Brett Gardner expects Yankees to play well in AL Wild Card vs. Twins

The postseason.

Brett Gardner has been here before and the Yankees left fielder is not about to take it for granted. Despite all the rich tradition and lore, the Yankees have not been automatic qualifiers for the postseason of late.

“I got called up in 2008, We were still in contention a little bit,’’ Gardner said Monday at Yankee Stadium as the team prepared for Tuesday’s wild-card matchup with the Twins. “We missed the postseason that year. And 2009 was part of a special team that ended up winning the World Series. It was a season that was a pretty special season. It was my first full season in the big leagues. I remember thinking at the time, and I talked to [Mark Teixeira] about this the last year or two, I thought we’d come back to the World Series every year, and it would be like this, and I was hanging out with the Yankees. Here we are however many years later, and we haven’t been back.’’

Gardner said the home-field advantage should help when the Yankees meet the Twins Tuesday night in the wild-card game at Yankee Stadium.

“Well, I think one thing that helps is we played really, really well at home this year,’’ Gardner said. “Obviously, having home-field advantage in the Wild Card Game, I think in the one-game situation like this, a lot of different things can happen. We obviously feel great about playing at home. That helps to keep it a little more normal for us and help us feel a little more comfortable. Really, just have a good day of practice today and come to the field tomorrow just like we came to the field Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday of last week and come ready to play. I know that Ervin Santana’s had a really good year, and he’s a tough at-bat for us. But we have a good idea of how he’s going to pitch us. We’ve faced him a couple of times, and we’re looking forward to the challenge.’’

Two years ago, the Yankees hosted the Astros in the wild-card and lost.

“I feel good about our chances, I like the team we have,’’ Gardner said. “I like the fact we get to throw Luis Severino out there tomorrow. He’s been pretty darn good this year. One of the top two or three right-handed starters in the game this year. He’s a guy we love being behind. Once we turn the ball over to our bullpen, we feel good about that. And our lineup, I think we’re going to score some runs and play some defense.

“I’m looking forward to the challenge. I think it’s going to be a lot of fun. I think our fans are going to be excited about it. I know we didn’t win the division. We came up short. We pushed Boston right up to the end. That says a lot about this team. We never quit. We were five, six games back, and we kept pushing, kept pushing, kept pushing, and we came up a little short. We played a lot of meaningful games. We played really good baseball the last four or five weeks. It’s not necessarily the best team in the end that’s standing, it’s the team that’s playing the best at the right time. I feel like we’ve been playing good baseball, and I expect to play well.’’