KANSAS CITY — With a chance to advance, the Yankees never had a doubt in their No. 1 starter. The Royals roughed Gerrit Cole up in Game 1 of the ALDS, as the reigning Cy Young winner allowed four runs (3 earned), seven hits and 11-hard-hit balls over five innings in the series-opener on Oct. 5. The Yankees squeaked by with a win that night, but the Royals seemed to have a read on Cole following a long layoff between the end of the regular season and his first October outing. Nevertheless, the Yankees had the utmost confidence in Cole taking the ball in Game 4 with a trip to the ALCS hanging in the balance. “He’s our ace,” Aaron Judge said after the Yankees took a 2-1 series lead on Wednesday. “That’s who we want on the mound in any big game for us.” Cole validated the captain’s faith on Thursday, shoving against the Royals for seven innings as the Yankees punched their ticket to the ALCS with a 3-1 victory in Kansas City. For Cole, it was his first postseason series-clinching win since joining the Yankees before the 2020 season. “It means a lot,” said Cole, who totaled six hits, zero walks, four strikeouts and 87 pitches. “It was a big game. It was a fun game. It was a great battle. Just a great battle. Fun to be part of.” The 34-year-old now has a 2.94 ERA over 19 postseason starts. “I thought Gerrit was great,” Aaron Boone said. “Really efficient again. I thought right from the jump, his fastball was really good, and he had the command of it. Then he was able to mix other things off of that.” Kansas City’s lone run off Cole came in the sixth inning when Vinnie Pasquantino doubled. The extra-base hit came after a benches-clearing skirmish earlier in the frame. That incident began when Yankees first baseman Jon Berti fielded a Michael Massey grounder. Berti quickly stepped on first for a force out before firing to second. The Royals’ Maikel Garcia, running with is back turned to the force out, then slid hard and late into Anthony Volpe thinking he had to break up a throw to first. Volpe reacted with a hard tag and a forearm to Garcia’s neck. “The stakes are high,” Volpe said. “Everyone’s playing hard. Everyone’s trying to win. They’re playing for their season.” Realizing the contact, Volpe quickly patted Garcia on the back, but things seemed to escalate when Garcia and Jazz Chisholm Jr., a target for Royals fans the last two games, began chirping. “I just felt like [Garcia] tried to go and injure Volpe because he was being a sore loser,” Chisholm said. “He was talking a lot on Instagram and Twitter and stuff. I do the same thing, but I’m not gonna go and try and injure somebody if they’re winning a game. And I didn’t like that, so I told him, ‘We don’t do that on this side,’ and I’m always gonna stick up for my guys.” Benches clear during Game 4 in Kansas City between the Royals and Yankees. pic.twitter.com/2tpU77IFPf — MLB (@MLB) October 11, 2024 Chisholm wasn’t the only Yankee who took exception to Garcia’s actions. “I don’t know what it was about,” Cole said, “but I didn’t like him coming after my shortstop.” Meanwhile, Boone said the play remined him of the “old school” Yankees-Royals rivalry, which peaked from 1976-1980 when the teams repeatedly met in the playoffs. Boone referenced Hal McRae’s famous take-out slide on Willie Randolph in Game 2 of the 1977 ALCS, a far more egregious play by today’s standards. “We just go back and show a little Hal McRae and Willie Randolph and we’ll all laugh at ourselves,” Boone said. No punches were thrown, but Kansas City reliever Angel Zerpa later stared down Gleyber Torres after a seventh-inning strikeout. Torres didn’t appear to notice. Cole then returned for the seventh. His inning and night ended with a scare, as Kyle Isbel took Cole 370 feet to the right field fence with a runner on base and the Yankees up two. Luckily for the Yankees, Juan Soto caught the deep flyball beneath windy conditions. As he did, Cole let out a fiery scream. “Skipper had guys warming up like 30 freakin’ pitches ago, so I had a feeling I was gonna get a hook,” Cole explained. “So I was proud of the way we competed, and I was holding my emotions in all night, so I just let them out there on the way with the boys going to the dugout.” GERRIT COLE pic.twitter.com/cLUrVEyzK2 — MLB (@MLB) October 11, 2024 Earlier, in the first inning, Soto started the scoring for the Yankees with an RBI single. Torres added one of his own in the fifth. Giancarlo Stanton, the Bombers’ Game 3 hero, then did the same in the sixth. “No one wants to be on the losing side of this,” Stanton said. “Imagine how K.C. feels right now. No one wants to feel that way, and we’re in an opportunity to keep it rolling.” Wednesday’s win came with some symbolism. Not only did the Yankees prolong their season, but they did so in the very spot that their 2023 campaign ended after they failed to make the playoffs a year ago. Judge, who caught the final out of Game 4 and went 1-for-2 with a double and two walks, said he thought about that coincidence all day on Thursday. “That stung,” he said. “A lot of guys stuck around. We were just staring at the field. Just a lot of what ifs and ‘what could we have done here?’ Guys made adjustments this offseason. Guys went out and put in the work, and to have our season keep moving on here is pretty awesome.” A year later, champagne showers, deafening music and joyous smiles replaced sorrow in the visiting clubhouse at Kauffman Stadium. Wednesday marked the Yankees’ third party of the past month, as they also celebrated after clinching a playoff berth and winning the American League East. Cole, fresh off a stellar outing, sprayed some bubbly and knocked back a few IPAs. As the Yankees’ party moved from the clubhouse to the field for a team photo, Cole found himself running late. As he hurried into the frame, his teammates forcefully chanted his name. “Ger-rit Cole,” the Yankees repeated over and over as they clapped. “Ger-rit Cole.” As Cole got closer, the group erupted before Judge popped a bottle. Gerrit Cole was late for the team photo. #Yankees pic.twitter.com/suNEf3sOLj — Gary Phillips (@GaryHPhillips) October 11, 2024 “This is the greatest,” Cole said. With the Yankees now returning to the ALCS — the point where their 2022 season ended — they are now awaiting the winner of the ALDS matchup between the Tigers and Guardians. Boone said the Yankees will enjoy watching those two teams play a Game 5 on Saturday, and that they’ll be ready for either. “Now we get to play for a pennant,” the manager said. No matter who the Yankees face, they will be considered favorites in the ALCS. They’ll have homefield advantage, as well as a little extra rest with Detroit and Cleveland still playing. With Game 1 of the ALCS set to take place at Yankee Stadium on Monday, Judge said “ghosts from the old stadium” are sparking some “magic” for the Yankees. “There’s something special here,” Judge said. However, he didn’t want to make any predictions with the Yankees still a few steps away from their first championship since 2009. “I’m not a good predictor,” he said. “I wish I was. But that’s what makes this team special: they live in the present moment. They go out there and try to do what they can on any given day. If we go out there and do that for the next I don’t know how many games, I think we’re going to be in a good spot.”