Few players have represented the Yankees’ injury-plagued 2019 season quite like the slugger Giancarlo Stanton. Before Wednesday, he had played in only nine games because of a litany of physical ailments: a left biceps strain; a balky left shoulder; a strained calf; and, most recently, a sprained posterior cruciate ligament in his right knee.

But for the first time since June 25, Yankees Manager Aaron Boone wrote Stanton’s name into the lineup — batting fifth and starting in left field in Wednesday night’s 3-2 loss to the Los Angeles Angels. A win would have clinched the first American League East title since 2012 for the Yankees, who missed a second chance later that night, when the Tampa Bay Rays kept the division race alive by beating the Los Angeles Dodgers in 11 innings.

Yankees players, coaches and officials stayed late into the night at Yankee Stadium to watch the Rays-Dodgers game, and were prepared to celebrate in a clubhouse that had plastic sheeting mounted on the walls. But the champagne was wheeled out soon after the Rays’ win.