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Yankees clinch 3rd playoff berth in 4 years on Hicks' walk-off hit

Mike Stobe / Getty Images Sport / Getty

Start spreading the news. October baseball is coming back to the Bronx.

The New York Yankees clinched their third playoff berth in the last four seasons on Saturday with a victory over the Baltimore Orioles and the Tampa Bay Rays' loss to the Toronto Blue Jays.

Aaron Hicks played hero for the Yankees, lacing an 11th-inning walk-off double that scored Didi Gregorius.

Hicks also homered in the second inning of the contest.

"It's awesome," said Hicks, according to MLB.com's Bryan Hoch. "That's the whole point of spring training, is to get to this point in the year where you're fighting for something and you get yourself in the postseason. That's what we're here for."

Saturday's win moved the Yankees 1 1/2 games up on the Oakland Athletics for home-field advantage in the AL wild-card game.

"Any time you get a chance to play in the postseason, it's a blessing," Aaron Judge said. "It's a lot of hard work all around, from top to bottom in this organization. But we're not done yet. We've still got a lot of work to do. This is just the first step. We've got to keep working and keep playing through October."

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