San Francisco Giants fans most likely have fond memories of 2014 where they won their last World Series title which is approaching the 10-year anniversary. A major part of that team was Giants pitcher Madison Bumgarner who spoke with Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area about memories of that playoff run and how he was feeling during that time.
As said before, tons of people from that Giants championship team will celebrate Saturday at Oracle Park for the decade anniversary which prompted Bumgarner to remember his conversations with manager Bruce Bochy. Bumgarner had the mindset that he wanted to contribute by any means necessary in the eventual final two games of the series despite throwing 117 pitches in Game 5, which ended up being a shutout.
“I just let him know that I could, I let him know that I could and it wasn't trying to be a tough guy or whatever,” Bumgarner said Friday. “I would have done that, too. For whatever reason, at that time of my career I was locked in as good as I could be and the body felt good and I was able to recover. When everything is flowing and going right and (there) are a lot of more stress-free innings and stuff, that helps a guy be able to bounce back and recover. I felt great the whole postseason.”
Madison Bumgarner talks being in the “zone” during Giants playoff run
What resulted was Bumgarner throwing five shutout innings coming out of the bullpen in Game 7 against the Kansas City Royals to cap off the Giants winning the World Series. However, it is important to remember just how effective Bumgarner was that postseason for San Francisco as during the 2014 MLB playoffs, he had a 1.03 ERA in throwing 52 2/3 innings where it all started when he threw another shutout in the wild card game to get the run started against the Pittsburgh Pirates.
“People talk about the zone, that was it,” Bumgarner said on his performance in the 2014 MLB playoffs. “I didn't have it before then and I didn't have it after then. That was the spot for me.”
The 52 2/3 innings pitched by Bumgarner is the single season record which has not been close to anybody this decade as the most recent one is in the top ten with Cliff Lee who did it in 2009 with 40.1 innings. Durability has been a cause of concern with pitchers in baseball in keeping them healthy and fresh rather than overusing them which could mean that Bumgarner's record will stay that way for the foreseeable future.
Bumgarner on if his record will ever be broken
Bumgarner would even say that the record not breaking is a “pretty safe bet” per NBC Sports Bay Area, though he leaves the possibility out there since the 35-year old expresses that “who knows what the game is going to evolve into.”
“Who knows what's going to happen. I could never say never,” Bumgarner said. “Who knows what the game is going to evolve into, but I would say it's a pretty safe bet that it's not going to happen in the near future the way it's going.”
The championship Giants team will be celebrated Saturday evening when they take on the Detroit Tigers as they are 60-58 on the season.
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