CLEVELAND – Juan Soto hit a three-run homer with two outs in the 10th inning and the New York Yankees advanced to their 41st World Series – and first in 15 years – by beating the Cleveland Guardians 5-2 in Game 5 of the AL Championship Series on Saturday night.

Baseball’s biggest brand returns to the main stage this October.

Soto, acquired in a seven-player trade with San Diego in December, put the Bronx Bombers in position with one big swing off Hunter Gaddis.

“I was completely over it, I was completely over it,” Soto told TNT about the decisive at-bat. “That was the only thing on my mind. I said to myself, ‘You’re all over that guy. You’re all over that guy.’ … I just had to make good contact, and I did that.”

It was the second extra-inning home run in a potential series-clinching game in Yankees postseason history. The other was from Aaron Boone in Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS against the Boston Red Sox.

The Yankees will try to win their 28th title against the New York Mets or the Los Angeles Dodgers. Game 6 of the NL Championship Series is Sunday at Dodger Stadium.

“We’re right where we belong,” said Yankees general manager Brian Cashman, who brokered the deal for Soto.

In the 10th, Austin Wells walked with one out and Alex Verdugo followed with a grounder to second baseman Andres Gimenez, whose soft toss to the bag was dropped by rookie shortstop Brayan Rocchio due to an error.

Gaddis struck out Gleyber Torres and had Soto in a 1-2 count before the stylish New York outfielder sent a shot over the center wall. Soto danced down the first base line and paused to celebrate with his teammates before spinning around the bases.

Soto is eligible for free agency this winter, and Yankees fans chanted “Re-sign Soto!” during the postgame festivities.

ALCS MVP Giancarlo Stanton hit a two-run homer for the Yankees, who took care of the Guardians in five games, but it wasn’t easy.

New York won the first two at Yankee Stadium without much fanfare or major drama. In Cleveland, however, it was a different story as all three games at Progressive Field were nail-biters.

The Guardians rallied to win Game 3 on two two-run home runs in their last two at-bats, and the Yankees held on to win Game 4 after blowing a four-run lead.

“This was a roller coaster and we just kept hitting back,” Stanton said. “We know there’s a lot more work to do and it’s only uphill from here and we have to get it done.”

Cleveland just couldn’t have enough and a surprising season under first-year manager Stephen Vogt ended just short of a World Series. The franchise remains without a title since 1948, baseball’s current longest drought.

The Yankees are back in the World Series, where their fans expect them to be every year.

The club’s 82-80 fourth-place finish in the AL East last season led to some soul-searching as an organization over the winter, said Boone, who has been widely criticized but is one of only three managers to conquer New York. to the playoffs in six of his first seven seasons.

While the core of the team remained largely intact, Soto landing Soto in a blockbuster trade on December 7 — New York sent five players to San Diego for the three-time All-Star outfielder — returned the team to title contention.

“That was a good day,” Boone said with a laugh before the game.

Stanton’s 400-foot rocket into the left-field stands tied the score at 2 in the sixth and chased Tanner Bibee, who had shut down New York’s dangerous DH in his first two at-bats and held the Yankees scoreless through the first five innings.

It was Stanton’s fourth home run of the series – his third in three days – and his 16th in the postseason, putting him fourth on the club’s career list behind Bernie Williams (22), Derek Jeter (20) and Mickey Mantle (18).

Before the game, Boone was asked what makes Stanton so good.

“First of all, he can hit it harder than anyone,” Boone said. “So the physical nature of what he does is different than almost anyone else in the world.”

But Boone complimented Stanton’s discipline at the plate, “his approach, his process, how he studies guys.”

“There’s something he does when he gets comfortable with people and also is very physically gifted,” Boone said.

The Guardians took a 2-0 lead in the fifth off Carlos Rodon on Steven Kwan’s RBI single with two outs. But Cleveland missed a great chance for more, leaving the bases loaded when Lane Thomas grounded out on Mark Leiter Jr.’s first pitch to him.

This report uses information from ESPN Research and The Associated Press.