KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The New York Yankees made it clear they were pleased to get past the Kansas City Royals and advance in the postseason, even if it’s only one step toward their true goal.

Yankees players sprayed each other with beer and champagne and otherwise expressed good cheer during a raucous clubhouse celebration Thursday night after their 3-1 victory in a decisive Game 4 of the American League Division Series.

They didn’t party as if they had won the World Series, but the opportunity to do so for the first time since 2009 is still in play because they have reached the American League Championship Series for the second time in three seasons and the 19th time in club history.

“No one wants to be on the losing side of this. The steps are in place for us,” said slugger Giancarlo Stanton, who drove in the Yankees’ third run in the clincher and went 6-for-16 (.375) with a .444 on-base percentage, a home run and four RBIs in the series. He has been recovering from a strained hamstring.

With the Yankees since a trade from Miami in 2018, Stanton is hungry to win the ultimate prize.

“Winning a World Series is what I expected coming here,” Stanton said. “The reality is understood for us. All we have to do is take advantage.”

New York right-hander Gerrit Cole allowed a run, six hits and no walks to go with four strikeouts over seven innings Thursday, improving on a less-effective effort in starting Game 1.

Cole (1-0) kept the Royals off the scoreboard through the first five innings, and the Yankees’ bullpen continued its domination, with former closer Clay Holmes pitching a scoreless eighth and new closer Luke Weaver finishing off Kansas City in the ninth. New York’s bullpen collectively allowed no earned runs in 15 2/3 innings during the series.

Royals slugger Vinnie Pasquantino, still recovering from a right thumb fracture that happened late in the regular season, drove in Kansas City’s lone run with an RBI double that scored Bobby Witt Jr. in the sixth. Pasquantino acknowledged how effective New York’s relief pitching was all series.

“They’ve all got really good stuff, and they did a really nice job of, probably, taking advantage of some aggressiveness on our end and letting their defense play,” Pasquantino said.

The Royals’ season ended with obvious disappointment, Pasquantino said, but the club also came a long way after winning 56 games in 2023 — making the playoffs for the first time since 2015, when the franchise won its second World Series title.

“If you back up from it a little bit, it was a pretty impressive season,” Pasquantino said. “We felt good about our chances to do more, and we just didn’t do enough.”

Witt, Kansas City’s star shortstop who is likely to finish second to New York’s Aaron Judge in AL MVP voting, finished the series 2-for-17. Salvador Perez, the lone remaining player from the ’15 champions, went 0-for-4 in Game 4 and finished the series 3-for-16 with a homer.

Gleyber Torres and Juan Soto added key hits and strong New York defense played a big role again Thursday. The Yankees also brushed off a benches- and bullpens-clearing moment in the bottom of the sixth.

Kansas City’s Maikel Garcia led off with a single but Yankees first baseman Jon Berti and shortstop Anthony Volpe turned a Michael Massey grounder into a neat 3-6 double play. After the slide and tag, Volpe patted Garcia on the back — seemingly in a friendly way — as the runner lingered.

Cole said he took exception with how Garcia interacted with Volpe.

“I don’t know what it was about, but I didn’t like him coming after my shortstop,” Cole said. “That’s all I got on that.”

Things got intense for a few minutes.

“I was ready for whatever,” Cole said.

Despite struggling recently, Judge appears to be swinging the bat better. He had the second-hardest hit of the game, a double that went 115.5 mph, and added two walks and a stolen base. Judge came in 1-for-11 with five strikeouts in the series and was 11-for-81 (.136) in the postseason going back to the start of the 2020 playoffs.

“It felt good, it’s just about getting results,” Judge said. “It’s been a while, but I’m just glad to get something going.”

Echoing his teammates, Judge said getting to the World Series and winning it is a bigger deal to him than any of his own stats.

“It means everything,” Judge said. “We haven’t — since I’ve been here with the Yankees, we haven’t secured a pennant. The group that we have, how special this is, just excited for this opportunity. It’s going to be something special.”

–David Brown, Field Level Media