TORONTO — As this season has progressed, the Yankees defense has tightened, their ability to impact games on the bases has improved, and Aaron Boone has grown comfortable with an endgame relief strategy.
It is all valuable. All part of why the Yankees are still ticking in October.
But at their essence, they remain the Bronx Bombers. The Yankees, as much as ever, are a homer-hitting team. It is their identity. Their lifeblood. Their separator. They are more well rounded, yet as dependent on long balls as ever.
And Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton are their flex brothers. They — more than anyone on a team that produced the second-most homers in Yankees history — represent the might and menace of this style. Judge hit a casual 53 homers this year, and Stanton went over the wall at the same rate in 2025 (8.5 percent) as he did in 2017 — when he hit 59 bombs and won the NL MVP.