Yankees Mag: Singular Focus
Giancarlo Stanton’s rise to his current place as one of the most feared and respected hitters in the big leagues hasn’t been linear. He has had incredible highs but also had to fight through the adversity that comes with injuries. Across 16 Major League seasons, though, his work ethic and resiliency have endured. Stanton’s cumulative statistics, namely his 453 home runs -- the most of any active player -- have him on a Hall of Fame trajectory.
The 35-year-old’s regular-season accomplishments are many. He won the 2017 National League MVP after hitting 59 home runs in his final season with the Miami Marlins, and in a return to his hometown of Los Angeles, he earned the 2022 All-Star Game MVP Award after crushing a pitch from Dodgers right-hander Tony Gonsolin into the left-field seats at Dodger Stadium.
But for all of Stanton’s success during the regular season, his October heroics have been even more awe-inspiring. Starting with a homer in his postseason debut -- a 7-2 Yankees win over the A’s in the 2018 American League Wild Card Game -- Stanton has totaled 18 roundtrippers and 40 RBIs in 41 playoff games, including seven long balls during the Yankees’ postseason run to the World Series last year.
In three road games during the 2024 ALCS, Stanton hit three pivotal homers. His sixth-inning blast in Game 4 gave the Yankees a 6-2 lead against the Guardians, and he tied the decisive Game 5 the next night with a two-run shot in the sixth, part of a stretch that led to him earning ALCS MVP honors.
A career .258 hitter with 1,169 RBIs, Stanton began this season on the injured list but made up for lost time upon returning to the lineup in mid-June. The DH and outfielder’s 20 home runs through mid-September contributed mightily to the Yankees’ push for a seventh postseason berth in his eight seasons in pinstripes.
During a September interview with Yankees Magazine editor-in-chief Alfred Santasiere III at Yankee Stadium, Stanton spoke about several topics, including his mental approach in the biggest moments as well as his performance this season.
Yankees Magazine: Several of your seven postseason home runs last year came in crucial moments. How much of an emotional boost do you feel those blasts gave your team?
Giancarlo Stanton: Home runs are big blows in any game. But in the postseason, I feel like the energy shifts that come from a home run late in a game are enormous. Any time you’re able to do that in the late innings of a playoff game, it changes the atmosphere in your dugout and also in the other team’s dugout.
YM: When you hit your first home run of the 2024 postseason in Game 3 of the ALDS against Kansas City, Ron Darling, who was announcing the game for TBS, said this: “In the postseason, when it’s so hard to know who to count on, Stanton is a guy who you can always count on to have good at-bats and supply big hits.” What does it mean to have garnered such a high level of respect as the result of coming through time and time again when it matters most?
GS: It’s very cool, and more than that, it’s very important for me. Especially since I wasn’t able to perform a lot of those years during the regular season, it’s the best I could do with what I had. I’m happy that I could do those things at the most important times. There’s an added emphasis on playing well in the postseason because of the injuries that have prevented me from being on the field at times during the regular season.
YM: It seems like you’ve had razor-sharp focus in the biggest games during your time with the Yankees. How have you been able to do that?
GS: Figuring out in the hours before 7 o’clock how to have complete silence when you have to perform has been a big part of it. The key to being successful in the most pressure-packed moments when the noise is at its loudest is to be calm enough that you could fall asleep. I eliminate everything that you put on yourself. Pressure is real, but the amount of it is what you create yourself. When I figured that out and got to a place where I was only focused on the pitcher I was facing, a lot of good things followed. All of the other things -- the 50,000 fans in the ballpark, the win-or-go-home scenario -- that’s all part of the reality, but it doesn’t help my focus in the moment. So, you have to just eliminate all of that, and focus on doing damage and making an impact in that at-bat. Finding simplicity in the most complicated moment is the most important thing I’ve learned to do.
YM: Are you able to point to a specific time in your career when you were able to shut down the outside noise in those big moments and really focus?
GS: There are different times in your career that you define as learning experiences. The overall learning experience for me has been about how I have dealt with what I have on each specific day. On some days, you are going to get more annoyed with things that don’t matter. Your focus is going to be more relaxed at times, whether it’s in the postseason, on Opening Day or the middle of August. You’re not always going to feel the same.
YM: After pretty much carrying your team through the ALCS, how would you describe the experience of standing on the stage in Cleveland and hoisting the American League championship trophy and the series MVP Award?
GS: It was surreal. Being able to celebrate with my teammates and coaches on the road was awesome. Besides a small number of fans in that stadium, we were the only ones pulling for our team in the entire city of Cleveland. That was something that pulled us closer. I had never gone that far in the postseason, and with the Mets and Dodgers still playing each other in the NLCS, I was excited for either opponent in the World Series. We were either going to get a Subway Series, or I was going to be playing in the World Series where I grew up in Los Angeles. And, of course, it’s the freaking World Series!
YM: Among your accomplishments to date, you’re the active home run leader. If I told a 20-year-old Giancarlo Stanton that this is where he’d be at 35, what do you think you would have said back in your rookie season of 2010?
GS: At that point, to be honest -- without sounding cocky -- I felt like if I put my mind to it, this is where I could be. If you had asked me that when I was in the Minors, I would not have been as confident. There were a lot of “what ifs.” I had to figure things out. But once I got a taste of the big leagues and I saw how guys worked and what I needed to do, I felt like I could accomplish some great things. You always have to envision the most and test your capabilities.
YM: How would you describe the journey to this point?
GS: Get up and keep pushing. I’ve been stopped in my tracks a lot of times, and I have had to start from scratch in a way. There have been times where I went from rolling along to being in a place where walking was my biggest movement for that day. But I have always kept pushing.
YM: Have those difficult times made the highs more satisfying?
GS: Well, I would say that they have made the great moments more important. They have made it more important for me to come through in the big playoff moments because of my desire to be efficient and to get something productive out of all the hard work to come back from injuries.
YM: What has this season been like for you?
GS: Very similar to the last few years. I missed a few months, and then came out and have been productive. I have helped the team win during the division race, and that feels good. I never want to use any excuses like not having a Spring Training. I’ve already lost a lot of time, so I just want to be as efficient as I can be.
YM: Speaking of this season, there have been so many new players who have come through, as well as guys such as you and Aaron Judge. What can you say about the makeup of this team?
GS: Every year is a new mesh of players as well as ups and downs. We’ve been up, and we’ve been down, but we really have battled all season. How you get the best flow on and off the field is really important. That’s a fun grind in and of itself. We have a great group, and I’m looking forward to being in the postseason with these guys. We have guys who are motivated from losing the World Series last year, and we have new energy.
YM: You have a rare set of cumulative statistics, as well as so many singular accomplishments. With a body of work similar to several Hall of Famers and with more time left in your career, is Cooperstown something you let yourself think about?
GS: It’s more about what the media decides, and they will debate it until the cows come home. I try to go day by day, and when it’s all said and done, there will be a decision. If I hit two home runs today, I’m getting in, but if I go 0-for-4 tomorrow, everyone will be writing that I’m not. But I’m OK with all of that; I understand that it’s part of the game.
YM: What would getting inducted into the Hall of Fame mean to you?
GS: It would be an amazing and wonderful thing. I’m working hard to be the best I can be, and if I get in, it would be a result of all the hard work. That would be pretty special.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
Alfred Santasiere III is the editor-in-chief of Yankees Magazine. This story appears in the October 2025 edition. Get more articles like this delivered to your doorstep by purchasing a subscription to Yankees Magazine at www.yankees.com/publications.