The combination of three days off between series and dropping temperatures did nothing to cool Giancarlo Stanton’s hot bat.

Stanton picked up where he left off against the Royals, crushing a 439-foot home run in the bottom of the seventh inning as the Yankees defeated the Guardians 5-2 in Game 1 of the ALCS on Monday night.

“Just kind of a (big) presence in the middle of our lineup,” manager Aaron Boone said. “Locked up, focused, and of course he’s capable of that. That ball is absolutely awesome when you hit it from the back of the bullpen out there on a cold night.”

Stanton also walked and scored on a wild pitch during the Yankees’ three-run rally in the third inning.

He finished the game 1-for-3, but both of his outs sounded good right away and resulted in deep fly balls while, as Boone put it, he continued to “stack up quality at-bats.”

“I understand how important every pitch, every moment is,” Stanton said. “I understand that you won’t always be successful in these moments, but I can do anything – any information, videos or swings – to be at my best in that moment.”

Stanton had an OPS of 1.132 during the four ALDS games, including the winning seventh-inning home run in Game 3 that swung the series in the Yankees’ favor. He had four of the Yankees’ 14 RBIs.

Stanton is an outstanding power hitter in the regular season and takes it to a new level in the postseason.

He hit 13 home runs in 115 career postseason at-bats – all with the Yankees – and only Babe Ruth has posted a better home run rate this time of year.

“Getting the ball in the seats… that can mean a lot,” Boone said. “But I think overall the strength of our group is that you have to work hard to get past us.”

The powerful bats of Stanton and Juan Soto — who also hit a home run — combined to put some pressure on Aaron Judge, who still has only one extra-base hit in five playoff games.

This continues his career-long story of playoff trouble.

But Stanton seemed just as happy with the walks he and Judge took in the third inning when starter Alex Cobb went out with an injury and reliever Joey Cantillo couldn’t find the plate.

“(Walks) are huge,” Stanton said. “We can’t emphasize this enough. Don’t force things. In the biggest moments you might want to try to do too much, to expand a little too much, and we’ve done a great job so far taking advantage of what they give us. And we will continue to do that.”