NEW YORK -- All things considered, Games 1 and 2 of the ALDS were a success for the New York Yankees. They went to Fenway Park and split the first two games of the best-of-five series with the Boston Red Sox. The ALDS is now a best-of-three series with the next two games at Yankee Stadium. The Yankees stole away home-field advantage.

"I think it's going to be amazing. I really do," said Yankees manager Aaron Boone when asked about the Yankee Stadium crowd for Game 3. "I think the connection that our fan base and our fans now have with our players is a special one, and now you put it in the postseason, and you bring the Red Sox, who, obviously, that rivalry that's there and as great of a team as they were this season, I think the atmosphere (in Game 3) is going to be special, electric, whatever you want to put on it."    

Few teams in baseball are as well-built for their home ballpark as the Yankees. Yankee Stadium is a small park with a cozy right-field porch and the Yankees have stocked their lineup with lefties who pull the ball and righties who go the other way. New York hit 144 home runs in 81 home games this year. That's the fifth most in baseball history.

  1. 2005 Rangers: 153 home runs at home
  2. 1996 Rockies: 149
  3. 2010 Blue Jays: 146
  4. 2004 White Sox: 145
  5. 2018 Yankees: 144

The Yankees have the kind of power hitters who can hit home runs anywhere -- they hit 123 home runs on the road this season, second only to the Athletics (136) -- but Yankee Stadium is where they do their most damage. And home runs, they play in the postseason. You need 'em to win.

"We have to keep them in the ballpark. That's the most important thing," said Red Sox manager Alex Cora last week. "I think they -- from top to bottom -- they can hit the ball out of the ballpark. It's a tough lineup. Like I've been saying, there's heat maps. There's red and there's blue. We have to pitch to blue. If we do that, we're going to be in good shape."

Because they are so well-built for their ballpark, the Yankees have developed a very real home-field advantage the last two postseasons. They are a perfect 7-0 in their seven home games since the start of last postseason, and, in those seven games, they've outscored their opponents 42-14. They've out-homered their opponents 10-5.

That last number is most interesting. The Yankees have allowed only five home runs in their seven home playoff games the last two years. During the 2018 regular season the Yankees allowed 95 home runs at home, which was "only" the 13th most in baseball. When you play in a park that homer-friendly, allowing only the 13th most homers at home seems like a win.

MLB: AL Wild Card-Oakland Athletics at New York Yankees
The Yankees have not lost in the postseason at Yankee Stadium since 2015. USATSI

The Yankees know how to play in their ballpark. Their hitters use the friendly dimensions to their advantage -- "I think our guys walk out there with a little bit of extra swagger when we take the field there," said Boone --  and, relatively speaking, their pitchers are able to limit the damage. The crowd acts as a "10th man" as well. The crowd is loud and raucous, and opponents last postseason admitted the crowd can impact the game.  

"There's no doubt the crowd had an effect on the game," added Carlos Beltran while speaking to SI.com's Tom Verducci following New York's come-from-behind win on Game 4 of last year's ALCS.  

The current Yankee Stadium will never be the old Yankee Stadium. Even during the team's run to the 2009 World Series title, the ballpark lacked that electricity. Yankee Stadium seems to have developed its own personality the last two years though, possibly because there is a new group of players. The Derek Jeter era is over. This is the Aaron Judge era. The Luis Severino and Gary Sanchez and Gleyber Torres era. The Yankees aren't unbeatable at home, but Yankee Stadium has become a place no one wants to play.

"I think our fans have been unbelievable. That's something that really stood out to me from afar last year, just watching it on TV.," Boone said  "It seems like the Yankee fans and this now new generation of Yankee players, you know, past the '90s and the Jeter years and all the success that team had, I feel like now the connection our fan base has with the Aaron Judges and Gleyber Torres and these guys is a special one. And I think it manifests itself in our ballpark on a nightly basis during the regular season, certainly in the postseason."