LOS ANGELES (AP) — Giancarlo Stanton has been coming to Dodger Stadium since he was a kid. Seems like every time he returns, he sends a special souvenir into the outfield seats.
The opener of this Yankees-Dodgers World Series was no exception.
Stanton hit a go-ahead, two-run homer in the sixth inning to put New York ahead, his latest big drive for a Yankees team chasing the franchise's 28th title. It wasn't enough in a 6-3, 10-inning thriller of a loss to Los Angeles on Friday night that Freddie Freeman finished with a two-out, walk-off grand slam.
“You never want that ending,” Stanton said long after the game in a nearly empty Yankees clubhouse. “You've got to win four anyways. No one said it's going to be easy."
Maligned by Yankees fans for much of his time in the Bronx, Stanton homered for his fourth straight postseason game, a 116.6 mph shot off a Jack Flaherty knuckle-curve at the knees that was the hardest-hit ball in the World Series since MLB started tracking in 2015.
His six homers and 13 RBIs both top the Yankees this postseason, and his 17 career postseason homers in 135 at-bats are among the top ratios in baseball history. He is the only player to twice homer in four straight postseason games.
“He’s a killer,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said earlier this month. “I just admire how well he’s able to focus in these big moments and just go to a different place mentally.”
Throughout October, Stanton's determination has been evident.
“This ain’t the trophy I want," he said after getting the AL Championship Series MVP Award on Saturday night. “I want the next one.”
Born in Panorama City, California, and raised about 15 miles north of Dodger Stadium in the Tujanga neighborhood of Los Angeles, Stanton used to watch games from the pavilion seats, known elsewhere as the bleachers.
“Wherever I could get a ticket. I think they were between $5 and $7 at some point. I’m sure they weren’t that tonight," Stanton said. "All over left and right and sometimes a little better as I got older and had more connections."
He hit a tying 457-foot home run into the pavilion off the Dodgers' Tony Gonsolin in the 2022 All-Star Game and has 10 homers in 25 regular-season games at Chavez Ravine — the most impressive a 475-foot drive for Miami in May 2015. Stanton is among just five players to hit a ball out of Dodger Stadium, joined by Willie Stargell (twice), Mike Piazza, Mark McGwire and Fernando Tatis Jr.
“Had a lot of times to know the flight of the ball here over the years,” Stanton said.
Given a then-record $325 million, 13-year contract by the Marlins, Stanton had 59 homers and 132 RBIs in 2017, winning the NL MVP award. His first season in the Bronx was a success with 38 homers and 100 RBIs but he missed 266 of 708 games over the next five seasons because of a series of injuries that included strains of right biceps, right knee, left hamstring (twice) and left quadriceps along with right ankle inflammation and left Achilles tendinitis.
He arrived at spring training this year markedly slimmer and had 27 homers and 72 RBIs while playing 114 games — he was sidelined by a strained left hamstring between June 22 and July 29.
Stanton had more than 25 family members and friends at the World Series opener. He knew his first Fall Classic appearance was a significant moment for them.
“Not as much as it means to me,” he said. "They can enjoy the show, but at the same time I'm not here to just play in LA. I'm here to win.”
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