Giancarlo Stanton builds historic Yankees playoff resume

CLEVELAND – Giancarlo Stanton has become a freshman and beats Orlando Hernandez.

He's good in the regular season, sometimes very good, but always leaves you feeling like there needs to be more. And then October comes and, well, there's more. Stanton has shown this time of year that he is willing to give Duque a try.

Hernandez was the best postseason starter of the Yankee dynasty. And Stanton is the best October hitter of this generally frustrating era of Yankee postseason ball. He is a judge and is making a splash in the postseason.

He entered ALCS Game 5 on Saturday night and averaged nearly one RBI per game in the postseason, 33 in 36 contests. Aaron Judge's 15 home runs ranked third all-time in the playoffs among the Yankees, behind only Bernie Williams, Derek Jeter and Mickey Mantle. But that's 15 home runs in 36 games. To put it into perspective, that would equate to 67¹/₂ over 162 games.

And Stanton doesn't throw meaningless punches. For example, his solo start in the eighth inning of Game 3 against Kansas City's Kris Bubic was the biggest hit of the Division Series. The game ended 2-2. The series ended 1-1. The Yanks were on the verge of falling behind and one loss away from a first-round exit to the Royals.

Consider that entering Saturday, the Yankees had 66 plate appearances this postseason with runners in scoring position and just one home run – a three-run Stanton blast off Cade Smith that gave the Yankees a 6-2 lead in a game 4 they would ultimately win 8-6.

Take a look inside this loft and you will find the October Stanton.

He hit a game-winning home run in the eighth inning against Emmanuel Clase, the majors' leading regular-season closer, after falling behind 2-0 on Thursday night. He fouled three shots on two strikes before crushing a Clase slider.

Smith was arguably the best setup man in the majors. Just a few quick facts. In his first 81 appearances over 84 ¹/₃ innings, he had allowed one home run all season (regular and postseason) – a leadoff shot off Seattle's Dylan Moore on June 18 that gave the Mariners a 7-1 provided leadership. Since then, he has faced 196 batters without conceding a long ball.

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After falling to 0-2 in the regular season against Smith, the batters batted .113 with 47 strikeouts in 75 plate appearances. The front nine, who trailed him 0-2 in these playoffs, all made outs, seven of them by strikeout. Stanton was ninth.

Juan Soto walked, Judge had a single and Jazz Chisholm sacrificed both into scoring position. First base was open. Anthony Rizzo was on deck. But Cleveland manager Stephen Vogt decided to let Smith attack. And it looked pretty good as Smith took a 2-0 lead. After all, Stanton had hit just .136 with two at bats this year and .119 after 0-2.

But that's Stanton from April to September.

He had struck at full count in his previous punching attack. But that ended a series of 27 record appearances without a trace – the longest of his career. And before that strikeout, Stanton had done the following in his seven previous plate appearances that resulted in two strikeouts:

Single, double, single, walk, groundout, homer, walk.

Here he told himself not to strike, getting a sacrifice fly was a must. He got more. With the score tied at 1-2, Smith hurled a 94.2 mph fastball into the top, outside corner of the strike zone and Stanton sent it 404 feet. It gave him three hits in the ALCS – all home runs.

“He did it again,” Aaron Boone said. “Just to get to two beats there and come to one – almost looked like a letter – maybe a high heater and just so smooth – just something special. Just locked up, prepared. His preparation and his ability to just focus is impressive.”

Stanton got on the field early this postseason to beat a high-speed pitching machine, and he was joined by Judge before Games 3 and 4. After going to ALCS Game 7 in 2017, the Yankees had built an offseason plan around importing Shohei Ohtani. When he spurned the Yankees, they immediately pivoted, trading Starlin Castro and two prospects to Derek Jeter's Marlins for Stanton and a $30 million 10-year settlement at $295 million on the incumbent NL's contract -MVP remained.

The idea was to build a Twin Towers offense around Judge and Stanton and win championships. But for Stanton, the regular seasons were inconsistent and injury-filled, and for the Yankees, the seven-game ALCS loss to the Astros was the closest they have come to the World Series since they won it in 2009.

Until now.

And since the Yankees excel at championships, their fan base isn't focused on the good Hernandez, who went 61-40 with a 3.96 ERA as a Yankee in the regular season. They remember what it meant to give El Duque the ball in October, when he started 11 times during the 1998-2000 three-game postseason run, the Yankees won 10 times and he was 8-1 with an ERA of 2.20 stood.

Stanton is increasingly making sure that Yankee fans don't remember the injuries, the collapses and the protections on the bases. He creates a historic October resume.

It's the offseason and Stanton is back in full swing.