This weekend was a special one for the San Francisco Giants and their fans, celebrating the 10th anniversary of the team’s World Series victory over the Kansas City Royals in 2014. That meant a lot of people from the team were back, including star pitcher Madison Bumgarner.
Bumgarner’s heroics will live forever in Giants history. After throwing a complete shutout in Game 5, a 5-0 victory for San Francisco, he closed Game 7 by throwing five more shutout innings to help secure the win.
It was an impressive performance when Bumgarner threw 117 pitches in Game 5 before coming back three days later and throwing 68 more. He reflected on that Friday before the weekend festivities at Oracle Park.
“I just told him (manager Bruce Bochy) I could do it, I told him I could do it, and I didn’t want to play the tough guy or anything,” Bumgarner said Friday. “I would have done that too. For whatever reason, at that point in my career, I was as focused as I could be, my body felt good and I was able to recover. When everything is flowing and going right and there are a lot of less stressful innings and stuff, it helps you get back on your feet and recover. I felt great all postseason.”
He certainly pitched as well as he felt. He took home the World Series MVP award after being named MVP of the National League Championship Series. Both awards were well deserved.
This postseason, Bumgarner made seven appearances, pitching 52.2 innings and allowing just seven runs, six earned, on just 28 hits and six walks. That works out to a 1.03 ERA, as Bumgarner also struck out 45 batters and his opponents struggled to make contact.
“People talk about the zone, that’s what it was,” Bumgarner said of his performance in the 2014 MLB playoffs. “I didn’t have it before and I didn’t have it after. That was the place for me.”
The 52.2 innings he pitched is a postseason record. No one has ever come close to that record, as Cliff Lee in 2009 with 40.1 is the only other pitcher to rank in the top 10 in recent history.
Considering how pitchers are treated in the current MLB, it’s hard to imagine anyone breaking Bumgarner’s record. Complete games are rare these days, especially in the postseason.
“Who knows what’s going to happen. I can never say never,” Bumgarner said. “Who knows how the game is going to play out, but I would say it’s pretty certain that it’s not going to happen anytime soon, the way things are going.”
The 2014 World Series celebration was a joyous occasion, commemorating the last title the franchise won. San Francisco won 3-1 on Saturday afternoon, continuing its winning streak and moving ever closer to a playoff spot in the NL.
