World Series or bust? Stanton, Yankees carry that mentality into playoffs

NEW YORK — With each rep in the weight room ahead of what would be his seventh season in a Yankees uniform, Giancarlo Stanton figuratively kept his earbuds in. He was aware that there was outside noise, and plenty of it. His numbers had been nowhere near what was expected in yet another injury-marred campaign; the veteran would have been surprised if there wasn’t.

It was the chatter coming from inside the organization that irked Stanton, specifically from general manager Brian Cashman. During a testy group interview that spanned more than an hour at the GM Meetings in Scottsdale, Ariz., Cashman targeted Stanton for being injury-prone, noting that getting hurt “seems to be part of his game.”

Stanton kept a stiff upper lip, but reading the words cut deep.

“I don’t get paid to be a stand-up guy or say the right things,” Stanton said, months later. “I’m here to produce and help us win the championship, and that hasn’t happened. It needs to. The noise back and forth, whatever, it needs to be done. So I don’t listen to noise. I understand the facts. That’s what hasn’t happened.”

Cashman, Stanton and agent Joel Wolfe would later clear the air, putting the issue to rest. But the combination of those remarks and the embarrassment of a career-worst .191 batting average helped fuel Stanton’s offseason; there were no jet-setting adventures, like his 2022 visit to Egypt, where he playfully posed for Instagram photos inside ancient temples.

Instead, Stanton split time between Miami and Los Angeles, training almost every day. Though he showed up this spring in noticeably improved shape, Stanton insisted that he weighed the same; it was just better distributed, as he focused specifically on improving his mobility and endurance.

“That’s what it’s about,” Stanton said. “You’ve got to be a tight-knit family to pull for each other out there. It works both ways. … We know there’s much more to get done.”

Yes, Stanton still moved cautiously on the basepaths, especially after spending five weeks on the injured list with a left hamstring strain, an absence that coincided with one of the club’s worst stretches of the year. In some ways, that served to underscore Stanton’s importance to the lineup, providing a formidable presence behind the likes of Juan Soto and Aaron Judge.

“It’s been five months of health,” manager Aaron Boone said. “He really focused on doing all he could this offseason to set himself up to be healthy. We’ve reaped those benefits. However many times he’s been in that lineup, he’s been a threat every day and there has been some consistency there.”

Judge will likely pick up his second American League MVP award this coming winter, and Soto’s performance has him set for one of the game’s most eye-popping pay days. Stanton has been in both of those lanes before; while his numbers are well shy of where they were as the NL’s MVP in 2017, Stanton batted .233/.298/.475 with 20 doubles, 27 homers and 72 RBIs, good for a 115 OPS+.

Boone said that Stanton’s season was fueled by “talent” and being “very mentally tough.”

“He’s very meticulous of how he prepares,” Boone said. “He’s not affected by a bad at-bat, the emotions, the noise around this. I think that can leak in for some guys. He’s been through that; he knows how to handle it. He knows how to have blinders on, focus. [If you] have a bad at-bat, [he says], ‘I don’t care, I’m getting ready for my next one.’”

Ah, the next one. When the Yankees acquired Stanton from Derek Jeter and the Marlins ahead of the ’18 season, it seemed a fait accompli that he’d soon be hoisting a trophy alongside Judge, then a reigning AL Rookie of the Year with five lanes of promise ahead of him.

Stanton has seen Judge develop into one of the game’s greats, yet winning that championship has proved more elusive than anyone in pinstripes would have expected. What could have been bubbly-soaked celebrations instead became wrenching heartbreak; Stanton needs no reminders about how silent the clubhouse was after being vanquished by the Red Sox, Astros, Rays, Red Sox (again) and Astros (again).

Last year might have been the worst, playing out the string with no remaining hope of raising a championship banner. As the calendar turns to October, Stanton said understands the mission statement better than ever. At this stage of his career, and with this roster in particular, the ring is the thing.

As the Yanks celebrated their AL East title, Stanton was asked if his club should be considered the favorites in this postseason. His six-word response said it all.

“We’d better be. That’s the point,” Stanton said.