Fox Sports settles Madison Bumgarner-Yoshinobu Yamamoto debate for SF Giants fans

Fox Sports put together a roster of the best World Series performers of the 21st century. The SF Giants had several representatives, including Madison Bumgarner as the starting pitcher over Yoshinobu Yamamoto.

Barry Bonds was also tabbed as a starter. He had an incredible World Series run in 2002 against the Los Angeles Angels. Bonds posted a 1.994 OPS with four home runs and six RBI in 30 plate appearances. Unfortunately, the season was canceled before that series reached a conclusion.

Pablo Sandoval and Tim Lincecum were also selected as representatives of this roster. There is a case to put Sandoval over David Freese, who is the starter at third base, but there is a strong case to lead with Freese as well.

Who do you want on the mound to start that game? Madison Bumgarner got the nod, and Fox Sports highlighted his strong track record in the World Series.

"Madison Bumgarner isn’t just the best starting pitcher of the 21st-century World Series — he might be the best the league has ever seen in that setting... His 0.25 ERA across 36 innings is the lowest for a career, and he never lost a World Series game in five chances."

Fox Sports on Madison Bumgarner

For the past 12 months, there has been a debate among Giants and Los Angeles Dodgers fans about who had the more impressive World Series track record between Bumgarner and Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Yamamoto made the list, but he was a reserve.

Madison Bumgarner of the SF Giants clearly has the better World Series numbers over Yoshinobu Yamamoto

They both have impressive postseason résumés to boast, but it is hard to argue with the results. Bumgarner earned the World Series MVP in 2014 after allowing just one earned run in 21 innings against the Kansas City Royals while closing out the victory in Game 7.

Yamamoto had a similarly impressive World Series run in 2025, allowing two earned runs in 17 innings against the Toronto Blue Jays. He pitched on back-to-back days to help the Dodgers clinch the World Series over Toronto.

On the surface, Bumgarner has the better World Series numbers. There is no debating that. However, Dodgers fans have qualified Yamamoto's performance in 2025 by saying that he faced off against a superior lineup to the one Bumgarner saw in 2014.

Any time a debate has to qualify a performance, it is also inherently admitting that one is better than the other. In this case, Dodgers fans inherently have admitted that Bumgarner's performance is superior, but they have leaned on the opposing lineup to support their own case.

It should also be noted that the Royals were no fluke. They reached the World Series in 2015 as well, and defated the New York Mets.

This was a fun exercise by Fox Sports, and one that subtly settled a debate between Giants and Dodgers fans.

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