SEATTLE — Part of what doomed the New York Yankees last year was finishing with the same record as the Toronto Blue Jays. It tied them for the best mark in the American League, but it also meant they landed runner-up in the division to Toronto and lost out on crucial home-field advantage in the playoffs because the Blue Jays owned the head-to-head tiebreaker.

The Yankees don’t want any of that to happen again, and in a meeting before Saturday’s win over the San Francisco Giants, a trio of veterans — Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and Paul Goldschmidt — impressed upon their teammates the importance of bringing their highest level of focus to every game they play this year, several players told The Athletic.

“At the end of the day,” Stanton said, “it’s focus with it being everyday: late nights, cross-country, early mornings — whatever you want. Focus is the main thing that sways, with energy, as well. But low energy is low focus. It’s one and the same.”

On Tuesday, the Yankees continued to show their focus in a thorough, 5-0 win over the Seattle Mariners at T-Mobile Park to improve to 4-1. Max Fried and Stanton starred, and the club made a bunch crisp plays on defense and on the bases.

Oh G.

112.8 mph RBI-double 💪 pic.twitter.com/1s2muGRija

— New York Yankees (@Yankees) April 1, 2026

Stanton went 2-for-4 with a double and now has multiple hits in all five of the Yankees’ games this season. He also advanced to second base on a wild pitch, despite how cautious he has been when while running. Fried struck out six, walked one and give up three hits.

Center fielder Trent Grisham went a long way to track down Randy Arozarena’s second-inning liner. Jazz Chisholm Jr. made a nice backhand stop on Leo Rivas’ grounder in the third. First baseman Ben Rice, still learning the position, made a nice stop and throw to Fried on the run covering the bag in the third.

“Just a really well-played game,” manager Aaron Boone said.

There were times in the middle of last season where the Yankees didn’t play even close to their best baseball. They were plagued with sloppy fielding and base running, in addition to rocky relief work, through a summer swoon in which they went 18-27 from June 13 through Aug. 4. At one point, Boone declared it “gut check time” for his club. But a late-season course correction that included winning their last eight games and 11 of their final 12 was a major help.

But the Yankees don’t want to have to feel like they’re playing catchup again.

“It’s a hard game,” Stanton said, “but if we beat and finish the teams we’re supposed to beat and finish, and not just be satisfied we won the first two (games) and come in like we won the series already. Because it’s important. It’s important clearly from last year and we did a great job at the end of the year when we won, what, eight in a row or whatever — and it still didn’t get us where we wanted. Take that energy across the whole year instead of, ‘Here’s the comparison and the numbers. Let’s try to beat them now (and) catch up.’”

Part of the meeting was also about finishing out series sweeps, which Judge mentioned after Saturday’s victory.

“That’s what’s going to make a difference between winning a division or end up tying and losing it,” he said at the time.

But Chisholm said the rest of the message was about the Yankees not letting themselves “stoop to any team’s level.”

“If you’re already way above them,” the second baseman said, “don’t drop down and make it an even playing field just because you’re already up.”

Jazz joins the fun 🎷 pic.twitter.com/WjwX9PDgW9

— New York Yankees (@Yankees) April 1, 2026

Ryan McMahon said daily focus was “actually a big topic” during spring training, too. Boone also acknowledged the push.

“What’s been apparent with our guys from the start of spring is just their attention to detail,” the manager said. “And, again, not that they haven’t been that way in the past. But, man, it’s just been an über focus everyday. Every little thing, the importance of all of it. There has been a lot of that. Judgey and those guys have really driven that and they have been on top of stuff all spring.”

Goldschmidt said it’s also important “finding a little subtle motivation” each day through a long regular season. He said the Yankees doing everything they can to avoid a division tie again is “a good example.”

“But I think most days there’s always a little something where you don’t want to just roll through the season like, ‘Hey, let’s see what happens,’” he said. “(Every game is) different. But every single game, just trying to be prepared and give our best effort and win as many as possible.”

McMahon praised Judge, Stanton and Goldschmidt for their leadership.

“I remember at times last year,” McMahon said, “(Stanton) would be like, ‘This is an easy one to give away. We’ve already won the series. This is an easy one to give away. Make sure we lock it in, go out there and do what we need to do. We’re not just going to win the game because we’re the Yankees. We need to go take care of business.’

“Those three dudes do such a good job of making sure everybody is on the same page of what we’ve got that day.”

And what the Yankees veterans wanted to make clear was that the team needed to bring added focus to every game they play this season, without fail. They don’t want to wind up tied at the top of the AL East again when being a little more locked in could have separated them.

“Obviously, it’s important,” Stanton said, “but something that you’ve got to emphasize.”