Stanton had a 1.132 OPS in four ALDS games, including a deadlock-breaking home run in the seventh inning in Game 3 that swung the series in the Yankees’ favor. He had four of the Yankees’ 14 RBIs. A strong hitter during the regular season, Stanton took him to the next level in the postseason. He has 13 home runs in 115 career postseason at-bats all for the Yankees and only Babe Ruth has a better career strikeout percentage at this time of year. Powerful hitting from Stanton and Juan Soto who also homered combined to take the pressure off Aaron Judge, who still has just one extra-base hit in five playoff games.

But Stanton also seemed satisfied with his and Judge’s walks in the third inning when starter Alex Cobb was injured and shortstop Joey Cantillo couldn’t find the plate. Stanton said “We cannot emphasize that enough. Don’t force things. So in the biggest moments, you might want to try to do too much, expand a little too much, and so far we’ve done a very good job of taking what they give us. And we will continue to do so.”