San Francisco won the World Series. Again. It is kind of amazing they have now won three World Series in the past Five years. They've done this in a parity-stricken baseball landscape. In the past five seasons, 21 different teams have made the playoffs. 9 different teams have made the Championship Series. In that era, the Giants have won the World Series three times. They did this despite having their ace on the 2010 team being relegated to never pitching in 2014. They did this despite their two best non-Posey hitters being retired years ago in 2014 (Burrell, Huff). The did this with three different closers, pitchers and position players who came and went, and little really making their 2014 team resemble their 2010 team. Still, they did it. They conquered baseball three times.
The Giants were never pressured in 2010 and 2012 in the World Series. They were never really tested anywhere in 2010, beating the Braves in 4 games, Phillies in 6 (a great series, in retrospect), and then the Rangers in 5. In 2012 they took a more circuitous route, having to come back from 0-2 down to the Reds, and 1-3 down to the Cardinals, but they proceeded to reel off their next 7 games, trailing for just two innings in that time. Then there was this year, when they rolled past the Nationals and Cardinals, two very good teams, by dropping just one game each. The Royals proved a much sterner test, but in the end the Giants did exactly what they've done time and time again: win.
The last team to go back on the road up 3-2, lose game six and then win the World Series in Game 7 was the 1976 Cincinnati Reds. In fact, only two of the last 10 teams to go up 3-2 and head on the road won at all (the last being the 2003 Marlins). Not only did they get blowed out in Game 6, but they came back and won Game 7 in an epic atmosphere in Kansas City. That was one of the toughest environments to win a game, but they did it. They scored three runs on two sac flies and then a jammed single to the opposite field. They won by holding down the Royals for 7.2 innings after Hudson was chased. They did it with two of the pitchers that were there in 2010, the only two who really were still contributing.
Obviously, Madison Bumgarner is the real story. He pitched 5 innings to two hit ball to clinch (and finish) Game 7. This was three days after pitching a complete game shutout, the first in the World Series since Josh Beckett in 2003. Madison Bumgarner started and most people thought he would go 2-3 innings, maybe 4 if he worked well. The Giants had a pretty good bullpen, after all, and Bochy is one to play the matchup game. But Bumgarner never tired. He never wavered. He was just great, with his patented sling-shot delivery arcing right over the plate and over bats.
Madison Bumgarner was a 21-year old rookie in 2010. He started Game 4, with the Giants up 2-1 in the series, and went out and threw 8 inning 3-hit ball. He wasn't dynamic back then. He was something of a lefty nibbler. One of the largest criticisms of Bumgarner back then was a strange drop in velocity during that season, to the point where he was barely throwing 90. Still, he confounded a darn good Rangers lineup. One night later, Tim Lincecum pitched a brilliant 8-innings of his own (no runs, 10 K's), and the Giants won World Series #1.
Lincecum hasn't been anything close to a league average starter since 2011. The other two starters on that 2010 team were Jonathan Sanchez, who hasn't pitched close to good since 2011 also, and Matt Cain, who was injured most of this year. The only real pitching connection to the 2010 Giants (who were a far better pitching team than hitting team back then) was Bumgarner... and four relievers.
The closer in 2010 was Brian Wilson, with his dark black beard and crazy attitude. But the best relievers on that team were Sergio Romo, Santiago Casilla, Javier Lopez and Jeremy Affeldt. Those four relievers, the 'Core Four' as they call themselves (and no one else calls them), have all been on the team since 2010. They've all been dominant most of the time. Out of the 20 seasons they've pitched since then, only three had an ERA+ below 100. As the Giants stating pitching got worse and worse, they turned more to their dominant bullpen, and the mastermind controlling it.
Bruce Bochy got his due in a big way this postseason. Maybe it is the genius way he used his pitchers in 2010 and 2012, or the sudden reality that his record in San Diego was better than people remember given the lack of talent most of the time, or the 'steely' way he 'led' the Giants, but suddenly people were calling Bochy the best manager in baseball. Maybe he is, but what is for sure is that this is one of teh best 'teams' in baseball.
The lineup for the Giants transitioned from one being built around mainly aging veterans in 2010 (Huff and Burrell were the relative 'stars', but the rest of the guys like Sanchez, Uribe, Torres were like that too), to one built mainly around young players and homegrown talent (Sandoval, Panik, Crawford, Belt) in 2014. The one constant was Buster Posey. The all-american kid came up early in 2010. He's been dominant ever since. A terrible injury cost him half of 2011 (the Giants were in 2nd place when the injury happened). He came back in 2012 and had an amazing season, easily winning the MVP of the NL with a .336/.408/.549 slash line, with 24 HRs and 103 RBIs. Buster Posey has been amazing since being called up. He has a career OPS+ of 142, while playing great defense behind the plate. There are better players in baseball, but maybe none as representative of what baseball stars should be.
The Giants will probably never be remembered as a dynasty. Maybe they shouldn't either. They missed the playoffs in teh two seasons where they didin't win the World Series (then again, so did the Patriots from 2001-2004). They were never the best team in the regular season by record (they were close in 2012). They were never overly dominant. They had one amazing season from one of their players in their World Series seasons (as mentioned, Posey in 2012), but never had a pitcher in this time-frame finish Top-5 Cy Young (Bumgarner likely will this year). What they have been, though, is amazing at baseball in October. No, that's not a very predictable skill, but retroactively we can say they rule at it.
The Giants played 48 postseason games over the past five seasons. They are 34-14 in those games. That is truly amazing. The Giants have been trailing in individual series, trailed at big moments, but they've rolled some very good teams as well. The Giants may never win another playoff series, they may never win another World Series in teh Posey era. Hell, they could easily miss the playoffs next season (the last two World Series winners have - yes, one of them is the 2013 Giants). Still, what they've done should be celebrated. They figured the playoffs out. Getting to them was the challenge, succeeding when there was done in a rote brilliance that may rarely be matched again.
