Giancarlo Stanton is stepping up for the Yankees under the postseason’s bright lights.
The New York Yankees could not have asked for a much better start to life in the ALCS following their 5-2 win in Game 1 over the Cleveland Guardians. It was the Yankees’ big guns that drove in their five runs; Aaron Judge drove in a run with a sacrifice fly while Juan Soto and Giancarlo Stanton both went yard to give New York a lead that they would not relinquish.
Stanton’s blast, in particular, was an outright moonshot. He punished a 93-mph fastball from Erik Sabrowski that was hanging in the middle of the strike zone and launched it to left-center field for a 439-foot blast to give the Yankees a 5-1 lead in the bottom of the seventh inning.
This home run was Stanton’s 13th in 32 playoff games for the Yankees, per Katie Sharp of Talkin’ Yanks, which puts the veteran slugger in esteemed franchise history. According to Sharp, no other Yankees player has hit 13 long balls in any 32-playoff game span apart from Babe Ruth and Stanton, which is an extremely exclusive club to say the least.
Giancarlo Stanton is an October monster for the Yankees
Stanton’s has battled injury problems over the past few years, and his production has fallen off a cliff relative to his heyday. He still has plenty of raw power at his disposal, but he has been very inconsistent for the Yankees amid his decline.
Nevertheless, Stanton appears to reserve his best for when the lights are at their brightest. He has been on a heater for the Yankees in this year’s playoffs, and it doesn’t seem like he’s on the cusp of slowing down anytime soon. His October emergence has made getting through the Yankees’ heart of the order an even more daunting task.
