With both the Yankees and Mets heading to the LCS, expect “a fun time in New York.”

KANSAS CITY — It was just an innuendo, it was too early in October to include the clip in history. But it's a familiar and reassuring image that has preceded the champagne before: With two outs in the bottom of the ninth, a New York Yankees centerfielder in a gray uniform slides to his right to chase down a fly ball, then pushes it, to end a postseason series.

Two dozen years ago it was Bernie Williams at Shea Stadium. This time it was Aaron Judge in Kansas City who grabbed a routine fly from Yuli Gurriel, held out his fist and pointed to the sky. Let's move on.

Get ready for chicken buckets in the Bronx!

The @Yankees go back to the #ALCS!

(MLB x @BudweiserUSA) #CLOSED pic.twitter.com/JrFHzavHIF

– MLB (@MLB) October 11, 2024

The Yankees defeated the Kansas City Royals 3-1 on the scoreboard in Game 4 on Thursday and 3-1 in games in this American League Division Series. They are the second MLB team to receive an invitation to the league championship series, and yes, they know the other one: the New York Mets.

“It's definitely going to be a fun time in New York, man,” Judge said after the usual boozy celebration in the visitors' clubhouse. “They are having a great season and it will be fun to look forward to competing against them again later.”

For the Yankees and Mets, these roads rarely converge this time of year. In the LCS's 55 seasons, this will be only the third to feature both the Yankees and Mets. You may remember the others: 1999, when only the Yankees won, and 2000, when New York City had the World Series all to itself.

The Mets and Yankees met in five thrillers, each decided by one or two runs. The series was simply delicious until the waiter took your plate too early. When Williams caught Mike Piazza's push to close out Game 5, fans were hungry for more.

We're still hungry — at least in New York, where the World Series seemed like a birthright in the years before expansion. From Game 1 in 1949 to Game 2 in 1957, 44 of a possible 48 World Series games took place in New York. It couldn't have been much fun for the rest of the country, but in the land of the Yankees, Giants and Dodgers it must have been a joy.

Lately, the World Series has largely been held elsewhere: 80 of the last 83 games have been played outside of New York, since the Yankees' last championship in 2009. The Mets reached the World Series in 2015, but the Yankees lost it last five appearances in the ALCS, three of them with Judge at center.

“It means everything,” Judge said of this latest opportunity. “We haven’t secured a pennant since I’ve been here with the Yankees. The group we have, how special this is – I'm just excited for this opportunity. It will be special.”

The Yankees' last division series win was a tumultuous, wet mess: five games in eight grueling days against Cleveland in 2022. They had no days off before a series with the Houston Astros, then the defending AL champions, that had three days left had to rest and rolled into a swing.

This time the Yankees will be rested, their opponent will be in a hurry. By winning here on Thursday, the Yankees earned a three-day break before Monday's Game 1 in the Bronx against the Guardians or Tigers, who will play their ALDS on Saturday in Cleveland.

“We limped in a little bit in 2222,” manager Aaron Boone said, recalling the season-ending injuries and punishing divisional series. “I remember arriving in Houston in the middle of the night – no excuses, but I feel like we're in a better place right now, just from a roster and health perspective.

“But when we get to that point we’ll only be in the last four. Everyone is pretty happy with their teams. That’s the case for me.”

The Yankees do what good teams should do in October: protect late leads, play solid defense and wear down the other team's pitchers. The bullpen pitched 15 2/3 scoreless innings against Kansas City, inexperienced first basemen Jon Berti and Oswaldo Cabrera played error-free and the Yankees' hitters drew 27 walks – with just 28 strikeouts – against a Royals squad that prided itself on its control .

“The way the entire lineup was able to work on the at-bats, get the pitchers going and get the next guy up,” catcher Austin Wells said. “That’s what we’re trying to do here, so I think we’ve done a really good job.”

The Yankees have never trailed by two games here, but last Saturday's opener was the first postseason game ever with five lead changes. The Yankees prevailed that night, and Judge cited that when asked what makes him most optimistic right now.

“I think it goes back to the first game,” he said. “We experienced a lot of adversity in the regular season, a lot of ups and downs, a lot of hard times, a lot of good times. It was huge for us to have the best record in the AL and then we go to the first game where they beat us, we beat them, they beat us back and we take the lead back. Just a lot of back and forth, and that will happen in the postseason.

“You watched the postseason and saw what happened. Just a lot of leadership changes and who can keep hitting when you're beaten? These guys have a lot to fight for. Just never give up.”

The same goes for the Mets, who had comeback wins in their crucial postseason tournament in Atlanta, both first-round wins in Milwaukee and two of their NLDS wins against the Phillies.

The Yankees aren't surprised. They revere Mets manager Carlos Mendoza, who coached Boone's team for six seasons before switching districts last fall.

“I knew he was fully up for the job,” Boone said. “I’m good with people. He is obviously bilingual and can communicate very well with anyone. You see what a good guy he is and you also see his intelligence. So he’s just crazy.”

Imagine a World Series featuring Boone and a protégé; the Steinbrenners and the Cohens; the local thugs (Judge and Pete Alonso); the imports that seem made for New York (Juan Soto and Francisco Lindor); the Bleacher creatures and this Grimace creature.

Okay, we don't even know exactly the LCS matchups yet. Four other teams are also keen to storm the stage at the end of October. But right now — for a New York minute, you might say — the Mets and Yankees are the only ones who know they'll be playing for the pennant.

A Subway series? They could make it there in 2024.

Brendan Kuty of The Athletic contributed to this story.
(Top photo of Francisco Lindor and Juan Soto in July: Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)