Make no mistake. What Madison Bumgarner did last night has never been done before. Pedro Martinez overcame a back injury and tossed six no-hit innings of relief in the 1999 American League Division Series against the Cleveland Indians, but that merely sent the Boston Red Sox into the ALCS. Randy Johnson got the last four outs for the Arizona Diamondbacks in Game 7 of the 2001 World Series after throwing 104 pitches the night before, giving the D-Backs the title.
But Bumgarner's five innings of shutout relief is in a class by itself and will go down as one of the legendary performances in the history of the sport.
Bumgarner is the second pitcher in MLB history to toss a shutout and have a relief appearance of 5 or more scoreless innings in a single World Series, following the Indians' Duster Mails in the 1920 World Series against the Dodgers. Mails pitched 6.2 innings of scoreless relief in Game 3, then pitched a complete game shutout in Game 6 in that best-of-9 series.
Bumgarner is the second pitcher with five or more scoreless innings of relief in a winner-take-all World Series game, following the Yankees' Joe Page in Game 7 of the 1947 World Series against the Dodgers.
Bumgarner's 5-inning save was the first ever recorded in the postseason since the save became an official statistic in 1969.
This was one epic postseason for Madison Bumgarner pic.twitter.com/EAwxZmEwNH
This postseason, Bumgarner pitched 52.2 innings, most ever in a single postseason, besting Curt Schilling's 48.1 IP in 2001. In those 52.2 innings, Bumgarner gave up 1 earned run. His 0.43 ERA in the World Series this year is the best since Sandy Koufax's 0.38 ERA in 1965 (minimum of 15 innings pitched).
Overall, in 52.2 innings, Bumgarner went 4-1 with 1 save, 45 strikeouts, 6 walks and a 1.03 ERA in the 2014 postseason. The next closest pitcher in terms of innings pitched in the playoffs was October 30, 2014
The Giants needed this heroic effort from their ace because manager Bruce Bochy had a quick hook on his number-3 starter October 30, 2014
In 167 postseason plate appearances, Sandoval has a career slash line of .344/.389/.545 with 13 doubles and 6 home runs.
Mickey Mantle, in 273 postseason PAs, had a career slash line of .257/.374/.535 with 6 doubles and 18 homers.
Sandoval is going to get paid by someone this off-season.
With their win, the Giants became the first road team to win Game 7 of the World Series since the "We Are Family" Pittsburgh Pirates of 1979. And they are the first road team to win Game 7 after losing Game 6 since the 1975 Cincinnati Reds overcame Carlton Fisk's blast in that epic Game 6 at Fenway Park.
The Giants became the first National League team to win 3 World Series titles in 5 years since the St. Louis Cardinals did it in 1942, '44, and '46. They have won 10 consecutive postseason series since 2010, the second-longest streak in playoff history. And they are the sixth wild card team to win the World Series, joining the '97 Marlins, '02 Angels, '03 Marlins, '04 Red Sox, and '11 Cardinals.
The Giants now have won 8 world championships, joining the Red Sox for fourth-most in MLB history (Yankees 27, Cardinals 11, Athletics 9).
And let's not forget the gutsy managing of Bruce Bochy, who stuck with Bumgarner in the ninth inning, even after pic.twitter.com/0g02CuIC9z
— Isaac (@WorldofIsaac) October 30, 2014Bochy could have brought in his closer, #Game7 http://t.co/IV78DE7FR4
— MLB GIFS (@MLBGIFs) October 30, 2014After reviewing Hosmer's idiotic head-first slide into first, umpires called him out, and a Royals' scoring opportunity went by the wayside.
Then in the fifth, with Bumgarner struggling with his command and Omar Infante on first after a lead-off single, Ned Yost had Alcides Escobar sacrifice bunt on a 2-0 count. Instead of putting pressure on Bumgarner and forcing him to find the strike zone, Kansas City gave him one of their few remaining precious outs. Nori Aoki followed with a lineout to left and Lorenzo Cain struck out swinging to end the last threat they would have until the ninth.
By then, Bumgarner was locked in, and it was too late for the Royals to win their first world championship since 1985.
And Madison Bumgarner is looking for more humans to destroy.