Winning close games may be a boon in Oct.

OAKLAND, Calif. — The Yankees won their 12th straight game Thursday night, edging the Athletics, 7-6, at Oakland Coliseum, when Aaron Judge singled home Tyler Wade from third base in the ninth inning, negating the reality that the Yankees blew a 6-0 lead to put themselves in such a jam. At 75-52, they now stand closer to the Rays (79-48) atop the American League East than to the A’s (70-58), the best AL team not in the playoffs.

Their prime position speaks more than any- thing to their success in close contests. They have outperformed their Pythagorean record (69-58) by six games. As per the YES Network’s James Smyth, the Yankees are tied with the Mets for the most games decided by one or two runs, 71. Their 48-23 record in those games, a .676 winning percentage, gives them the best such mark in the entire industry, regardless of the number of games played.

Will this all be for nothing? Or can the Yankees convert these survival skills into October excellence?

“In October, you’re not going to have those games where it’s 11-3 or 10-2. It’s gonna be a 5-4 ballgame, 3-2 ballgame,” Judge said Tuesday night, after the Yankees outlasted the Braves, 5-4, in a Truist Field nail-biter. “So I feel like, 90 percent of the games we play are one-run games. There’s no panic, even when stuff starts hitting the fan.”

Judge said that moments after Wandy Peralta retired reigning National League Most Valuable Player Freddie Freeman to end Tuesday’s game with the bases loaded. That kind of high-wire act has played out multiple times just over the winning streak, which has featured eight victories by one or two runs and saves by six different pitchers — none of whom were the titular closer Aroldis Chapman, until he came in Thursday to nail down the save.

Surely the Yankees would feel better about their close-game brilliance if Chapman weren’t riding a season-long roller coaster, or Chad Green had taken better to closing out games himself. Their opponents have outscored them, 50-32, in the ninth inning. Nevertheless, their difficulties in finishing victories also brought out a toughness when, as Judge put it, stuff starts hitting the fan.

A look at recent history shows ... no real trend, unsurprisingly. In last year’s COVID-shortened campaign, the Rays went 14-5 in regular-season one-run games, while the Dodgers posted a 7-5 mark in such contests. When those teams faced off in the World Series, one tilt concluded in a onerun margin. The Rays prevailed in that one, Game 4, by an 8-7 margin. Three more games were settled by two runs, and the Dodgers went 2-1 in those, dropping Game 2, 6-4, before winning the final two contests, 4-2 in Game 5 and 3-1 in Game 6. The Dodgers captured their first title since 1988 because they picked up their other two victories by five runs (Game 1, 8-3) and four runs (Game 3, 6-2).

The 2019 Nationals, plagued by bullpen issues in the regular season that led to them going 17-21 in one-run games, developed a small October circle of trust that included counting on relief help from their starting pitchers. That explains how they won both of their one-run games and all three of their two-run games that October to post their first championship in franchise history, overcoming the Astros’ 24-19 mark in onerun games.

In 2018, more encouragingly for these Yankees, Alex Cora’s Red Sox, who later were found guilty of mild sign-stealing chicanery, went 25-14 in one-run games from Opening Day through their season finale, then 5-1 in October games settled by one or two runs. The Dodgers, meanwhile, lost the Fall Classic, when their closer Kenley Jansen blew two save chances, after going 22-22.

So Judge’s optimism on this topic could prove well-founded. It could all be for nothing. Of course, if you’re the Yankees, you’ll take the optimism now and worry about its accuracy later.

“It can’t all be for nothing!” — Walter White, “Breaking Bad”