NEW YORK — If everything goes right for the Orioles in the wild card round, they could be back in this same spot next weekend.

An Orioles vs. Yankees American League Division Series. Ace Corbin Burnes and ace Gerrit Cole. A sold-out Yankee Stadium with a national television audience to watch American League East rivals duel it out.

There are numerous steps that need to be taken to set that up — the Yankees need to claim the top seed and the Orioles need to do the same in the wild card standings, then beat their opponent in the wild card round to move on to the ALDS. But there’s no denying, after watching these two teams battle in the Bronx during the final week of the season, that that would be appointment viewing.

The Orioles took the first two games, claiming their playoff spot on Tuesday with a 5-3 win and following with a 9-7 hangover victory on Wednesday.

On Thursday, the Burnes vs. Cole battle delivered as advertised, Burnes allowing one run in five innings while striking out nine and Cole allowing no runs in 6 2/3. But the Orioles took a conservative approach, pulling Burnes at 69 pitches to protect him for the playoffs.

“You have to look at the bigger picture,” Burnes said. “We have a lot of important games coming up here next week. We talked about it and had the plan of going five and 75, in that range, getting the work in and getting prepared for the postseason.”

The bullpen could not preserve his strong start, Yennier Cano and Cionel Pérez getting only one out each while allowing three and two runs, respectively. Bryan Baker got them out of the inning, but he let in three total runs, including Aaron Judge’s 58th home run of the season, in the seventh as the Yankees won 10-1.

“Whenever you win the first two, it’s disappointing not to win the third,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “We emptied our bullpen the last two nights, a lot of guys are on fumes, and we still have important games to play. Fortunately, I was able to keep away from a few bullpen guys. That’s the one positive, but not many positives tonight.”

With the win, the Yankees take the American League East, a feat that became all but inevitable over the last month of the season as the Orioles faltered. New York’s magic number was one at the start of the series Tuesday, and the Yankees needed only one win in the last six games to take the title. They got that Thursday and with it a first-round bye.

“Yeah, it is, yep,” Hyde said when asked if it was disappointing not to win the division. “That’s a good team over there. They played better than us in the second half. ... Give them credit for playing well.”

The Orioles still have things to play for as they head to Minnesota for the final series of the year: one more win or a Detroit loss will give them the top wild card spot. They also still have the matter of setting their playoff roster, something that may be trickier with the way the bullpen performed Thursday. After carrying 28 players all of September, teams have to drop two for the postseason.

Burnes, who is expected to start Game 1 of the wild card series Tuesday, won’t be one of those. The right-hander, who was acquired from Milwaukee in February to lead a team that was preparing not to have Kyle Bradish available, pitched to a 2.95 ERA this season, behind only the Tigers’ Tarik Skubal in the American League.

“I’m just really proud of coming in and obviously, being a brand-new group, adjusting to it pretty quickly and having a pretty good year,” Burnes said. “Overall, the consistency was very good. That was kind of my goal coming in is to make sure I’m available to go every five days, go out there and be as consistent as I can. Outside of two pretty bad ones there in August, it was definitely a really good season. So definitely proud of it and looking to keep building it up here in the postseason.”