Yankees: 3 Giancarlo Stanton playoff redemption moments we’ve already seen in 2020

2. Stanton Walks Against Brad Hand, Game 2

Giancarlo Stanton began the Yankees’ ninth-inning rally against Brad Hand.

If you’re like me, you’ve been specifically struck through the first few 2020 playoff games by Giancarlo Stanton’s ability to take a walk, especially when the pressure has been ratcheted up to a maximum.

Is it his job to take walks? Well, no. It would be ideal if he could hit a home run every time up. That would tidy things up nicely and justify his salary in the eyes of many.

But sometimes, an at-bat can go by without a hittable pitch in the bunch, beginning to end. And too often over the past few years, Stanton would spent these types of at-bats getting itchy and desperate, seemingly over-eager to please. He’d offer at a slider low and away, encouraging the opposing pitcher to lick his lips and deliver one far lower and much further away from Stanton’s not-that-long bat. It was often very frustrating.

But thus far in 2020, even with the fake crowd noise blaring, Stanton has been far more willing to spit on the breaker, comfortably not even wavering when it approaches more often than not.

He took an excellent walk against Blake Snell in the fourth on Monday, putting the fiery lefty on the ropes (he later escaped). But the premier example came leading off the ninth inning against Brad Hand on Wednesday, facing a closer with a wipeout slider who was swaggering, entering October with a 16-for-16 save streak. Stanton grinded out a walk to start the team’s ninth-inning rally, giving way to pinch-runner Mike Tauchman, who scored the game-tying run in his stead.

It’s DJ LeMahieu and Gio Urshela who will long be remembered for their efforts in that series-shifting inning, but it was Stanton who was more than happy to set up his teammates with patience, a virtue we haven’t seen as much from him over the past few disappointing seasons.

1. Stanton Slams the Stable, Game 1 ALDS

Giancarlo Stanton put Game 1 out of reach for the Rays, as the Yankees exhaled.

Be honest: Even after what a healthy Giancarlo Stanton has shown us over the past several years, did you think he was ready to contribute a big hit with the bases loaded in a 5-3 game on Monday night?

You were mentally calculating Aroldis Chapman’s chances with a two-run lead, weren’t you?

But when Stanton lifted a “sacrifice fly” to dead center, most of us were plenty satisfied with his ability to sit on a slider and lift it for the insurance — until, of course, the ball cut through the marine layer and landed well beyond Kevin Kiermaier’s outstretched glove for the granny.

Turns out those Stanton splits at Petco Park might’ve meant something, huh?

No, Stanton didn’t “earn his pinstripes” Monday night, because that is not a real thing. Even those who believe in the mythology won’t imbue it upon him until he’s got a thick ring on his finger, sticky from a law-breaking dose of champagne.

Until that home run, though, Stanton’s postseason pivot points consisted of increased patience and a few examples of him taking the first step, setting his teammates up for the ultimate glory. Remember him bat-flipping a walk against the Twins last year, or icing a Wild Card victory against the A’s, but only with a thick lead? Hopefully, those previous justifications for the “clutch-ness” we hoped were hiding somewhere can now take a backseat.

We’ve been waiting for 2009 A-Rod to emerge, especially after the man himself took a shot at Stanton as an “easy out” in the Wild Card round. Hopefully, Monday presented the first inarguable data point in that chase.

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