Baseball isn’t a perfect spectator sport, but the walk-off home run is clearly one of the most exciting things that can happen in a regular season game of any kind.

It combines the thrill and drama and finality of a buzzer-beater in basketball but it can happen at any time in the right situation. It’s always a thrill. But it’s an even bigger jolt, literally and figuratively, when it’s Giancarlo Stanton absolutely destroying a baseball for a game-winning dong. That’s what happened tonight, as the Yankees came back from a 5-0 deficit to tie the game at 5-5 on this Gary Sanchez home run in the bottom of the eighth:

Then, still tied 5-5 in the bottom of the ninth, Stanton came to the plate. It hasn’t been Stanton’s best year so far, and he’s not on pace to match his 7 fWAR season from last year. But he’s still been good, with a 124 wRC+, and you definitely don’t want to have to face him with the game on the line. Which is exactly what poor Seattle reliever Ryan Cook had to do tonight.

Here we go:

There’s a lot to love there, but the very best part might be Cook realizing what just happened and letting out a perfectly audible “SHIT!!!” while doing everything short of throwing his glove. It’s a great moment.

As for the ball itself, my goodness that was a laser. Statcast backed it up:

He apparently got all of that one. Enjoy Stanton now, before you have to cheer against him in October. Although the prospect of Stanton knocking over the Green Monster to sweep Boston does have a lot of appeal, too.

About Jay Rigdon

Jay is a columnist at Awful Announcing. He is not a strong swimmer. He is probably talking to a dog in a silly voice at this very moment.