Even before Giancarlo Stanton homered for a fourth time in the five-game ALCS on Saturday night in Cleveland, the narrative surrounding his tenure with the Yankees had been altered by another stellar October performance.
And despite the roller-coaster ride that has been Stanton’s seven years in The Bronx, general manager Brian Cashman said there were no second thoughts about the move to obtain the oft-injured slugger and his massive contract from the Marlins prior to the 2018 season.
“I never had any regrets about acquiring Giancarlo Stanton,” Cashman said before Game 5 at Progressive Field.
A few hours later, the Yankees advanced to their first World Series since 2009, thanks not only to Juan Soto’s three-run homer that gave them the lead in the top of the 10th, but the game-tying two-run shot Stanton delivered in the sixth inning against Tanner Bibee, who fanned Stanton twice earlier in the game.
“[Stanton] has been a part of our solution, not part of our problem,’’ Cashman said of the slugger, who was named ALCS MVP. “In the Octobers we haven’t gone as far as we wanted to and hoped to, it wasn’t because of him. He did his part.”
There’s no denying Stantons’s excellence in the postseason.
In 36 career playoff games, Stanton has hit an astounding 16 homers over 149 plate appearances. He has a 1.019 OPS.
Soto, who has 10 home runs in 38 playoff games, has a .906 postseason OPS and had his best October series of his career in the ALCS, with three home runs — including Saturday’s dagger.
And Aaron Judge is at .761.
But Stanton hasn’t played more than 114 games or had more than 459 plate appearances in a regular season since 2021. And with him turning 35 next month, it’s hard to see that changing.
Stanton has three years left on his deal and rebounded from the worst season of his career.
“Last year was the first time he didn’t really perform as a healthy player,’’ Cashman said of a 2023 season that was brutal for both Stanton (.695 OPS, 24 HRs in 101 games) and the Yankees. “When he’s feeling good and on the field, he’s always a threat. Even prior to this year, October has always brought out the best in him. That’s why we acquired him years ago: To have him on the field and be a force in the middle of the lineup. He’s important to where we want to go.”
And, perhaps somewhat surprisingly to outside observers, no Yankee has become a better spokesman for the team and its goals — or goal — this postseason.
While teammates and coaches regularly speak of the single-minded focus on winning a World Series title in The Bronx for the first time since 2009, no one has put it more succinctly than Stanton on multiple occasions.
From Friday night’s response about how it felt to get within a game of the World Series: “It feels like nothing until we get it done. As far as I’m concerned, we haven’t done nothing;” to Saturday’s similar attitude about advancing past the ALCS and winning the series MVP: “This is a special moment for me, but this ain’t the trophy I want. I want the next one.”
And it all comes after Stanton’s best overall year since ’21 — a season in which he served exclusively as a DH.
In years past, even as Stanton battled lower-body injuries, he would occasionally play the outfield. On Saturday, Cashman said not having Stanton play defense was not a goal heading into the season.
Instead, it was a result of how the roster was built, with the offseason additions of outfielders Soto and Trent Grisham from San Diego and Alex Verdugo from Boston.
“It wasn’t the plan not to play him,” Cashman said. “There just wasn’t a spot for him to go out.”
The Yankees won the AL East and are in the World Series in large part because the slimmed-down Stanton contributed throughout the season and playoffs and he’s set to enter the World Series as the toast of the town.
“I think the narrative of his career is the narrative of the Yankees,” Cashman said. “When he’s playing well, he’s appreciated and when he’s not playing well, the boobirds come out. It’s true of the team and the individual, and when you make a lot of money, there’s a lot more abuse. It’s the nature of the beast. But he’s always been accountable and we’re seeing what he can do.”