Yankees win as focus shifts to players who need to earn stripes

The Yankees have been relegated to spending the last weekend of the regular season trying to impact other teams’ playoff chances, which they did with a 7-3 win over Baltimore on Saturday in The Bronx.

They don’t want to be in the same situation again a year from now, and in a meeting with his players prior to Friday’s loss to the Orioles, he made sure to put everyone on notice.

His message was fairly simple: “Just that there’s a lot of work to do to get to where we want, and there’s younger kids knocking on older players’ doors.”

The manager told his team that it won’t just be inexperienced players like Aaron Judge and Tyler Austin vying for playing time in 2017.

Gary Sanchez proved this year it is possible to unseat an established player as he pushed aside Brian McCann to become the starting catcher.

Though there are no obvious candidates to make a similar move in 2017, the organization restocked its farm system for a reason and some of the prospects they acquired could arrive soon.

“One thing as a player you need to understand is there’s no certainty in this game,” Girardi said of next year’s plans. “When you take the field on a daily basis, you have to prove yourself. There’s nothing given to anyone in this game. You have to go out and earn it. It’s important you never forget that.” Of course, there’s no guarantee the younger players are going to help.

“For the younger kids that have some success, the hard part is not getting here,” Girardi said he told the team. “The hard part is sticking. As people adjust to you, you have to make adjustments as a ballplayer. I think next year’s camp could be extremely competitive and you need to be ready.”

Austin has gone through some brutal stretches but also shown a penchant for hitting home runs in critical situations. Interestingly, all of his homers have been to the opposite field.

“Getting a chance to come up here and playing meaningful games is something I’ll take with me into next year,” said Austin, who hit his fifth homer, but still has his struggles fresh in his mind. “When we were playing the Dodgers and I struck out seven consecutive times, that’s something I’ve never done before. It’s easy to get down on yourself.”

So consider that perhaps a lesson learned down the stretch this season.

There are other prospects like outfielder Clint Frazier and infielders Gleyber Torres and Jorge Mateo who may be ready next season, as well.

Sanchez’s arrival in August helped spark the Yankees’ lateseason move toward the playoffs, which ultimately fell short. His success could make management more willing to take chances on youthful players.

“I think [competition] can bring out a lot of good things and just not youn g players against young players,” Girardi said. “It’s young players pushing older players, too, and I think that can be really beneficial as we move forward.”

Asked if Sanchez’s ability to win a spot proves the team would be willing to do the same thing to other veterans next year, Girardi said, “I think the idea is to win as many games here, and we’re gonna put the best people out there.”

On Saturday, they got enough out of the lineup to overcome an early 3-0 deficit — the result of another subpar start from Luis Severino. Austin Romine’s two-run single in the eighth gave the Yankees their first lead and forced the Orioles to wait to celebrate a playoff berth.

“This shows what we’ve been doing the last two months,” Mark Teixeira said. “We’re playing for pride.”