BALTIMORE — October is nearly here, so of course Giancarlo Stanton got a jump start on his favorite month with a momentous swing.
Inching the Yankees closer to locking up a playoff spot, and keeping alive their slim hopes of winning the division, Stanton swatted his 450th career home run to fuel a 6-1 win over the Orioles on Saturday night at Camden Yards.
Stanton’s three-run blast in the first inning moved him into sole possession of 41st place on the all-time home runs list, breaking a tie with Hall of Famers Vladimir Guerrero and Jeff Bagwell.
“It’s a cool round number,” Stanton said. “It’s cool to see the names I’m catching and tying and going above. It’s cool. Most important, it helped us win. Great day all around.”
With the win, the Yankees (87-68) pulled within two games of the Blue Jays (who own the head-to-head tiebreaker against them) for first place in the AL East with seven games left in the regular season.
The Yankees will still need some help if they are going to defend their division title, but the four-game losing streak by the Blue Jays has at least made things interesting.
“We can’t really pay attention to them,” Stanton said. “We just got to do our thing every night. Without us winning, it doesn’t really matter what they’re doing. We just got to win each day.”
In the meantime, the Yankees bolstered their grip on the top AL wild-card spot, leading the Red Sox by two games and both the Astros and surging Guardians by three.
Aaron Judge (left) celebrates with Giancarlo Stanton after belting a homer in the third inning of the Yankees’ 6-1 win over the Orioles on Sept. 20, 2025.AP
Carlos Rodón was mostly dominant across seven innings of one-run ball against the Orioles (73-82) while his teammates played sharp defense behind him, making for one of their best all-around games during the recent 18-8 surge by the Yankees.
Aaron Judge also crushed a towering homer, his 49th of the season, to pad his AL MVP case and inch him closer to a batting title, finishing the night hitting .329 to lead the Athletics’ Jacob Wilson (.318).
But the night belonged to Stanton, the respected veteran who missed the first two and a half months of the season with tendinitis in both elbows.
He had played through the pain for much of last season, including his October heroics, and still is currently even after returning from the injured list.
The 35-year-old has made no excuses, though, while continuing to produce at a high rate — his homer on Saturday marked his 21st of the season in his 70th game.
Carlos Rodón, who allowed just one run over seven innings, picked up his 17th victory in the Yankees’ win over the Orioles.Getty Images
Anthony Volpe, who had two hits, singles in the third inning of the Yankees’ win over the Orioles.Daniel Kucin Jr.-Imagn Images
“It’s so unique how he does it,” manager Aaron Boone said. “So unique just how routinely hard he hits the baseball. But just a really cool day for him and for us as his teammates. He just has so much respect from all of us. Who he is, the way he goes about things in his unique way, he’s just an awesome person, awesome teammate and still going in what’s a Hall of Fame career. I’m just really excited — 450, it’s a big number. And it came in a big three-run shot in the first. Feel like he’s got a lot left, a lot more to go, but really excited for him today.”
Stanton, who got the ball back from a young Yankees fan named Everett that he met after the game and presented a bat and balls, became the fifth-fastest player (by games played) to reach 450 home runs, doing so in his 1,719th career game.
That trailed only Mark McGwire (1,524), Babe Ruth (1,585), Alex Rodriguez (1,684) and Harmon Killebrew (1,713).
The next big number ahead is 500, which only 28 men in the history of baseball have reached.
Giancalo Stanton belts a three-run homer in the first inning of the Yankees’ win over the Orioles. It was the 450th homer of his career.Getty Images
“That’s a lot of swings away from 500,” Stanton said. “Of course, you think about it. You understand if you bear down, that I’m capable of doing it. It’s just one at a time. That’s all I can do.”
The Yankees improved to 50-7 all time (including playoffs) when Judge and Stanton homer in the same game.
Their 57 instances of homering in the same game passed Yogi Berra and Mickey Mantle for the second-most games by a pair of teammates in franchise history, now trailing only Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth (75), according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
Aaron Judge belts his 49th homer of the season in the third inning of the Yankees’ win over the Orioles.AP
There is still just over a week left before the postseason begins, but if the Yankees can get Stanton and Judge clicking at the same time in October, it would have the potential to be monumental.
For now, though, the Yankees were soaking in Stanton’s milestone.
“A pretty incredible feat,” Rodón said. “He’s great. Obviously one of the clubhouse leaders in here. Lot of knowledge, he’s played the game for a long time. An incredible player, but a great person as well and a great guy to have around.”
