For the first time since 2012 the New York Yankees will be playing in the American League Division Series. The Yankees finished the season as the top Wild Card team and hosted the Minnesota Twins Tuesday night in the one and done Wild Card game. And boy oh boy was it wild.

Luis Severino got the ball for the Yanks making his postseason debut. He’d been the Yankees’ best pitcher all season finishing with a 14-6 record and a 2.98 ERA. Manager Joe Girardi trusted the 23 year old and Severino did the exact opposite of what Girardi and Yankees’ fans everywhere expected.

Brian Dozier led off for the Twins, got a 3-1 count and put a 99 MPH fastball over the fence to start the game. Sevy then got a popout to foul territory, then walked Jorge Polanco. That brought Eddie Rosario up with 1 out and 1 on. Rosario got a hanging slider from Severino and sent it over the RF fence to give the Twins a 3-0 lead.

Luis Severino would face two more batters before Girardi went to his pen. Severino, in the biggest game of his career, got 1 out. It had the makings of a long night for Yankee fans.

Chad Green was the first reliever to come on and he inherited runners on 2nd and 3rd. This didn’t effect Green as he struck out both men he faced in the 1st and the Yankees escaped any further damage. It was their turn to swing the bats.

Brett Gardner led off with walk; then Aaron Judge followed with a single. Gary Sanchez then popped out which brought Didi Gregorius to the plate with 2 men on.

Didi set a Yankees franchise record with 25 home runs in a single season, the most ever for a SS. He stepped into the box hoping to bring life back into the stadium.

Gregorius worked a full count and got a 96 MPH fastball on the inner half of the plate that he turned on and sent flying into the right field seats to tie the game. The Yankees were back in it. There was life.

In the bottom of the 2nd Brett Gardner put one in the upper deck to give the Bronx Bombers their first lead of the night.

“I was pretty excited to just be able to jump back in the lead there in the second inning,” said Gardner after the game. “I know it’s early in the game, but any time we can give our bullpen the lead, we feel good about our chances. Those guys did a great job.”

The lead didn’t last long though, as the Twins got a run across in the top of the 3rd to tie the game at 4.

Good thing for the Yankees – that tie didn’t last very long either. Greg Bird delivered a RBI single in the bottom of the 3rd to give the Yanks a 5-4 lead and they didn’t look back.

Chad Green was relieved by David Robertson. Robertson gave the Yankees 3.1 innings of shutout ball with 5 strikeouts.

Robertson was followed by 2.1 innings of no hit ball by Tommy Kahnle. Aaron Judge added 2 more runs on the board with a line drive home run in the bottom of the 4th, and then in the bottom of the 7th Aaron Hicks worked a bases loaded walk to make it a 8-4 ballgame.

After 23 outs from relievers all the was left was 3 more in the 9th. Joe Giradi turned to Aroldis Chapman, who had an amazing September after a couple of rough outings in July and August, to get the last 3 outs needed to advance.

Chapman did what Chapman does. Throw gas. He struck out the side and got Polanco to swing and miss on a 103 MPH fastball to end the game. The Yankees survived the Wild Card and will face the Indians in the ALDS.

After the game Girardi praised his relievers. “Our bullpen was remarkable tonight, the innings that David Robertson gave us, that was huge.