Giancarlo Stanton was the entire Yankee offense on Tuesday night, clearing the bases with a three-run double before demolishing a 451-foot home run to drive in two more in a 5-1 victory.
Stanton’s big night at the plate continued a torrid stretch for the Yankee slugger, as he has been locked in at the plate since returning from his extended IL stint to start the season. At Katie Sharp of Stathead noted, Stanton holds a ridiculous 1.219 slugging percentage over his last 11 games, smashing seven home runs in that span, needing just 32 at-bats to reach that mark. One of those seven home runs was a dramatic game-winner against Pete Fairbanks and the Rays in extra innings last week.
“Locked in,” Cody Bellinger said of Stanton. “Seems like every at-bat is a quality at-bat. He hits the ball harder than anyone I've ever seen. He’s really fun to watch. It’s really impressive.”
Before Tuesday’s individual effort, Aaron Boone told reporters that this current run by Stanton may be the best he’s ever been since joining the Yankees, and that was before he drove in all five runs
“The consistency of the at-bat is what's been so impressive,” Boone said. “It’s great so see. He’s just in a great mental frame of mind. Incredibly focused and obviously delivering.”
Stanton has been on an all-time tear since he was leading the Yankees to a pennant in 2024. The ALCS MVP was a machine in the playoffs, and even after missing the first two-plus months of the season due to tennis elbows, Stanton hasn’t skipped a beat. Since making his season debut on June 16, Stanton is batting .313 with 17 home runs and a 1.051 OPS. Over his last 35 games, he is hitting .358 with a 1.256 OPS and 16 home runs.
Stanton’s 2025 OPS would be higher than the 1.007 he posted in 2017 when he crushed a league-leading 59 home runs en route to an NL MVP award. Remarkably, even with the time he has missed, it is not out of the question to imagine Stanton garnering MVP votes in 2025 if he continues on this tear.
Not only has Stanton been on fire at the plate, he has done it in any role the Yankees have asked of him. He has been deadly as a pinch hitter this season after struggling in that role for much of his career (his homer off Fairbanks came as a pinch hitter), and has been logging time in right field to make sure he and Aaron Judge’s bat can stay in the lineup while Judge works his way back from a flexor strain. Whatever the Yanks have needed from Stanton, he has provided it, and a whole lot more.
No Yankee has been bigger when it matters most than Stanton. With the way he’s swinging the bat right now, Yankee fans should have at least some hope that it’s possible a red-hot Stanton could carry the Bombers on another deep playoff run, despite the overall frustrations of the season so far.