Giancarlo Stanton picked the right time for his signature Yankee moment

Prior to the Yankees’ weekend at Fenway Park, during which he had three homers and 10 RBI in the three-game sweep of the Red Sox, Giancarlo Stanton’s biggest moments as a Yankee came in empty stadiums for an audience of cardboard cutouts.

During the 2020 playoffs, Stanton was every bit of the $325 million slugger the Yankees envisioned he’d be when they took on his monster contract from the Marlins. He had a run of six home runs in five games, helping the Yankees dispel Cleveland and turning the water in the Rays’ tank up to an uncomfortable temperature.

The Yankees would eventually lose to the Rays in the American League Division Series, but not before Stanton hit .316 in the five-game epic, slugging a ridiculous 1.000 that only someone of his size could pull off. Still, those games were during the teeth of the pandemic, meaning the Yankees and Rays were playing in San Diego and forced to bring their own energy to the park.

For the duration of the recent sweep in Beantown, which vaulted the Yankees into the first Wild Card spot, Stanton seemed to derive pleasure from turning a squawking Fenway Park into a library. He took time to admire his home runs as they literally left the ballpark and disappeared into the Boston streets, along with the full-throated screams of those who hate the Yankees the most.

“It means a lot for me,” Stanton said after putting Sunday’s game on ice with an eighth inning bat flipper. “I put in a lot of work and time and study. This is my whole life, so it’s good to be able to contribute and help the team out.”

Recently, Stanton has helped the team out in more ways than one. He’s started 11 games in the outfield during September, providing a dash of lineup flexibility that was glaringly missing when Stanton was exclusively playing designated hitter. Stanton has a 155 wRC+ in the month of September and the highest hard-hit rate of any month of his season.

“I’m just ready to go,” Stanton flexed. “A lot on the line — for our season, this is a big time right now — I just gotta make sure I’m the most prepared that I can be.”

Every baseball player shows up to the yard with some degree of preparation, though. What Stanton and the Yankees are relying on right now, and what has steered their ship through turbulent waters all season, is an immense confidence in themselves.

“We know what we can do,” Stanton began. “But that’s just one part of it. We have to go out there and let it be known.”

The three recent games in Boston proved that Stanton is built for the big moments. While looking locked in on each and every swing, he absolutely struck fear in the hearts of Red Sox’s pitching. Early in his Yankee tenure, impatient fans began wondering if all those years in Miami had left Stanton ill-prepared for the spotlight of New York. In his first full playoff series with the team (a 2018 ALDS against Boston), Stanton collected just four singles and no extra base hits, striking out six times in the four-game loss.

On Friday night, he socked an opposite field dinger off Nathan Eovaldi to turn the Yankees’ 3-0 lead into a 6-0 laugher.

Saturday brought the go-ahead grand slam onto Landsdowne Street, and Sunday delivered yet another home run in a high-leverage spot. With a performance of that stature in the Yankees’ biggest regular season games in years, it’s now readily obvious that the man who looks built to play in gladiator arenas is also built to play under the Yankees’ microscope.

“You can’t be scared of those moments, or they’ll sneak up on you real quick,” Stanton pointed out. “You’ll be the one to get all the big moments. You gotta be ready and confident for them, that’s for sure.”

The last week has been one giant moment for the Yankees. Embarrassing losses at home to Cleveland on Sept. 18-19 put their backs firmly against the wall, and the team has not lost since, bunching together six straight wins to once again stick their flag in a Wild Card position.

“The story of our season is getting punched in the face and coming back,” DJ LeMahieu said.

Taking the postgame podium on Sunday in a Muhammad Ali tank top, which depicted the boxing legend coolly dodging a punch, Stanton showed a similar athletic grace. His awe-inspiring home runs to beat the Red Sox appeared relatively effortless, and his ability to flush them and move on demonstrated a readiness for the next punch.

“We did it one game at a time here,” Stanton said of the team’s handiwork in Massachusetts. “Just as big of a series in Toronto coming up.”

As for handling what’s next — the frenzied Canadian crowds that watched their Blue Jays play in Buffalo and Florida for nearly two seasons before returning home — Stanton pulls from his internal pool of confidence yet again.

“At the end of the day, it’s still the same game I’ve been playing my whole life.”