Yankees’ playoff run could be short if things don’t change soon

BUFFALO — Moving day rapidly approaches, and the Yankees look like they have neither started packing nor notified their utilities nor hired the crew to transport their considerable belongings.

They really need to get their act together, no?

The Yankees departed the Queen City, finally, as losers once more, 4-1 to the Blue Jays at Sahlen Field, giving them five losses in seven games here at this temporary Major League Baseball site and, more relevant, four losses in their past five contests overall.

“It’ll be good to get back home and get out of Buffalo,” Brett Gardner said, echoing what British soldiers surely said when they evacuated Fort Niagara in 1796.

This latest funk has turned the Yankees from likely wild-card-round hosts to likely visitors, meaning they’ll close out their regular season in The Bronx against the Marlins this weekend then probably hit the road for as long as their 2020 continues — which feels right now like it could be just a few days.

As things currently stand, they’d take on the White Sox at Guaranteed Rate Field (worst ballpark name ever) in Chicago for the wild-card round, though five different opponents (White Sox, Twins, Indians, Rays and A’s) remain possible.

That uncertainty aligns with this weird Yankees campaign within this weird MLB season. The Boone Bunch’s COVID-reduced journey can be broken into clear peaks and valleys: 16-6, then 5-15, then 10-0 and now 1-4 with just three games left.

“We obviously are going to have to play better if we’re going to advance in the postseason,” Aaron Boone said.

Predictably (and not altogether incorrectly), the Yankees’ manager classified this L as an upgrade of sorts, as they played a crisp game while Jordan Montgomery pitched very well in his regular-season farewell, striking out eight and walking none over 5 ¹/₃ innings while surrendering three runs. The offense, meanwhile, sputtered for a second straight night, though at least this time it carried the excuse of facing an All-Star in Hyun Jin Ryu — who further justified the Jays’ heavy investment in him by winning the game that clinched Toronto’s first playoff berth since 2016.

And when Boone raised eyebrows by pinch-hitting the erratic (to be kind) Gary Sanchez for Kyle Higashioka with the bases loaded and two outs in the eighth inning, Sanchez nearly rewarded his skipper by slamming a fly ball to deep center field, at 386 feet the longest-hit Yankees ball of the night, only to see Toronto center fielder Randal Grichuk snare it with a leaping grab at the wall.

“Hopefully [this] can springboard us into playing some clean baseball this weekend,” Boone said. “Hopefully get the bats going a little bit and head into the postseason.”

Sometimes selling the heck out of a loss actually works, like when the Yankees got edged by the Jays here, 2-1, on Sept. 8 — with Boone providing postgame encouragement — and then won their next 10. Spinning their road record of 11-18 positively comes as tougher when the entire postseason could be away from their friendly confines of Yankee Stadium.

“It is [a concern],” Gardner acknowledged. “We always seem to play well at home and obviously on the road is a little more of a challenge. Playing on the road and then heading out to the West Coast hopefully [for the American League Division Series and Championship Series, it’s] definitely something we have to turn the page and try to block out. Play our best baseball no matter where we’re at.”

What is these Yankees’ best baseball? They made it this far by feasting on bad teams like the Red Sox (9-1) and Orioles (7-3). They don’t own a winning record against any clubs competing into October.

They’re good enough to win it all, no doubt.

“We’re still staying positive,” Higashioka said.

They must get going positively, though, if they don’t want to be evicted from this tournament shortly after moving day.