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.