NEW YORK — As Aaron Boone prepared for the potential chaos that Game 162 could unleash on his club and Major League Baseball, the manager appeared calm and collected while he spoke to reporters before the regular season finale.

The New York Yankees entered the day in search of two outcomes: a win over the Baltimore Orioles and a Toronto Blue Jays loss to the Tampa Bay Rays. That combination would have secured the American League East for the Bombers, given them a first-round bye in the postseason, and locked them in as the No. 1 seed in the American League.

“It’ll be an exciting day,” Boone said beforehand. “There’s obviously a few things to sort out. But at the risk of sounding boring, it’s ‘we’re trying to win today,’ and that’s kind of how we look at it.

“We’ll be paying attention to what’s going on around the league, but obviously, those things are out of our control.”

Those last words rang true, as the pinstripers could only look at Yankee Stadium’s out-of-town scoreboard with a sense of helplessness as the Jays beat the Rays, 13-4, earning all that the Yankees had strived for. Toronto’s Alejandro Kirk, known as a Yankee killer, helped make that happen, as he hit a grand slam and a two-run homer on Sunday.

The Yankees won their own game, 3-2, thanks in part to two solo homers from Ben Rice, but they’ll nonetheless begin their postseason at home against the Red Sox in the wild-card round on Tuesday after going 94-68 in the regular season.

Last year’s club, which made it to but lost the World Series, ended up with the same record.

While this was hardly an unsuccessful season — the Yankees are still in the playoffs, after all — it’s hard not to see the final standings and think that the team was capable of more.

The team led the AL East by seven games on May 28, but an ensuing summer swoon — which has become an annual occurrence under Boone — helped the Jays take control of the division in early July. Toronto held the tiebreaker over New York thanks to an 8-5 record in head-to-head play, and the Yankees barely finished above .500 against the AL East.

A few other lost series — including ones to the Miami Marlins and Los Angeles Angels — and several bullpen implosions also hurt the Yankees’ record.

On the flip side, the Yankees suffered some tough breaks this season, as Gerrit Cole was lost to Tommy John surgery in spring training. Clarke Schmidt followed midseason, and Luis Gil, who allowed two solo homers over five innings on Sunday, was limited to 11 starts thanks to a lat injury. Giancarlo Stanton missed two months with tennis elbows, and injuries ravaged the bullpen as it struggled.

Jazz Chisholm Jr. spent a month on the injured list before the swoon, while Aaron Judge missed 10 games with a right flexor strain. His arm strength will be something to watch in the playoffs.

Unable to change the past, the Yankees are fortunate to have found their groove at the right time.

While Sunday did not go the way they wanted, they enter the postseason as one of baseball’s hottest teams. Sometimes that’s all you need to win in October, and it’s not like the Yankees are short on talent.

“I feel as good about this team as I have any team that I’ve had here at this point in the season, so there’s some comfort in that,” Boone said.

When asked why he felt that way, he had a few reasons ready to go.

“This is probably the healthiest we’ve been, probably the most balanced we’ve been,” Boone said, adding that he likes the progress his pen has made recently. “Obviously, last year we got to the World Series and had a really, really good club, but we were still a little short or flawed in certain areas. This team can beat you in a lot of different ways.”

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