In a remarkable run that begun at 8:07 p.m. on October 1st in Pittsburgh, the San Francisco Giants took down the Pirates (WC), Nationals (3-1), Cardinals (4-1) and now the Royals in seven games to win their third World Series championship in five years.
Madison Bumgarner — who started things off at the Wild Card game with a complete-game shutout in Pittsburgh — rolled through the month of October to the tune of 4-1 — along with one save — with a 1.03 ERA in 52 2/3 innings while only allowing 28 hits and six walks while striking out 45 batters.
Bumgarner went 1-0 in two NLCS games against the Cardinals with a 1.72 ERA, which was good enough for MVP honors. He then topped that performance by going 2-0 with a 0.43 ERA and one save in two starts and a gutsy five shutout relief innings on Wednesday night — on two days rest — to close the series out and earn World Series MVP honors.
For Pirates fans, the attention now turns to Russell Martin, Francisco Liriano and Edinson Volquez, who are all free agents. The team has five days from midnight Wednesday to give a qualifying offer to the three before other teams are allowed to negotiate with them.
(Photo Credit: AP)
