The Yankees' last two extra-inning thrillers give a taste of what's to come

Mark those last two games with a star. Mark them. These are the circumstances you'll be in when the calendar flips to October. Late innings. Extra innings. Make a pitch. Make a play. Win a game. Electrify the crowd.

That's how it goes in October. That's how it goes. Teams die hard. The Royals on Wednesday and the Red Sox on Thursday needed these games like oxygen. The Royals are trying to get into the playoffs after 106 losses. The Red Sox are trying to get going at the right time, get wins and tiptoe into the postseason.

These aren't spoilsports, saving their best just to do bad things to the Yankees without losing anything themselves. The Yankees? Sure, they needed these games too. They want to beat the Orioles, avoid the play-in, prepare for a best-of-five without having to deal with a best-of-three. They have a lead. They can't afford to play like that.

They haven't been able to do that the last two nights. On Wednesday, they tied the Royals in the 10th inning, held them in the 11th, and then moved ahead in 2-3-4. That's a tough task for anyone. Juan Soto got the ghost runner to third base. The Royals got Aaron Judge. And Jazz Chisholm Jr. hit one that Bobby Witt Jr. could only stop. The Yankees win 4-3.

On Thursday, they stopped the Sox in the 10th inning, with a 2-3-4 formation in the bottom. Still a tough task for anyone, always a tough task. This time, Soto took care of it himself, a line drive just under Trevor Story's glove. Aaron Boone had cleverly used Jon Berti as a ghost runner. He scampered home. The Yankees win 2-1.

“Another great ending,” Boone said. “It's that time of year.”

It's that time. This is what games will look like in October. It will be tied in the seventh inning, tied in the eighth inning, tied in the ninth inning. There will be extra innings. Throw a pitch. Make a play. Win a game.

It's good to develop that kind of muscle memory. It's good to find a way. Not everyone is like the 1927 or 1961 Yankees, who brought even the best teams to their knees. Not everyone is like the 1998 Yankees, although those Yankees, as dominant as they were, certainly knew how to win games like this, perhaps as well as any team before them.

“Every day seems to be getting more important,” Boone said before the game. “What I do know is that we have the same chance as anyone else to win this thing.”

All year long he was mocked and ridiculed for these dreamy declarations, because of all the nights when it seemed as if he would burst into song at any moment in the style of Monty Python: “Always look on the sunny side of life…”

With whistles.

But you know what? He was right then. And he's especially right now. You can list the names of the American League teams that scare you now. You can list the names of the teams that the Yankees want to avoid in the playoffs. Maybe they don't scare anyone else, but that's the point.

They have as good a chance as anyone. They get used to winning the games they need to win. The old reliables have hit extra points on consecutive nights. Want more? Even two of the usual suspects who looked like they were going to get voted off October Island were great on Thursday: five big ones from Nestor Cortes, then two bottoms from Clay Holmes in the 10th inning.

Are the Red Sox the Red Sox we remember? They're not. But neither are the Yankees. Those battles of 2003 and 2004 might as well have happened in 1903 and 1904, as relevant as they are to this day. It's good to remember them fondly. Boone certainly does.

“I'm a sports fan,” he said Thursday. “I get those moments in sports where you know where you were and you remember it and you have a story to go with it. It's been great to hear people's stories over the years, no matter what side of history they were on, who have a personal, memorable story to go with it.”

You know what's even cooler? Winning games like the one Boone won on October 16, 2003, with the home run for the ages, hit by the late Tim Wakefield on a batted ball: Yankees 6, Red Sox 5, Game 7. Games like Wednesday and Thursday are great dress rehearsals for the task that awaits you in a few weeks. Make a pitch. Make a play.

Win a game.