page_title: 2011 New York Yankees season
section_title: October and postseason
hierarchical_section_title: 2011 New York Yankees season / Offseason / October and postseason
caption_attribution_description: Rafael Soriano
context_page_description: The 2011 New York Yankees season was the 111th season for the New York Yankees franchise. The Yankees began the season at home against the Detroit Tigers on Thursday, March 31. The Yankees clinched a playoff berth in the first game of a doubleheader on September 21, and clinched the AL East division title in the second game. The Yankees season ended on October 6 when they lost a deciding Game 5 of the 2011 American League Division Series to the Detroit Tigers 3–2. It was the first time since 2007 that the Yankees lost an elimination game at home.
  The 2011 season was the final season in the playing career of longtime Yankees catcher Jorge Posada.
context_section_description: The Yankees faced off with the Detroit Tigers in the ALDS. Game 1 was delayed by rain but continued a day later. Behind Robinson Canó's grand slam, the Yankees won the opener, 9-3. The Tigers won Game 2, 5–3, on the strength of a performance by Max Scherzer.  When the series moved to Detroit, the Tigers took the series lead by edging the Yankees 5–4, getting a seventh-inning go-ahead Delmon Young home run. Starter A. J. Burnett, who got the starting nod because the Game 1 rainout forced the team to reshuffle its rotation, guided the Yankees to a 10–1 Game 4 win, forcing a decisive Game 5.  Back home for the win-or-go-home Game 5, New York dropped a 3-2 decision to the Tigers, who jumped in front with back-to-back, first-inning solo home runs from Delmon Young and Don Kelly. In the finale, the Yankees were done in by their inability to come through with runners in scoring position, as they stranded 11 runners.
  Longtime Yankees catcher Jorge Posada retired following the 2011 postseason.
caption: Rafael Soriano pitching in a game on September 8, 2011
exif: {"Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon EOS-1D Mark IV", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "200", "Image YResolution": "200", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image DateTime": "2011:09:08 15:50:55", "Image Artist": "", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image Copyright": "", "Image ExifOffset": "360", "GPS GPSVersionID": "[2, 2, 0, 0]", "Image GPSInfo": "9896", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "11784", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "9708", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/1600", "EXIF FNumber": "4", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Manual", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "400", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2011:09:08 15:50:55", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2011:09:08 15:50:55", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "85/8", "EXIF ApertureValue": "4", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire", "EXIF FocalLength": "420", "EXIF SubSecTime": "58", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "58", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "58", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2410", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2536", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "9850", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "163200/43", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "816000/209", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Manual Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard"}