Giancarlo Stanton steals the show as the Yankees move to the top of the ALCS

Even with the pitch clock, a baseball game can be a tedious affair, so you’ll have to forgive Juan Soto if he took his eyes off the action for a moment in the sixth inning of this game. He was leaning against the dugout railing, his New York Yankees were on their way to a 3-2 victory over the Kansas City Royals to come within a whisker of winning the American League Championship Series, and Anthony Volpe had just thrown in a sinker the middle. Count to 2-1. Soto lowered his head, then saw something in his vision. Catcher Salvador Pérez had popped up and shot to second base.

“I asked myself, ‘Who’s running?'” Soto says now, laughing.

Speaking of hard work: That would be 34-year-old designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton, who might lose a race against an umpire. It takes him an average of 5.06 seconds to get from home, first and third-worst in baseball behind two catchers. According to Statcast, he cost his team four runs this year with his baserunning, the worst in the sport. He probably cost his team two more points in the ALDS alone. Forget not to give him the green light to steal; The Yankees turned off the lights entirely.

The Royals were just as surprised as Soto. Stanton was at cutout when right-hander John Schreiber delivered the pitch, and he was halfway to second when Pérez got up from his crouch. Stanton easily slipped into second place.

On Wednesday, he scored the Yankees’ first run with a double in the fourth inning. He got them started with a 417-foot home run in the eighth. But after it was over, his teammates wanted to talk about his stolen base in the sixth inning, the first he had ever attempted since 2020.

“That was probably my favorite thing to do,” left fielder Alex Verdugo said. “Because Homer expects it. The hard hit balls, the whole damn 120 [mph]s, that’s what you expect. But I thought, ‘Man, you got a stolen base before me in the postseason!’ ‘I’ve got to take a bag now.’ That was unbelievable.”

“I expected a big day from him,” said third baseman Jazz Chisholm. Did he expect the theft? “No,” he says. “It was a surprise for all of us. But I’m glad he made it.”

“He sent a message right there,” first baseman Oswaldo Cabrera said. “He is here to help the team in any way he can. We were so happy to see him take that base. The mood he created for us in that moment was so, so good.”

In a way, this moment was a long time coming. Stanton hasn’t played a full season since the Yankees acquired him from the Miami Marlins in 2018, including stealing more than one base last year. Over the next six years, he missed nearly 40% of games due to injuries primarily to his lower body: a PCL strain in his right knee in 1919; a strained left thigh muscle in 1920; a left quadriceps strain in 1921; Inflammation of the right ankle and tendinitis of the left Achilles tendon in year 22; another left hamstring strain in 1923 and yet another in 1924.

When he’s healthy, he demolishes the ball. Since Statcast began tracking such things in 2015, 24 balls have left the bat at 120 miles per hour or more. Stanton hit 16 of them. In an attempt to stay in the lineup, Stanton has started practically strolling around the bases. This strategy runs the risk of getting thrown out on a line drive into the outfield, but he hits the ball over the fence often enough to make it worth it.

“We’ll just have to live with it,” manager Aaron Boone said earlier this week.

But after Stanton drilled a single in the sixth, he and first base coach Travis Chapman noticed that Schreiber was too slow — and that no one was looking at Stanton. Schreiber had a big leg kick and first baseman Yuli Gurriel singled in front of Stanton, trying to gain ground with the left-handed Volpe at the plate.

“Hey, Big G,” Chapman said. “If you can do a good jump, go for it.”

Stanton’s primary lead – his distance from first before Schreiber began his talk – was large enough to make third base coach Luis Rojas, watching from the other side of the field, nervous. “I was afraid that he was ready,” he says. “But that’s why he was so far.”

As soon as Schreiber lifted his leg, Stanton made his move. He beat the throw by a few yards. He allowed himself a quick smile, then a wide grin as he returned to the dugout at the end of the inning and his teammates began to freak out. The reaction was “probably better than Homer, to be honest,” he says.

Not only was the stolen base hilarious, but it was a good reminder that this team — which often lives and dies by the long ball — can and should fight for all 90 feet. The Yankees will only make the kind of run they expect if they can maintain that mindset, especially as long as centerfielder Aaron Judge, ranked No. 1 in the series, continues to struggle. The lineup must be ready to score runs in a variety of ways.

The Yankees are more likely to see home runs than stolen bases from Stanton in the future. Nevertheless, it cannot be ruled out that there will be another swipe one day. Rojas says with a laugh: “Him [has the green light] Now!”