Thanks to quite possibly the greatest post-season by a single pitcher in baseball history, the Giants have won their third World Series in the past five years. The MVP, Madison Bumgarner pitched in three of the seven games, throwing 21 innings and allowing just a single run. When he finished Tim Hudson’s game seven start, he earned the final win of the series, giving him credit for three of the Giants four victories. Hudson’s opposition in the final game of the 2014 World Series was the only former Indian to get significant playing time in this year’s play-offs, Jeremy Guthrie, who gave up three runs in 3.1 innings, all San Francisco would need to secure the championship.
In addition to Bumgarner’s mastery, Pablo Sandoval set a Major League post-season record with 26 hits, largely thanks to his .429 World Series average and the extra game allotted for the initial Wild Card match. In three seasons, Sandoval already has 53 hits and 20 RBI in 39 play-off games. Sandoval will be a free agent this off-season and will be looking to cash in as the top third baseman on the market.
As for the Royals, little has changed as far as the Central Division’s success in the World Series. Since the Central became a division in 1994, six teams have made it to the World Series (the Indians in 1995 and 1997, the White Sox in 2005 and the Tigers in 2006 and 2012) and only one has won the October Classic, Chicago in 2005. Whether the answer to this failure lies in the fact that the AL Central annually keeps one of the lowest salaries in baseball, the lack of internal competition within the division or just poor luck is unknown, but if the Indians do manage to make it back to the play-offs any time soon, they will have to learn from the Royals’ mistakes if they are to do what few other Central Division teams have done.
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