Giants take Game 7 to win 2014 MLB World Series
San Francisco Giants defeat Kansas City Royals
Ashley Grant
Contributor
It could be called a dynasty at this point. The San Francisco Giants won the 2014 World Series championship, on Wednesday, Oct. 29, after defeating the Kansas City Royals in seven games. This championship is the Giants’ third win in the past five years.
The Giants are just the fourth team in division-play era to win three World Series games in the span of five years. No National League team can boast doing such a thing since 70 years.
As a wild card team this year, The Giants took charge of their series after defeating the Pittsburgh Pirates 8-0. The team went on to defeat the Washington Nationals in the National League Division Series (NLDS) 3-1, and they eliminated the St. Louis Cardinals in the National League Championship Series (NLCS) 4-1.
One of the biggest storylines from the playoffs and the World Series this year was the absolute dominance of Giants’ pitcher Madison Bumgarner. The spectacle was described as one of the greatest postseason performances ever seen. Bumgarner was named the MVP of the World Series, and it was clearly the right choice.
Bumgarner has a 4-0 record in his World Series career. To put that into context, no pitcher in the past 50 years has won their first four World Series career starts. The last person to achieve such a feat was Lew Burdette for the Milwaukee Braves in 1957-58.
He achieved a total pitching shutout in Game 5, making him the first to complete a World Series shutout game since Josh Beckett for the New York Yankees in 2003. Combined with his other shutout games, Bumgarner is among some of the best pitchers to play the game.
It may be easy to overlook some of the performances by Giants’ star Pablo Sandoval, infielder, due to the show put on by Bumgarner.
Sandoval finished the series with a batting average of .429, setting the all-time record for hits in a postseason with 26.
The Royals were one win away from their own Cinderella story. They were probably the least glamourous team of those who made the playoffs, finishing dead last in home runs in the regular season. The last time the Royals made the playoffs was back in 1985 when they won the World Series against the St. Louis Cardinals. Needless to say, Royals’ fans were desperate for this one.
During this year’s playoffs, the Royals played incredibly. Kansas defeated the Oakland Athletics in the wild card game. They then swept the Los Angeles Angels in the American League Division Series (ALDS), who had the best record in baseball this year. Finally, the Royals cleared the Baltimore Orioles in the American League Championship Series (ALCS), making them the only team to start a postseason 8-0. The only other team to come close to this record recently was the Colorado Rockies, who started 7-0 in the 2007 playoffs.
Royals’ fans shouldn’t get their hopes up about going back to the World Series next year, though. This year’s World Series presence was seen as an improbable run, and there is skepticism that their team just isn’t deep enough to make a back-to-back Series appearance.
With congratulations going to San Francisco this year, it’s important to recognize the success the Giants had as a team in recent years. The Giants have established themselves as an elite Major League team that you’ll be sure to have your eyes glued to next season.