Giancarlo Stanton's playoff heroics have the New York Yankees one win away from their first World Series appearance since 2009 after Friday's 8-6 victory over the Cleveland Guardians in Game 4 of the ALCS. Speaking to reporters after the win, Stanton explained that he's learned "no lead is safe" based on how the past two games have gone, but despite being on the doorsteps of the World Series nothing has been accomplished yet. "It feels like nothing until we get it done," Stanton said.
"As far as I'm concerned, we haven't done nothing." Even though Aaron Judge has been bestowed the official title of Yankee captain, Alex Verdugo called Stanton "our second captain" because of his selfess attitude and ability to lead by example while speaking when the moment requires it. Following a dramatic 7-5 loss in Game 4, Stanton and the Yankees got back on track in thrilling fashion on Friday night.
His three-run homer off Cade Smith in the sixth inning gave New York a 6-2 lead. Cleveland battled back by scoring four answered runs between the seventh and eighth innings to tie the score, but the Yankees once again got to All-Star closer Emmanuel Clase for two runs in the ninth. The Guardians had the winning run at the plate in the bottom of the ninth, but Tommy Kahnle got Brayan Rocchio to groundout to end the game.
New York has scored a total of six runs in the eighth inning or later of the past two games. Stanton is operating at another level this postseason. He .
300/.400/.767 slash line .
