For the first time since 2012, the New York Yankees are AL East champions. The Yankees clinched the division title Thursday night with a win over the Angels (NYY 9, LAA 1). New York is the second team to clinch a division title this year, joining the Dodgers.

Prized offseason pickup DJ LeMahieu had the big blow in Thursday's win. He swatted an opposite field three-run home run.

The Yankees have been in sole possession of first place in the AL East since June 15 and they had no less than a seven-game lead since July 16. It's been clear they would win the division for weeks now. As of Thursday, it is official. They're AL East champs. Here is everything you need to know about New York heading into October.

Thursday's win was the team's 100th win of the season. They've won 100 games in back-to-back seasons for the sixth time in franchise history. The Yankees also did it in 1927-28, 1936-37, 1941-42, 1977-78, and 2002-04. Aaron Boone is the first manager in baseball history to win 100 games in each of his first two seasons.

Amazingly, the Yankees won the division despite a barrage of injuries that have seen them put a record number of players on the injured list and lose more man games to injury than any other team. It's not close either:

  1. Yankees: 2,567 man games lost to injury
  2. Padres: 1,929
  3. Phillies: 1,798
  4. Pirates: 1,575
  5. Angels: 1,477

Among the players the Yankees have lost for long stretches of time this year are Dellin Betances, Didi Gregorius, Aaron Hicks, Aaron Judge, Luis Severino, and Giancarlo Stanton. Fill-ins like Mike Tauchman and Gio Urshela have been excellent.

The Yankees qualified for the postseason as a wild-card team in both 2017 and 2018, and won the Wild Card Game both years. The six-year division title drought was the franchise's longest since a 13-year drought spanning 1981-93. The Yankees have won 14 of the 25 AL East titles since the wild-card was introduced in 1995.

At 100-54, the Yankees are battling the Astros and Dodgers for MLB's best record and thus home field advantage in the postseason. The Astros and Braves have clinched postseason spots in addition to the division-winning Yankees and Dodgers this year.