NEW YORK – Six months ago, the scenes that unfolded Thursday night at Yankee Stadium, on the field and in the home clubhouse, would have qualified as improbable.

Gerrit Cole is not only healthy, but is peaking at the right time, six months removed from his shutdown due to an elbow injury. Giancarlo Stanton not only on the field, but also playing baseball in a game that mattered again, six months removed from the worst season of his career.

The two combined in the New York Yankees’ 10-1 victory over the Baltimore Orioles.

But it happened Thursday night when the Yankees toppled the Orioles, the reigning division champions and preseason favorites, to complete the climb to the American League East summit — a summit the franchise expects to complete each season — after winning the play- offs by 2023.

The Yankees are one game ahead of the Cleveland Guardians at 93-66 for the best record in the American League and home field advantage through the World Series. They close the regular season with a three-game series against the Pittsburgh Pirates starting Friday.

“This is a special night,” Cole said as the raucous celebration continued around him. ‘This is what you want as a player. The division is up for grabs. You have to go out and get it.”

Cole went out and took it with another dominant performance. After a nine-inning gem against the Oakland Athletics, the right-handed defeated Orioles ace Corbin Burnes by giving up two hits in six ⅔ scoreless innings in his 17th and final start of the regular season. He struck out five and walked one and threw 95 pitches.

The reigning Cy Young Award winner finished the season 8-5 with a 3.41 ERA over 95 innings after making his season debut on June 19 and not returning to the injured list. He will then take the mound with a full tank for Game 1 of the AL Division Series against a team to be determined on October 5.

“I expect to throw 110 pitches next week,” Cole said.

Stanton, meanwhile, was a vintage Stanton. The slugger opened the scoring with a solo home run in the second inning off Burnes, who allowed just one hit and struck out nine in five innings. Two at-bats later, Stanton crushed a 186.4 mph three-run double as the Yankees blew the game open with a six-run sixth inning.

Aaron Judge filled the lead in the seventh inning with his 58th home run of the year, a two-run moonshot that reached the Orioles’ bullpen past the left-center field wall.

With this, Judge became the fourth player in Major League history with at least 58 home runs in a season, joining Babe Ruth, Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa. He homered in five straight games, matching a career high.

“I didn’t realize that,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said when informed of Judge’s streak. “That’s the obvious part.”

Stanton’s home run was his 27th of the season. He is hitting .235 with a .781 OPS in 112 games. Those aren’t stellar numbers for Stanton — he once hit 59 home runs in a season — but they’re light years better than his awful 2023 season, in which he hit .191 with a .695 OPS and struggled at times running the bases.

The fight motivated Stanton to lose muscle mass and focus on his mobility in the offseason. The work paid off by helping the Yankees win their 21st division title since division play began in 1969.

Next week, attention turns to ending the franchise’s 15-year championship drought with World Series title No. 28.

“You can’t take this for granted at all,” Stanton said. “It’s certainly expected, but times like last year they happen, so you have to appreciate it. We’re here now, enjoy it, you never know if you’ll ever get another chance, so you gotta go.”