On Thursday night, the New York Yankees, after a season-long battle against the Baltimore Orioles for the AL East crown, have finally clinched the division title. And what better way to do so than to claim a victory against the Orioles, themselves, with the Yankees taking an emphatic 10-1 win over their division rival. There was a raucous celebration that took place among the Yankees players, and deservedly so, but they would know that the job is not finished.

Giancarlo Stanton, in fact, wants the Yankees to be in the driver's seat of their own World Series destiny. And that includes being the team that everyone must go through if they were to reach the mountaintop of the MLB.

“We better be [the team to beat in the playoffs.] That's the point,” Stanton said amid the Yankees' celebrations in the dugout, via SNY on X (formerly known as Twitter).

At present, the Yankees are in pole position when it comes to having home-field advantage in the American League. At 93-66, they have a one-game lead over the Cleveland Guardians for the best record in the AL. Regardless, the Yankees have shown that they can win wherever they are.

The Yankees have played better on the road than at home, surprisingly enough. They have gone just 43-35 in the friendly confines of Yankee Stadium, while they have been a stellar 50-31 away from home. Perhaps home-field advantage won't matter as much with regards to them being the team to beat come postseason time.

All season long, the Yankees have been one of the best teams in the MLB, and a strong finish to the season gives them a comfortable victory over the Orioles for the AL East crown in the end. But they would know that winning the division does not guarantee success in the postseason. In 2022, the Yankees were the AL East champion, but they fell to the Houston Astros in the ALCS.

But this Yankees team feels very much like it is primed to make it deeper to the playoffs than they have in recent years. They have impressive depth on both the hitting and pitching side of the ball, which makes it so that Giancarlo Stanton may not be too far off in his assertions.

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The Yankees will receive bye to the ALDS

The new postseason format, which has the two best teams in each league getting a bye to the Division Series, hasn't exactly been helpful to the top-seeded teams. In the NL, the two top-seeded teams in 2022 and 2023 exited in the DS, while the Orioles, as the best team in the AL last year, were swept by the eventual champion Texas Rangers.

Will this be a cause for concern for a Yankees team that's been riding some good momentum as of late? Perhaps. But it will all depend on which team they match up against in the ALDS.

It's looking likely that the Yankees line up alongside the Orioles' side of the Wild Card bracket. If the season were to end today, the Orioles will be facing the Detroit Tigers in the Wild Card series. The Yankees would very much prefer to see the Tigers in the ALDS, as they have gone 5-8 against Baltimore this season.

Nonetheless, if the Yankees truly are the team to beat, as Giancarlo Stanton wants them to be, then it should not matter which team they face on their way to a potential World Series title.