CLEVELAND – Giancarlo Stanton has a final day by hitting Orlando Hernandez.

He is good in the regular season, sometimes very good, but always leaves the feeling that there must be more. And then comes October and there’s more. Stanton has shown at this time of year that he is ready to compete.

Hernandez was the best postseason starter of the Yankee dynasty. And Stanton is the best October hitter of this generally frustrating era of Yankee postseason ball. He’s a judge and anger comes in the postseason.

He entered Saturday night’s ALCS Game 5 averaging nearly an RBI per game in the postseason, with 33 in 36 games. His 15 home runs tied Aaron Judge for third all-time in the playoffs among the Yankees, trailing only Bernie Williams, Derek Jeter and Mickey Mantle. But that’s 15 home runs in 36 games. To put it into perspective, that would equate to 67¹/₂ over 162 games.

And Stanton doesn’t make meaningless shots. For example, his eighth-inning solo launch in Game 3 off Kansas City’s Kris Bubic was the biggest hit of the Division Series. The match was tied 2-2. The series was tied 1-1. The Yanks were reeling toward a deficit and one loss away from a first-round elimination against the Royals.

Remember, the Yankees had 66 plate appearances on Saturday this postseason with runners in scoring position and just one homer — a three-run Stanton blast off Cade Smith that gave the Yankees a 6-2 lead in a Game 4 they would eventually take. 8-6.

Dig into that at-bat and you’ll find the Stanton of October.

He had hit an eighth-inning tiebreak home run Thursday night against the Majors’ top regular-season closer, Emmanuel Clase, after falling behind 0-2. He fouled three two-strike pitches before crushing a Clase slider.

Smith has been arguably the best setup man in the majors. Just a few quick facts. He had allowed one homer all season (regular and postseason) in his first 81 appearances in 84 ¹/₃ innings – a leadoff shot by Seattle’s Dylan Moore on June 18 that gave the Mariners a 7–1 lead. Since then, he has faced 196 batters without allowing a long ball.

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After batters fell behind 0-2 against Smith in the regular season, they hit .113 with 47 strikeouts in 75 at bats. The first nine who fell behind him 0-2 in these playoffs all achieved zero, seven by strikeout. Stanton was ninth.

Juan Soto had walked, Judge had singled and Jazz Chisholm sacrificed both in scoring position. First base was open. Anthony Rizzo was on deck. But Cleveland manager Stephen Vogt decided to let Smith attack. And that looked fine when Smith took the lead 0-2. After all, Stanton had hit only .136 with two hits this year and .119 after going 0-2.

But that’s Stanton from April to September.

In his previous at bat he had struck out with a full count. But that ended a streak of 27 at-bats without a whiff — the longest of his career. And before that strikeout, Stanton had done this in his seven previous at-bats, during which he achieved two strikeouts:

Single, double, single, walk, groundout, homer, walk.

He told himself not to strike out, that getting a sacrifice fly was a must. He got more. At 1-2, Smith hit a 90 mph fastball to the top, outside corner of the strike zone and Stanton sent it 400 feet. It gave him three hits in the ALCS – all home runs.

“He did it again,” Aaron Boone said. “Just to make two strokes there and get to one – it was almost like a letter – high temperature maybe and just smooth like – just special. Just locked up, prepared. His preparation and his ability to just hang in there and focus is impressive.”

Stanton has taken the field early this entire postseason to fire a fast pitching machine and was joined by Judge for Games 3 and 4. After going to the ALCS Game 7 in 2017, the Yankees had an offseason plan in place around importing Shohei Ohtani. When he turned down the Yankees, they immediately pivoted, trading Starlin Castro and two prospects to Derek Jeter’s Marlins for Stanton and $30 million in compensation over the 10 years versus $295 million left on the reigning NL MVP’s deal.

The idea was to create a Twin Towers offense around Judge and Stanton and win championships. But for Stanton, the regular seasons were up and down and injury-riddled, and for the Yankees, the seven-game ALCS loss to the Astros was as close as they’ve gotten to the World Series since they won it in 2009.

Until now.

And since the Yankees are defined by championships, their fan base isn’t stuck with the good Hernandez, who went 61-40 with a 3.96 ERA as a Yankee in the regular season. They remember what it meant to give El Duque the ball in October, when he made 11 postseason starts during the 1998-2000 three-peat, the Yankees won 10 and he was 8-1 with an ERA of 2.20.

More and more, Stanton is making Yankee fans forget the injuries, the slumps and the protective jogging around the bases. He is preparing a historic October resume.

It’s the postseason and Stanton is on another El run.