Bumgarner’s feat is nearly impossible in today’s game
What Giants pitcher Madison Bumgarner did this week is considered a sin according to some in baseball. The Giants put a young pitcher out on the mound for five innings three days after he threw a complete game. Yet, his performance Wednesday is what captured our attention.
The young Giants ace threw five shutout innings to clinch the title for San Francisco earning him the World Series MVP award. He threw 21 innings of one-run ball in the World Series.
Everyone knew that San Francisco had Bumgarner as an option in the bullpen. But few thought he had dominant stuff in him past maybe an inning or two. But his stuff got better as the night went on. He overpowered hitters relying mostly on his control. He did not allow the Royals’ fans to distract him from closing out the Giants’ third World Series in five years.
While the number of innings that Bumgarner pitched would not have made news a generation or two ago, the fact that a young ace pitched 14 innings in three days in practically unheard of in today’s game. General managers in baseball have so much money and investment wrapped into these young pitchers, that they rarely are allowed to stretch the limits of their arm. Just ask the Washington Nationals two years ago when they decided to shut down Stephen Strasburg’s season weeks before the start of the playoffs.
MLB ratings rescued by seventh game
Ratings for Wednesday’s Game 7 prevented the 2014 edition of the fall classic from being the worst rated World Series in history. Wednesday’s game drew a 5.7 rating in metered markets. The rating made Wednesday’s game the highest rated World Series game in three years.
Had the Giants won Tuesday night, not only had this year’s World Series gone down as a rather forgettable series, but it would have gone down as one that few watched.
Fundamental baseball wins championships
Before Gregor Blanco’s nearly fatal error in the bottom of the ninth last night, the Giants had not given up an error in the World Series since Game 1.
San Fransisco had a 99.2 fielding percentage in the 2014 MLB Playoffs. During the regular season, Cincinnati had the best fielding percentage at 98.8. The Giants had the 16th best fielding percentage in the regular season at 98.4 percent.
Division winners shunned
This year marked the second time in four years that a Wild Card team wins the World Series. The St. Louis Cardinals won the 2011 World Series as a Wild Card winner.
This year marked the sixth time a Wild Card team won the World Series since the Wild Card was implemented in 1995. This year’s World Series marked the second time that two Wild Card teams met in the World Series. The only other previous instance was in 2002.
Three titles in five years rare… unless you’re the Yankees
When you win three titles in five years, the word “dynasty” begins to be used. Winning three World Series titles in five years is a very rare occurrence.
The last time a team won at least three World Series titles in five years was the New York Yankees who won four titles from 1996-2000. The Oakland Athletics won three consecutive titles from 1972-74.
The Yankees took the World Series three times from 1958-62. The Yankees also won five in a row and six out of seven from 1947-53. The Cardinals took the World Series three times between 1942-46. The Joe McCarthy led Yankees won four straight from 1936-39 and then again in 1941.
Before the Red Sox went on their 86-year drought, Boston won the title three times from 1915-18. The first team ever to win three World Series titles were the Philadelphia Athletics who won the title in 1910, 11, and 13 under manager Connie Mack.
