Flashback: Madison Bumgarner Owned the 2014 World Series
A 0.43 ERA, a complete-game shutout, and then five scoreless innings out of the bullpen on two days' rest to nail down Game 7. This was not a hot streak. This was a takeover.
Some Octobers you remember for a team. The 2014 World Series you remember for a man. Madison Bumgarner did not just help the Giants win their third title in five years, he strapped the whole thing to his back and carried it across the finish line in a way baseball had not seen in a generation. Across 21 innings against the Kansas City Royals he allowed nine hits, one walk, and exactly one earned run, good for a 0.43 ERA and a WHIP of 0.48. Those are not real numbers. Those are the numbers you make up when you are a kid pretending to be a World Series hero in the backyard.
It started in Game 1, where he went out and beat the Royals to set the tone. Then came Game 5 with the series tied, and Bumgarner answered with a complete-game shutout, a four-hit masterpiece that put the Giants one win away from a parade. At that point he had already done more than most pitchers do in an entire postseason. He was not done. He was barely getting started.
Then Game 7 happened, and it became legend. The Giants and Royals were tied deep in a winner-take-all game at Kauffman Stadium when Bruce Bochy walked to the mound in the fifth inning and waved in his ace, the man who had thrown a complete game just three days earlier. On two days' rest, Bumgarner came out of the bullpen and threw five scoreless innings, allowing two hits, walking nobody, and striking out four, protecting a 3-2 lead all the way to the final out. It is remembered as the greatest save in World Series history, and the argument against it is not much of an argument.
When it ended, Bumgarner was named World Series MVP, the first Giants pitcher ever to take the honor, at just 25 years old. He had already been named NLCS MVP a couple of weeks before. He did not so much win the 2014 postseason as annex it.
The 2014 World Series, Bumgarner by Bumgarner- Game 1Starts and wins the opener in Kansas City, setting the tone for the series.
- Game 5Throws a four-hit complete-game shutout to put the Giants one win from the title.
- Game 7Enters from the bullpen on two days' rest and fires five scoreless to save the 3-2 win.
Twenty-one innings, one run, and a Game 7 save on fumes. There is dominant, and then there is what Madison Bumgarner did to the Royals.
Bay Area Sports Blog- A 0.43 ERA across 21 World Series innings, one of the great October lines ever
- A four-hit complete-game shutout in Game 5
- Five scoreless innings of relief in Game 7 on two days' rest, the greatest save in World Series history
- First Giants pitcher to win World Series MVP, at age 25
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