San Francisco Giants: Madison Bumgarner’s Return to KC Perfectly Timed

Oct 29, 2014; Kansas City, MO, USA; San Francisco Giants starting pitcher Ryan Vogelsong (left) watches as teammate Madison Bumgarner (middle) hoists the Commissioners Trophy after game seven of the 2014 World Series against the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Peter G. Aiken-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 29, 2014; Kansas City, MO, USA; San Francisco Giants starting pitcher Ryan Vogelsong (left) watches as teammate Madison Bumgarner (middle) hoists the Commissioners Trophy after game seven of the 2014 World Series against the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Peter G. Aiken-USA TODAY Sports

The San Francisco Giants and their fans will  never forget what took place that cold October night. Madison Bumgarner solidified himself in the folklore of postseason heroes. After a slow start, a trip back to THAT place might be the perfect jumpstart to their season.

Madison Bumgarner and the San Francisco Giants can’t be too happy with their starts, both individually and collectively. The Giants after two weeks were in last place in the NL West, dropping series to the Padres, Rockies, and Diamondbacks so far. On the other hand, Bumgarner is 0-2. The Giants also haven’t won in any of his three starts. While the numbers are there for Bumgarner, the results aren’t. He’s never been the numbers guy, all he’s done is try to win.

Now, the Giants get to come back to the scene, and Bumgarner gets to step on the mound where he, and the Giants made history. They became the dominant dynasty of this decade on that night, and Bumgarner became the pitcher with one of the greatest postseasons in baseball history.

San Francisco Giants

No, that title for Bumgarner isn’t “homerish”. Bumgarner literally put together one of, if not the greatest postseason run in history. 50+ innings, and a 1.03 ERA. While throwing the most innings anybody has ever done in a postseason, he also posted the third lowest ERA in postseason history (minimum 30ip) according to ESPN Stats and info.

Look, we’re not here to talk too much about the past though. It was amazing, yes. But revisiting the place where his legacy was solidified is the perfect place for him to find his form again.

The Giants bullpen made a few of the Royals hitters look foolish last night. Bumgarner is twice the pitcher most of them are. With an aggressive, free swinging Royals team, Bumgarner should be quite excited to face them.

The opening day loss wasn’t entirely his fault. And frankly, neither are the others. You can’t win if you don’t get run support. It’s also not like he’s been pitching terrible either. So far he has 24 K’s, 3 BB’s, and 8 ER in 21 innings. Those are pretty good numbers. So is it time for him to get back on track? No. He’s been on track.

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However, the Giants need to jump start their season. I solid comeback win, where they scratched and clawed to get their bats going again, coupled with some solid situational pitching by the bullpen, should give them a shot of confidence. Throw that in with Bumgarner on the mound today, a win here should help get the ship full righted.

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