SF Giants: Three of the biggest heartbreaks of past 20 years

SF Giants heartbreaks: 2003 NLDS

Fresh on the heels of their brutal loss to the Angels in the 2002 World Series (which, as you could probably guess, we get to in a future slide), the Giants won 100 games in the 2003 regular season to win the NL West and make another push for the World Series.

The division series against the Marlins was a back and forth one. The Giants took Game 1, the Marlins took Game 2, and the two teams went back to Florida with five games to decide it.

Ivan Rodriguez, more commonly known as Pudge, hit a two-run home run as well as a game-winning single in the bottom of the 11th to give the Marlins a 2-1 series lead.

Game 4 was emblematic of the series itself, with the two teams going back and forth. The Giants were down by two runs heading into the top of the ninth with their season on the line. J.T. Snow drove in a run to make it a one-run game, and a hit batsman put him in scoring position with two outs.

Snow decided to challenge the arm of the left fielder after a single into shallow left field, but a great throw and great tag from none other than Pudge at the plate, who held on to the ball despite Snow barreling into him, secured the series for the Marlins.

The Marlins went on to win the World Series that year and the Giants would not return to the postseason until 2010.

That’s not the only heartbreaker the Giants have had in the divisional round. We need not look back too far for our next heartbreaker which happened back in 2016.