Giancarlo Stanton warns the Red Sox they need to ‘celebrate now’

Not many Yankees enjoyed watching the Red Sox celebrate their AL East title at Yankee Stadium. Giancarlo Stanton has a stern warning for Boston.

Red Sox fans hope their team has plenty more reasons to celebrate when October arrives. Their team certainly enjoyed clinching the AL East crown at Yankee Stadium last night, but according to Giancarlo Stanton, the Red Sox better enjoy their celebration while it lasts.

According to the Yankees slugger, Boston can “celebrate now” because the Yankees will have “time to celebrate later.” Clearly, Stanton believes his team is poised to make some noise in October. Coming into the recent series against the Red Sox that seemed pretty unlikely. Suddenly, New York has a lot more confidence after taking two out of three at home.

The recent return of quite a few players from injury is certainly a contributing factor for increased optimism in the Bronx. Specifically, getting Aaron Judge back seems to change the entire complexion of Aaron Boone’s lineup. He wasn’t a star against the Red Sox, but the quality of contact he made in the series was very encouraging.

Aroldis Chapman may have struggled mightily in Thursday night’s loss, but this return is still a step forward for the club. Expecting him to pitch in his first outing since coming off the disabled list was pretty unreasonable. The key thing for Boone will be to give his closer enough work down the stretch to get him ready for October.

With all that being said, the odds are still stacked against the Yankees. The team now knows the best they can hope for is to make the Wild Card game. Ideally that game can be held within the friendly confines of  Yankee Stadium, but the team will need to finish strong to keep home field advantage. The Athletics continue to look as a serious competitor for that spot.

Even if they do advance to play the Red Sox in the Division Series, Boston would still be a strong favorite to come out on top. It’s not impossible that the Yankees can make a run against their arch rivals, but winning a game in Fenway Park is going to be an immense challenge. It would likely take one outstanding pitching performance from a member of Boone’s postseason rotation.

Despite the odds, Yankee fans should be happy with Stanton’s mindset. He is obviously ready to reach the playoffs where everyone’s record resets to 0-0. Stranger things than this team making a magical October run have certainly happened in baseball. The Yankees definitely have the talent to compete with anyone.