It was the end of the New York Yankees for another year, and probably the end of their manager for good.

Joe Torre is likely to be sacked as Yankees manager after the team were knocked out of the post-season at the first hurdle in the early hours of this morning. The little-heralded Cleveland Indians beat the Yankees 6-4 in the Bronx to complete an American League Division Series win by three games to one.

Cleveland’s starting pitcher, Paul Byrd, gave up only two runs in more than five innings, while the Yankees’ starter, Chien-Ming Wang, left in the second inning after conceding four. It is the first time the Indians have reached the American League Championship Series since 1998. They have not won the World Series since 1948.

Torre took the Yankees to twelve successive post-seasons and won four World Series titles, but none since 2000. This was the team’s third-successive defeat in the first round. “This has been a great 12 years. Whatever the hell happens from here on out, I’ll look back on these 12 years with great, great pleasure,” Torre said. “The 12 years just felt like they were ten minutes long, to be honest with you.”

Torre spoke of his “emptiness”. He may soon be emptying his office. George Steinbrenner, the aged but still volcanic owner, will be furious at such a meagre return from a squad with an annual payroll of $200million, easily the highest in Major League Baseball and more than three times the Indians’ outlay. Before the game, Steinbrenner had said that Torre’s “job is on the line. I think we’re paying him a lot of money. He’s the highest-paid manager in baseball, so I don’t think we’d take him back if we don't win this series.”

Alex Rodriguez, the best-paid player in the game, might also have worn the Yankees’ uniform for the last time. He can opt out of the remaining years of his $252million, ten-year contract. “One of the reasons I came here was to help this team win a world championship,” Rodriguez said. “I have failed at that. Without a championship, everything else is just numbers. One hundred per cent, it’s not Joe’s fault.”

The Indians’ win denied baseball another titanic clash between its two greatest rivals, the Yankees and Boston Red Sox. The Indians travel to Boston’s Fenway Park for the first fixture in the best-of-seven series on Friday night. Boston vanquished the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim with a three-game sweep of the series.

Results in the National League have subverted expectations. The choice of the romantics, the Chicago Cubs, saw their World Series drought extend to 99 years after they lost by three games to none to the inexperienced Arizona Diamondbacks. Another much-loved team with a reputation for incompetence, the Philadelphia Phillies, found that their outstanding late-season form deserted them when they met the Colorado Rockies, who have won seventeen of their past eighteen games.

Arizona host Colorado in the first game of the National League Championship Series on Thursday night. The games are live on NASN.