NEW YORK — Trevor Story was the last Red Sox player to leave the visitor’s dugout at Yankee Stadium as the Yankees celebrated their Game 3, series-clinching victory Thursday night. An hour later, Alex Bregman was the last Boston player in full uniform in a clubhouse filled with players and coaches giving each other emotional hugs before the group’s final flight as a team.

For both players — the unquestioned leaders of the club among position players — the message was simple: Remember the feeling from Thursday night.

“Remember the feeling, because it sucks,” Bregman said after a 4-0 Yankees win in which rookie righty Cam Schlittler struck out 12 in eight shutout innings. “You don’t want to feel it. Take it into your offseason and continue to get better.”

The Red Sox got back to the postseason for the first time since 2021 by winning 89 games and clinching one of the American League’s three wild card spots. Late Tuesday night, after a thrilling Game 1 victory in New York that put the Sox a win away from the ALDS, it seemed a longer postseason run was in play. Boston’s chances came crashing down to earth with a tough Game 2 victory after Alex Cora pulled Brayan Bello early on Wednesday and then evaporated in a sleepy, sloppy loss in front of a raucous Bronx crowd Thursday.

For the second straight season — albeit in October this time, and not September — Story was left alone in the dugout, pondering how another season had ended in defeat.

“Watching them celebrate, that’s something that’ll motivate us going forward,” he said. “That’s really it.

“Guys should feel this way because we have high expectations of ourselves and we know what we can do,” he added. “We know the type of team and talent that we have. Obviously, we didn’t get it done. It’s not gonna sit well with us in the winter. I’ll be thinking about it a lot.”

Bregman and Story are no strangers to tough ends to seasons. Bregman won two World Series with Houston (2017, 2022) but has also had his season end with a Fall Classic loss twice (2019, 2021), an ALCS loss twice (2018, 2020) and in the last two years, a defeat in the Wild Card round. Story, in 10 big league seasons, has never won a playoff series of more than one game. His only chance before this week came in an NLDS loss to Milwaukee in 2018.

Those defeats have prepared both veterans for tough nights like Thursday, so they know the impact a loss like it might have on some of Boston’s younger players.

“It’s a lot of experience for young guys and veteran guys, too,” Story said. “That’s hard to find. I think it’s a building block for what we’re gonna do for years to come. Something we can certainly build on and call back on to do better next time.”

Bregman, who noted that it was “an honor” to wear a Red Sox jersey in his first year with the club, wasn’t in the mood to talk about a return to the postseason representing a moral victory.

“It started back in February in spring training,” Bregman said. “Set out on a goal. We didn’t get there this year. But proud of the fight all year long. Our team got better and better every step of the way. The future’s bright.

“Winning the World Series is what we set out to do…. Obviously, this sucks right now, This is brutal. We envisioned winning tonight and making a huge run.”

Story, though, saw his team take a step forward after three straight middling seasons to start his Red Sox tenure.

“There’s a lot of things we can be proud of this season, from team-wise and from a personal standpoint for each guy in here,” he said. “It obviously didn’t end the way we wanted it to. We had an ultimate goal and we didn’t get that done. In that way, not a success. This one stings. Obviously, doing it here, against them, it stings for sure.”

Six days after a champagne-soaked celebration at Fenway and just over 48 hours after starting their postseason with an impressive win, the Red Sox were left pondering what went wrong, as well as dealing with the sudden end of the year. The reality that the roster will look different when spring training gets underway in Fort Myers in February made things emotional, too.

“You just want to keep playing, man,” said Story. “I love our teammates. I love everything we’ve got going. You just don’t want to say bye to the guys and go on to the offseason. We felt like we had a really good chance to do what we want to do.

“My joy for the game definitely came back this year. Obviously, been through a lot the last few years. This is the most fun I’ve had playing baseball.”

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