N.Y. Yankees: Stanton Continues Wielding Potent Gavel In Judge's Absence

From the desk of:  BLAME CARLOS MAY

Stanton Keeps Yankees Heading in Right Direction

New York Yankees: Giancarlo Stanton Successfully Leads Bombers Through Dog Days of Summer.

A running joke entering the regular season, and for much of Spring, was that each successive game Giancarlo Stanton plays as a New York Yankee would be his most important game ever played in his entire career.  Considering his near decade spent with the Miami Marlins, it wasn't that outlandish to say.  Despite 1,120 major league games played, to date, Stanton has yet to participate in the post-season, not even a remotely meaningful pennant race.

In the same vein, his 2017 National League MVP meant little in the Bronx.  The reality of the situation was that he was coming to Aaron Judge's team - a young dynamic Yankees team lead by a new age hero which came within one game of reaching last year's World Series; which gained invaluable experience, and now grasps the magnitude of meaningful baseball games.

Stanton himself engineered his trade to the Yankees by invoking his no-trade clause.  He took on this challenge knowing full well the potential perils and pitfalls faced by previous mega buck carpetbaggers attempting to endear themselves to the New York crowd and its media saturated city.

When Aaron Judge sustained a fractured wrist on July 26, the Yankees owned a 65-36 record.  Since then, Giancarlo has carried them to a 19-14 record, for an 84-50 record overall.  He is slashing .274/.376/.593/.969 in the month of August, with ten home runs and 22 RBI since Judge went down, all while playing with a sore hamstring.

Only through Giancarlo Stanton's continued availability did the Yankees withstand the loss of Judge, and Gary Sanchez, and Didi Gregorius, while also negotiating numerous pitching inconsistencies and injuries, and still achieve the second best record in baseball.  They do not stay within striking distance of Boston (8.5 games back) without him.  Those six late September games against the Red Sox still remain relevant because Stanton is making it so.

No one is laughing now.  His naysayers are nowhere in sight minus those few inventing issue with a 3.8 WAR because they either don't like him, cling blindly to contrived statistical misinformation, or just aren't watching, or all the above.

But I digress ...

My main point is how Giancarlo Stanton almost single-handed guided the Yankees through the dog days of summer.

September morn awaits.