Breaking down Stanton's ridiculous stretch

TORONTO -- To find a stretch where Giancarlo Stanton felt more locked in at home plate, you would have to travel back to 2017, a season in which he belted 59 homers. By January of the following year, he was seated next to Aaron Judge in a ritzy Manhattan ballroom, the pair sporting spiffy tuxedos and awaiting recognition among the best sluggers in their sport.

Stanton and Judge were teammates by then, the Yankees having pulled off an incredible deal to partner the reigning National League Most Valuable Player with the unanimous American League Rookie of the Year. No one on that dais would have imagined that three more years would pass before the hulking He-Men synced again at the top of their respective games.

“I’ve got some nice swings and misses in there as well,” Stanton said, with a grin. “It’s always going to be difficult to hit. I would just say, as long as I’m on time for balls over the heart of the plate, it’s been good.”

That’s an understatement. Stanton’s offensive explosion has established records, propelling the club to the precipice of sealing a postseason berth. The reigning AL Player of the Week, Stanton entered play on Wednesday at Toronto batting .458 (11-for-24) with five homers, 15 RBIs and two walks over a six-game hitting streak.

“I feel like any big moment, any big situation, you know he’s going to come through,” Judge said. “It feels like he keeps coming up with guys on base, or down a couple of runs and the game’s close. He just goes up there and does his thing.”

Stanton has homered in each of his last four games entering Wednesday, including golfing a Trevor Richards changeup in Tuesday’s series opener that hovered just 1.26 feet off the ground, the lowest pitch that Stanton has ever slugged out of the park in his career. It is the fourth time in Stanton’s career that he has homered in four straight games, and the second time this season (also Aug. 23-27).

“He’d thrown me a couple that were in the vicinity, the same pitch,” Stanton said. “I just had to make sure I got under that, stayed inside it and tried to scoop it. It was a bit in off the plate, but with that mentality, sometimes you’ll get to those.”

“I don’t know how you can hit a ball like that,” Blue Jays manager Charlie Montoyo marveled. “That ball was almost in the dirt, and he went and hit it out.”

No doubt, Stanton has created a splitting headache for opposing hurlers over this sizzling stretch. Just ask the Red Sox, who saw Stanton belt three homers and collect 10 RBIs in a three-game series at Fenway Park this past weekend. Stanton joined Babe Ruth (1927), Lou Gehrig (1931) and Mickey Mantle (1954) as the only Yanks to collect three homers and 10 RBIs over any three-game span against the Red Sox -- a veritable Mount Yankmore.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Stanton is the third Yankee since 1920 with at least four home runs and 13 RBIs in a four-game span in September. He joined Ruth (four homers and 13 RBIs in September 1929) and George Selkirk (five homers and 13 RBIs in September 1940).

“It helps me relax, knowing that I’ve got the big man behind me who’s swinging the bat well,” Judge said. “He’s going to get the job done if I don’t.”

OK, to put it another way: The Yankees have scored 26 runs over their last four games, and Stanton has driven in half of them. But this isn’t just a September surge -- in 49 games since Aug. 3, Stanton is batting .323/.373/.667 (60-for-186) with 19 homers and 50 RBIs.

“It’s been a pretty long extended streak,” manager Aaron Boone said. “In the very recent, it’s been scorching hot. He’s a special player. His focus right now is tremendous. I think he’s just walking up there with a lot of conviction, knowing what he wants to do and what he wants to look for. He’s very prepared, and his body is executing for him.”

It’s exactly the kind of performance Stanton was putting forth on a nightly basis back in 2017, patrolling the outfield for a Marlins team that would not sniff postseason contention. The fact that Stanton is doing so in the heat of a postseason chase, when the games mean the most, offers a friendly reminder of his stellar performance in last year’s empty-ballpark playoffs.

It might also be a sign of what is still yet to come in October.

“Given the situation we’re in and will be in the rest of the season, I’ve just got to keep feeding off this,” Stanton said. “Keep learning from the good and the bad of these times, and keep it going.”