CLEVELAND – Juan Soto nodded with confidence as he glared toward the mound, deep into a high-stakes battle with nothing less than a pennant on the line. He’d already spoiled two changeups and a slider in this extra-innings showdown, his swagger surging with each close call.

This was the at-bat he’d been waiting for all season.

With his next swing, Soto sent his team toward the World Series, blasting a go-ahead three-run homer in the 10th that helped secure the Yankees’ 5-2 victory over the Guardians in Game 5 of the American League Championship Series on Saturday evening at Progressive Field.

“We’re going to win; we’re going to the World Series,” Soto said. “That’s what was going through my head.”

Soto stopped in the baseline on his way around the bases, screaming into the first-base dugout and thumping his chest animatedly. Amid stunned silence from a sellout crowd no longer interested in waving red towels, the Yankees’ celebration was underway, their 41st pennant all but secured.

“You win with good people and good players,” said captain Aaron Judge. “When you go out and get a guy like Juan Soto, you put him in this lineup with other great guys we have … good things are going to happen.”

Needing four more victories to claim the 28th World Series title in franchise history, the Yankees will face the winner of the Dodgers/Mets NLCS in the Fall Classic beginning on Friday.

“It sounds so good when you say it like that,” manager Aaron Boone said. “To get to do it with these guys every single day, what they have is very special.”

Soto’s contributions are a major reason why the Yankees have reached this stage.

There were fantasies of an outcome like this on the December evening that the Yankees acquired Soto, surrendering a five-player package to the Padres in exchange for one of the game’s top left-handed hitters.

“We gave up a lot,” general manager Brian Cashman said. “It was a big chess move, no doubt about it, that was designed to increase our chances. And it did.”

Soto’s pivotal showdown came after Giancarlo Stanton launched a game-tying, two-run homer off Tanner Bibee in the sixth inning, with Stanton’s fourth blast of the series earning him ALCS MVP honors. The Bombers’ fatigued bullpen kept Cleveland off the board through regulation, and New York turned over the lineup as the game moved to the 10th.

After a walk and a fielding error by shortstop Brayan Rocchio, Soto stepped in with two outs. Hunter Gaddis tried a slider inside for a ball, then dropped one into the zone for a called strike; Soto crouched in silent protest.

Soto flicked the next two pitches foul, a slider and a changeup. Watching from the dugout, Stanton noted that it seemed like Soto was “taking balls out of the catcher’s glove,” exhibiting his stellar bat control.

“To be honest with you,” Jazz Chisholm Jr. said, “when I saw Soto foul off the changeup, I said, ‘Oh, we’re good. We’re out of here.’”

Soto seemed to know it, too; Gerrit Cole described it as Soto’s “autopilot” mode, the one that frustrates opposing pitchers until they inevitably give in.

“I was just ready,” Soto said. “I’d already faced him a couple of times this series. I knew everything he had, so I was just waiting for the mistake and trying to do damage.”

Soto wasted another changeup, all but daring Gaddis to throw a fastball. When he did, on the seventh pitch of the at-bat, Soto didn’t miss, blasting a Statcast-calculated 402-foot shot – all the Yanks would need to punch their ticket, once Luke Weaver notched the final three outs.

“I was on my tippy-toes [in the dugout], trying to look over all of our guys,” Weaver said. “The ball was sitting in the air, it looked a little high for my taste. But it sounded loud, so I thought there was a chance.”

As Soto gleefully splashed through another champagne celebration, at one point lighting a cigar in the visiting clubhouse, his teammates gushed about the superstar’s value.

Since Day 1, Soto has pitched a perfect game regarding his upcoming free agency, saying all the right things about loving his teammates, the franchise’s history and the fans without outright committing beyond the final game of the World Series.

Wisely, Soto repeats time and time again that he will let agent Scott Boras handle all of that; his job is to play baseball. Short of four more victories, it is difficult to imagine how Soto’s pinstriped test drive could have gone any better.

And as the Yankees marveled over his latest highlight-reel accomplishment, one that fans will celebrate for years to come, Soto’s teammates found it impossible to picture life without him. As Chisholm shouted: “I think we should re-sign Soto! $700 million! Final offer.”

That won’t qualify as a binding proposal, but a more formal one will come in the near future. For now, the Yankees need to get ready to play in the World Series, aiming to finish the last chapter of a story they couldn’t have written without Soto.

“We need him to stay. He’s going to stay,” Stanton said. “We need to bring it home, and then we’ll bring him home also.”