The Yankees needed a lot of cards to turn up their way Monday night to sneak into the postseason through the back door known as the AL wild card.
First they had to beat the Red Sox at Yankee Stadium. Then the Twins, Rangers and Angels all had to lose.
Thanks to Ivan Nova giving up two-run homers in the sixth and seventh innings, it didn’t matter what the other three clubs did because the Red Sox handed the Yankees a 5-1 loss in front of an announced crowd of 39,476.
Nova blanked the visitors through five frames but gave up a two-run homer to Travis Shaw with two outs in the sixth that erased a 1-0 Yankees lead, and a two-out, two-run homer to Jackie Bradley Jr.