Yoshinobu Yamamoto still has a way to go to match Madison Bumgarner's playoff greatness

The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Atlanta Braves on Tuesday night to get one game closer to the NLCS. Yoshinobu Yamamoto delivered another great playoff performance which only brings him closer to SF Giants legend Madison Bumgarner in terms of playoff greatness but he still has a long way to go to exceed him.

Let’s compare the numbers. Yamamoto’s seven-inning start in which he allowed one earned run brought his career playoff ERA down to 2.14 in 11 appearances and 63 innings pitched.

That’s very impressive, but Bumgarner still has the upper hand. The tall lefty had a 2.11 ERA in 16 playoff appearances and 102 and 1/3 innings pitched. That means Yamamoto would have to continue his current pace for another 40 innings, which he very well could do, but as of right now it would be grossly premature to claim that he has surpassed Bumgarner in terms of playoff greatness.

The debate started in earnest last season when Yamamoto put the Dodgers on his back by throwing six innings of one-run ball in Game 6 of the World Series against the Toronto Blue Jays and 2 and 2/3 scoreless innings of relief in Game 7 on no rest to clinch the World Series.

That performance understandably drew comparisons to Bumgarner’s heroics during the 2014 playoffs when he pitched a complete game shutout in Game 5 and then came in and recorded a five-out save in Game 7 of the World Series over the Kansas City Royals.

Dodgers fans and Giants fans probably won't agree on Bumgarner-Yamamoto debate

Both feats are impressive and obviously it’s impossible to be impartial with this as a Giants fan, but the fact that Bumgarner had to throw 52 and 2/3 innings in October of 2014 and literally carried the Giants to their third World Series title in five years is almost Herculean in nature.

Keep in mind the fact that Bumgarner also threw 217 and 1/3 regular season innings in 2014 which means he had to throw 270 innings in 2014. Yamamoto threw 211 total innings last year which is still a lot by the standards of today’s MLB, but that’s a pretty wide chasm between the two of them.

The 2026 playoffs aren’t over though so if Yamamoto continues to deal and pitches on short rest again to deliver a title then he may have a real case that he is a superior playoff pitcher to Bumgarner, but at this point in time we still have to give the edge to Bumgarner.

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