picture is coming into focus with the New York Yankees in the field after Wednesday's win over the Seattle Mariners. New York is the