Yankees: 3 Injuries That Officially Killed the 2019 Season

1. Giancarlo Stanton

The 2019 New York Yankees were felled by Giancarlo Stanton’s final injury.

It was all coming together. After an injury-plagued year consisting of only 18 Giancarlo Stanton games, the Yankees finally wouldn’t need Tauchman, Maybin and Co. to pick up for their fallen All-Star.

In Game 1 of the 2019 ALCS, everything worked perfectly. Stanton absolutely pulverized a pitch into the bullpen to extend NYY’s lead over Zack Greinke, and we all realized that, as depressed as we were at the absence of the Sock Man, it was all going to be fine. The best-laid plan had finally returned.

Somehow, after what should’ve been a tone-setting victory for the ages, the 2019 Yankees could not carry that momentum in Game 2, and their all-time season finally became an untenable house of cards when Stanton went down.

His insurance policy was already gone. He was the series’ X-factor, as he clearly proved in Game 1. He was fresh. He was just too good.

But, invisible to the naked eye, he’d hurt himself once more in that initial victory, and the Yankees played a fun game of “will he-won’t he” for the remainder of the series, keeping him on the active roster in case a World Series was still ahead of them (it wasn’t).

Could Stanton run? Who’s to say? He couldn’t play the outfield. He regrettably wasn’t much good. Two games, seven plate appearances, three whiffs, and a gigantic question mark. This was the final nail in a nail-filled coffin for one of the more resilient, ringless teams we’ll ever see.