Giancarlo Stanton puts the first runs of 2020 on the board in a big way

Giancarlo Stanton welcomed baseball back with a mammoth blast.

Baseball is back, and so is New York Yankees slugger Giancarlo Stanton.

Stanton wasted no time putting the first runs on the board of the abbreviated 2020 season. With two out in the top of the first inning on Thursday at Nationals Park, Stanton connected with a 95 mph fastball from Nationals starter Max Scherzer for a two-run home run that quickly put the Yankees ahead of the defending World Series champions. The home run to left-center field was measured at 459 feet with an exit velocity of 112 mph.

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Having Stanton back healthy and slugging tape-measure home runs is a welcome sight for the Yankees, who enter the season as favorites to win the American League. He appeared in just 18 games last season, his second in Yankees pinstripes, and hit just three home runs. He didn’t hit his first until the Yankees 78th game.

Stanton went on the IL last March 31 with a biceps strain and didn’t return to the lineup until June 18. He played just six more games before hitting the IL again with a knee injury that kept him out for more than two months. He played only two games in the Yankees’ six-game ALCS loss to the Houston Astros in October.

There is almost nothing that looks ordinary about this season. Stanton’s home run landed in a row of empty bleacher seats and no fans in the stadium to react. Stanton was the Yankees DH in an NL ballpark, the first time the DH was been used in an NL-hosted regular season game. The season was supposed to begin 119 days ago; if it had, Stanton might not have been in the lineup as he was dealing with yet another injury in Spring Training.

But Stanton hitting mammoth home runs helps bring back a sense of normalcy. The atmosphere surrounding the game might be drastically different than players and fans are used to, but the game on the field is still the same as it’s ever been.