The New York Yankees have not missed the playoffs since 2017, except in 2023, although their last World Series title came in 2009. That trend continues this year, as the Yankees became the second AL East team to qualify for the playoffs after their Monday win over the Minnesota Twins. A wild celebration followed in the clubhouse, with champagne and music.

“Do we really need champagne and going wild?” Yankees play-by-play announcer Michael Kay questioned after their celebration videos went viral.

Questions were expected, considering how the Yankees have typically failed to convert their regular-season dominance into playoff success in recent years. However, not everyone agrees with Kay, as a few MLB pundits have given the Yankees’ playoff celebration the go-ahead.

“You play and grind for 162 plus spring training, off-season,” former slugger Trevor Plouffe said via Talkin’ Baseball on X. “There is no off-season. So you’re just grinding, and then you finally make it to what matters: the playoffs. I think you celebrate. It doesn’t have to be crazy. I thought what the Yankees did was right, because that could be the only time they celebrate the entire year.

“And you got guys in there, like Michael Fulmer, who’s never done it before, and you have young guys who have never done it before, so you can’t take that away from them. If you’re an old dog in the, a veteran in the clubhouse, and you’ve been through it, sure, you might not enjoy it as much, but I guarantee those guys are having the freaking time of their life.”

The Yankees having a celebratory night after securing a playoff berth every year only to fail to go deep in the postseason is becoming a trend. Since 2021, the Yankees’ regular-season average stands at .241, which went down to .217 in the postseason. Their winning percentage in the postseason since 2021 stands at .452 compared to .573 in the regular season over the same period. Hence, the Yankees celebrating their playoff berth may have started to get under the skin of insiders and fans. Plouffe, though, disagreed.

“Nine of the last 10 years, they made the postseason. 27 of the last, I think, 32 years, they’ve made the postseason. Do we really need champagne and going wild and dousing each other with different sorts of liquids to do that? I mean, isn’t the aim to win the World Series? So when you put this much celebration and emphasis on just getting to the postseason, I think it’s a little out of whack, a little bit,” Kay added.

However, according to Plouffe, while winning the World Series is the ultimate goal for the Yankees, securing a playoff berth should also be celebrated. Only 12 teams make the playoffs out of 30 teams in the regular season, which makes it an achievement. For newcomers, the celebration means a lot. Michael Fulmer signed with the Yankees this year, and he had no postseason experience until now. At 33, it is also uncertain whether he will have another postseason opportunity in the near future. So, a celebratory night could serve as motivation to work as a team and make another run in the playoffs.

“I did it one time in my career… And if I didn’t do it that time when all the veterans had already done it for six years in a row, I would never have gotten to spray champagne all over my friends at the big league level, and I have that memory now,” Plouffe added.

Trevor Plouffe never appeared in any postseason games in his nine-year MLB career. The only time he had the chance to celebrate a playoff berth was when the Twins won the 2010 AL Central and went to the postseason. That was Plouffe’s debut season. While he was not included in the Twins’ postseason roster, Plouffe has a lifetime memory of spraying champagne on that very night.

The Yankees’ celebratory night should also serve as a little moment of joy, even if they don’t secure the much-awaited World Series title this year.