Yankees fans think Giancarlo Stanton has a solid shot at 500 homers

Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across Major League Baseball. Each week, we send out questions to the most plugged-in New York Yankees fans, and fans across the country. Sign up here to join Reacts.

With the season nearing an end, we decided to touch base on the expectations around baseball for who’s going to take home MLB’s most prestigious individual awards. Also, with a dearth of pertinent 2023-releated questions to pose about the Yankees, we asked about a big-name Yankee’s chance at a big milestone.

Did Yankee fans think Giancarlo Stanton could reach 500 long balls.

Kyle Thele

It was surprisingly close, with 43 percent of the fan base not believing Stanton will reach that mark. There’s probably some recency bias here, as the 2023 campaign has been by far the worst from Stanton in pinstripes. The former NL MVP winner is on pace to post an OPS+ below league average for the first time in his career, sitting at 94 in mid-September. Still, Stanton’s still managed to hit 23 bombs, upping his career tally to 401.

Age-wise, Stanton will turn 34 pretty soon and is under contract with the Yankees for another four years at least. Injuries are the main thing standing in the way of him reaching this milestone. At this point in his career, Stanton will most likely always deal with injuries. However, even with a similar output as in 2023, both in production and playing time, he still has a chance at getting there during his time in pinstripes.

Moving on to league-wide polls, which SB Nation posed to all MLB fans, not just Yankees fans.

Kyle Thele

Not a lot went right for the Yankees in 2023. But, none of this team’s issues were connected to the performance of their ace, Gerrit Cole. Fans across the league see him as a big favorite to come home with some hardware in a couple months.

At this point in 2023, it is virtually unimaginable to see Cole not taking home what, we hope, is the first of multiple Cy Young awards in pinstripes.

Kyle Thele

In the National League, things will go down to the wire with no arm truly standing out. Pending free agent southpaw, Blake Snell, gets the most of votes at 38 percent, but Justin Steele and Zac Gallen aren’t that far behind.

It’s hard to picture Steele winning though, as he and Snell have very similar ERA figures and innings pitched, but Snell has been way more dominant with nearly 50 more strikeouts. At least Gallen can make the IP argument, having thrown many more than the other two.

Kyle Thele

It’s remarkable to see J-Rod at number two on this list of MVP frontrunners, given where he was a while back. After Aaron Judge made Ohtani a runner-up in 2022 with the AL HR record, the two-way phenom won’t be denied a second time, even with a UCL injury spoiling the party last month.

Baseball has never seen anything like Ohtani, and we all should simply appreciate it. Shohei should win the MVP as a DH hitter alone, that’s how ridiculous his .304/.412/.654 slash line is.

Kyle Thele

This is an interesting one. The difference between Ronald Acuña Jr. and Mookie Betts probably illustrates well how the Braves' outfielder has the WOW vote, with his record-setting exit velos, and stolen base numbers.

For as underwhelming the Cy Young race in the NL seems, the MVP race is the complete opposite. Whoever finishes second will put up one of the best non-MVP campaigns in the history of the sport, one that would win in most seasons.