Didi Gregorius, following in the October footprints left by Derek Jeter, homered twice off Corey Kluber as the New York Yankees beat the Cleveland Indians 5-2 in game five the Division Series and dethroned the AL champions.
It keeps the Yankees' MLB season alive and completes their comeback from a 2-0 deficit in the series.
These bend-but-don't-break Yankees staved off elimination for the fourth time in this post-season and advanced to play the Houston Astros in the AL Championship Series starting on Friday at Minute Maid Park.
The AL West champion Astros, led by 5-foot-6 second-base dynamo and MVP candidate Jose Altuve, went 5-2 against the wild-card winners this season.
After winning twice in New York, the Yankees - with little offensive help from rookie star Aaron Judge - came into Progressive Field and finished off the Indians, who won 102 games during the regular season, ripped off a historic 22-game streak and were favoured to get back to the World Series after losing in seven games a year ago to the Chicago Cubs.
Cleveland's Series drought turns 70 next year - baseball's longest dry spell.
Also on Wednesday, Michael A. Taylor hit a late grand slam in Washington's 5-0 MLB post-season win over Chicago to send their National League Division Series to a decisive game five.
Stephen Strasburg shook off an illness and all doubts about his mettle to pitch seven dominant innings as the Nationals trounced the Cubs.
The game's postponement on Tuesday gave Strasburg an extra day to recover and he made the most of his second start, after his terrific performance in the playoff opener on Friday.
The teams head back to Washington for Thursday night's crunch game.
Kyle Hendricks will start for the Cubs while Gio Gonzalez is the likely starter for the Nationals, with Max Scherzer lurking in the bullpen.
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