Giancarlo Stanton Has Become What Yankees Imagined 7 Years Ago

In 2014, Giancarlo Stanton led the National League with 37 home runs, winning his first Silver Slugger award and finishing second in MVP voting at 24 years old. It was the first time that all of 6'6" Adonis's skills had come together for an entire season, and it prompted the Miami Marlins to hand him the first ever $300 million contract in baseball history.

He dealt with injuries the next couple of seasons, though he was still outputting power at a ridiculous clip, including 27 home runs in just 74 games in 2015. In 2017, though, Stanton had one of the best offensive seasons in recent memory, leading the National League in home runs (59), RBI (132), slugging percentage (.632), and OPS+ (169).

It was clear that the Marlins had something special on their hands—at one point, their outfield consisted of Stanton, Marcell Ozuna, and Christian Yelich—though Stanton's $325 million deal was proving to be too much for owner Jeffrey Loria. He intervened into the day-to-day of the baseball operations team, and the Marlins traded Stanton the New York Yankees mere months after his brilliant MVP season concluded.

In return, the Yankees sent veteran infielder Starlin Castro and a few minor league prospects to Miami, though the greatest cost they incurred was financial. They took on nearly $270 million of the remaining $295 million in salary that Stanton was owed, with a $25M AAV hit to their luxury tax bill to boot. The cost appeared to be well worth it on paper, as the team would be pairing the American League's reigning home run leader (then-rookie Aaron Judge) with the National League's premier power threat.

Since then, Stanton's tenure in the Big Apple has been a mixed bag. His healthiest and best season in New York was his first, when he blasted 38 homers in 158 games in 2018. In the ensuing years, Stanton hasn't eclipsed 140 games in any season, twice failing to reach even 25 appearances. His power has never left him (career .483 slugging percentage in pinstripes), but he just hasn't been effective or healthy enough to let his preeminent tool shine.

However, the Yankees didn't acquire Stanton to continue his regular season prowess. The goal was to win the team's first World Series since 2009. And while the team has fallen short of that goal thus far, Stanton has more than held up his end of the bargain on baseball's biggest stage.

Giancarlo Stanton Has Become Yankees' Postseason Hero

Stanton banked the 2024 ALCS MVP thanks to home runs in three consecutive games, and his career postseason OPS heading into the World Series was a whopping 1.019, a figure that surpassed even his legendary 2017 season (1.007 OPS).

Then, in the biggest at-bat of his career, Stanton, playing in his first World Series, gave the Yankees a 2-1 lead against the Dodgers.

With that blast, Stanton now has 17 postseason home runs (all with the Yankees), which ranks fourth in franchise history, behind only Bernie Williams (22), Derek Jeter (20), and Mickey Mantle (18). It also put him first on the team's all-time home runs per at-bat list in the playoffs, catapulting him ahead of the great Babe Ruth.

Though the Yankees would end up surrendering that lead and losing Game 1 in extra innings, Stanton now has homers in four straight games. He's the hottest hitter in either lineup, in a series that features MVPs Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, and Aaron Judge, not to mention Juan Soto. It's been a long, winding road since that 2017 season and subsequent trade to the Bronx, but Stanton is earning every penny on his contract with his flair for the dramatic on baseball's grandest stage. If the Yankees can piece together four wins in the next six games, he's got as good a chance as anyone to be recognized as World Series MVP.

Seven years later, the Yankees have gotten what they paid for.

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