Teams arranged in alphabetical order by geographic identifier.
Clearly, this was made between 2013,
the Houston Astros' 1st season as an AL team;
and before 2021, the last season before the Cleveland Indians
became the Cleveland Guardians.
There are arranged in chronological order:
* Detroit Tigers: September 3, 1961, Yankee Stadium I. Regular Season. The Tigers ended up winning 101 games, but the Yankees won 109. This turned out to be the pivotal game in the Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle "M&M Boys" season. The Yankees led 4-1 after 5 innings, but the Tigers led 5-4 going to the bottom of the 9th.
Mantle led off the inning with a game-tying home run. Yogi Berra singled. Luis Arroyo, the team's top reliever, sacrificed Yogi over to 2nd. With 1st base opened, Moose Skowron was intentionally walked. Clete Boyer hit a screaming liner to right field, but Al Kaline caught it. Elston Howard blasted a drive to left field, for a walkoff home run. Yankees 8, Tigers 5.
* Kansas City Royals: October 14, 1976, Yankee Stadium I. ALCS Game 5. The Yankees led 6-3 going into the top of the 8th, but George Brett tied the game with a home run. Nevertheless, Chris Chambliss led off the bottom of the 9th with a home run, giving the Yankees the game, 7-6, and the Pennant.
* Chicago White Sox: April 13, 1978, at Yankee Stadium I. Home Opening Day. Selecting a game for the White Sox was tough, because they are 1 of 2 teams in the American League that the Yankees have never played in the Playoffs. The other is the Toronto Blue Jays.
This was the Reggie Bar Game. Reggie Jackson had once said, "If I played in New York, they'd name a candy bar after me." Once he hit 3 home runs in the clinching game of the 1977 World Series, it became a certainty. Before the Yankees' 1978 home opener, each of the 44,667 fans coming in got a free Reggie Bar. (It wasn't a "bar": It was, more or less, round.)
The Yankees won, 4-2. The game was decided in the 1st inning. Cliché Alert: Walks can kill you, especially the leadoff variety. Wilbur Wood, the Pale Hose's aging knuckleballer, started the home half of the game by walking Willie Randolph. Mickey Rivers singled him over to 2nd base. Wood struck out Thurman Munson. Up next was Reggie, and he crushed one to right field for a 3-0 lead. That would be all Ron Guidry would need, leading to the greatest season any pitcher has ever had.
* Boston Red Sox: October 2, 1978, Fenway Park. AL Eastern Division Playoff. You know this story: It's the Bucky Dent Game. Yankees 5, Red Sox 4.
* Milwaukee Brewers: October 11, 1981, Yankee Stadium I. ALDS Game 5. This series was forced by the setup after the Strike of '81. The Yankees won the 1st 2 games in Milwaukee, while the Brewers won the next 2 in The Bronx. George Steinbrenner walked into the Yankee locker room after Game 4, and ripped into them, until catcher Rick Cerone stood up and cursed him out in front of everyone.
That was the spark the Yankees needed. Trailing 2-0 in the bottom of the 4th, the Yankees scored 4 runs, including back-to-back homers by Reggie Jackson and Oscar Gamble. Cerone himself homered in the 7th. I wonder if George forgave him. Yankees 7, Brewers 3. Note that the Brewers were moved to the National League in 1998.
* Toronto Blue Jays: October 4, 1985, at Exhibition Stadium, Toronto. Next-to-last game of regular season. The Yankees needed to win the last 3 games against the Jays, in Toronto, to force a Playoff for the AL East title. The Jays took a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the 8th. In the 9th, Jays reliever Tom Henke, known as "The Exterminator," got the 1st 2 outs.
But Butch Wynegar, a good defensive catcher but not known for his power, hit one out over the right field fence, bouncing on the artificial turf of the stadium's football field, and tying the game. This was followed by a single by Bobby Meacham, a walk by Rickey Henderson, and Jays center field Lloyd Moseby dropping what should have been the 3rd out, hit by Don Mattingly, giving the Yankees a 4-3 win.
Seeing this Friday night game, I thought the Yankees just might pull it off. But they lost the Saturday game, and the Jays clinched. So, while "The Butch Wynegar Game" is the greatest Yanks-Jays game played to date, it ended up not being especially significant.
* Seattle Mariners: October 4, 1995, at Yankee Stadium I. ALDS Game 2. This game began at 8:10 PM, and ended at 1:22 AM. In between, the Mariners led 1-0 in the 3rd and 2-1 in the 6th, the Yankees led 3-2 after the 6th, the Mariners led 4-3 in the 7th, the Yankees tied it in the 7th, and each team scored in the 12th.
The Mariners got home runs from Ken Griffey Jr. (no surprise) and Vince Coleman (big surprise, as he was better known for stealing bases). The Yankees got back-to-back home runs from Ruben Sierra and Don Mattingly, and on the latter, ABC announcer Gary Thorne yelled, "Oh, hang onto the roof!" Yankee Stadium had no roof after its 1976 renovation, but if it still had one, the fans would have blown it off. Paul O'Neill tied it with a home run in the 7th.
In the bottom of the 15th, with rain coming down and putting the rest of the game in doubt, Jim Leyritz assured that there would be no rest of the game, with an opposite-field home run. Lost in all the excitement was the fact that the winning pitcher, in his postseason debut, was Mariano Rivera. Unfortunately, the Mariners took all 3 games in Seattle to win the series.
* Baltimore Orioles: October 9, 1996, Yankee Stadium I. ALCS Game 1. The O's led 4-2 going into the bottom of the 7th. The Yankees scored in that inning, and in the 8th, Derek Jeter hit a shot off Armando Benitez to the short porch in right field. It was the Jeffrey Maier play, and the game was tied. Bernie Williams hit a no-doubt-about-it shot in the bottom of the 11th. Yankees 5, Orioles 4.
And if you're an Oriole fan, your team lost all 3 games at Camden Yards. If you can't defend your home field, don't complain about the Maier call.
* Cleveland Indians (now Guardians): October 11, 1998, Jacobs Field (now Progressive Field), Cleveland. ALCS Game 5. Most of the good Playoff games between these 2 teams have been won by Cleveland. This time, David Wells overcame a shaky 1st inning, and was brilliant the rest of the way. Three runs in the 1st inning, and a home run by Chili Davis in the 4th, made the difference. Yankees 5, Indians 3. The Yankees won the Pennant in Game 6.
* Oakland Athletics: October 13, 2001, Oakland Coliseum. ALDS Game 3. Mike Mussina and the A's' Barry Zito put on a great pitching duel. Jorge Posada homered in the top of the 5th. The A's threatened in the top of the 7th, and Terrence Long hit one into the right-field corner. Shane Spencer threw the ball back to the infield, but no fielder was anywhere near it.
You know those damn fools who call Derek Jeter "a poor defensive shortstop"? Or even "the worst defensive shortstop ever"? And say, "He couldn't go to his left"? They can all hold his beer, because he went further to the left than the Bolshevik Revolution, saving Spencer's throw, and flipping the ball to Posada, who tagged Jeremy Giambi out at the plate to preserve the shutout. The Yankees hung on, winning 1-0, and taking the next 2 games to win the series.
* Texas Rangers: May 16, 2006, Yankee Stadium I. Regular season. Despite having played each other in 4 Playoff series, the best game between the Yankees and the Rangers came in the regular season. Shawn Chacon got knocked out of the box in the 1st 2 innings, and the Yankees trailed 9-0.
The Yankees clawed back, although the Rangers scored more runs as well. The Yankees scored 6 runs in the 6th inning, including a home run by Derek Jeter, giving them an 11-10 lead. The Rangers scored a run in the top of the 9th to take a 13-12 lead. But Jorge Posada hit one out to win it in the bottom of the 9th, 14-13.
* Minnesota Twins: October 9, 2009, at Yankee Stadium II. ALDS Game 2. The Yankees trailed 3-1 in the bottom of the 9th, but Mark Teixeira led off with a single, and Alex Rodriguez continued his redemption arc with a game-tying home run. Teixeira led off the bottom of the 11th with a line drive that just cleared the fence. Broadcaster John Sterling didn't even have time to go into, "It is high! It is far!" before it was gone. Yankees 4, Twins 3. The Yankees swept the series.
* Los Angeles Angels: October 17, 2009, Yankee Stadium II. ALCS Game 2. The Angels scored in the top of the 11th, but A-Rod saved the Yankees' bacon again with a leadoff homer in the bottom of the 11th. A bad throw of a Melky Cabrera grounder by Angel 2nd baseman Maicer Izturis allowed the winning run to score in the bottom of the 13th. Yankees 4, Angels 3.
* Houston Astros: October 17, 2017, at Yankee Stadium II. ALCS Game 4. This wasn't in Houston, so the Astros didn't have their trash-can signal system to help them cheat. But they still led 4-0 at the 7th inning stretch.
The Yankees scored 2 runs in the bottom of the 7th, including a leadoff home run by Aaron Judge. In the 8th, they got singles from Todd Frazier and Chase Headley, and RBI groundout from Brett Gardner, a double by Judge, a single by Didi Gregorius, and a double by Gary Sánchez. Yankees 6, Astros 4.
The Yankees won Game 5, and needed 1 win in Houston to win the Pennant. They're still looking for that next Pennant.
* Tampa Bay Rays: October 3, 2021, at Yankee Stadium II. Regular season finale. The Yankees needed to win to make the Playoffs as an AL Wild Card. The game was 0-0 going to the bottom of the 9th, even though the Yankees needed 6 pitchers to do that, and the Rays 4.
Rougned Odor led off with a single. Tyler Wade pinch-ran for him. Gleyber Torres flew out, but Anthony Rizzo singled, and Aaron Judge singled Wade home. Yankees 1, Rays 0.