San Francisco Giants: Will Even Year Magic Strike Again?
By Ryan Schultz
The 2010 San Francisco Giants won the franchise’s first championship since moving to California. In 2012, the San Francisco Giants owned their division, became the comeback kids in the playoffs, and swept the Series. The 2014 Giants went from Wild Card Game to World Series Champions. What will the 2016 Giants do?
The San Francisco Giants have what has been dubbed as “even year magic.” They were an incredibly fun team to watch in 2010, the year of their first championship run. That year, they won their first NLDS and NLCS series since 2002, on their way to their first championship as the San Francisco Giants.
In 2012, the Giants returned to their dominance from 2010 with quite a few of the same key players. When the Giants won the World Series in 2014 after falling to a Wild Card position entering the playoffs, the “even year magic” idea really took off.
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Now that we are in 2016, there are many wondering if that magic will continue this season. The Giants sit atop the National League West division, as they have almost all season, but the Dodgers have begun to sneak up on them. As the Giants go through their cold stretch of the season, it’s important to remember that at one point they had the most wins in baseball. The Dodgers making it tough on them in the West shouldn’t hurt the Giants World Series hopes, however, because they have become accustomed to winning it all kinds of ways.
This year’s Giants team contains not only a lot of the same players from their last World Series Championship, like Madison Bumgarner and Buster Posey, but also a very similar feel to some of their other “magical” teams. The Giants won their 3 World Series Championships in 6 seasons with good pitching and timely hitting from a good core of players.
"”It’s all about pitching, defense and timely hitting,” manager Bruce Bochy said. ”It’s a pretty simple game really, and that’s what’s important for us.”"
By far one of the most interesting facts about the Giants winning the World Series every other year since 2010 is how relatively poorly they have performed during the years they didn’t win the Series. In 2011, they were missing star catcher Buster Posey and held a pretty good record of 86-76, but failed to reach the playoffs behind a very good Diamondbacks team in the West. In 2013 their record was a flip flop of the 2011 season, finishing 76-86 in a very disappointing season. Last year the Giants finished the season at 84-78, second place in the NL West, and well shy of a Wild Card position.
Over the offseason, the Giants took steps to return to their 2014 Championship form by adding pitching in the form of Jeff Samardzija and Johnny Cueto. Samardzija was coming off the worst season of his career with the White Sox, when he posted an ERA of 4.96 while only striking out 17.9% of the batters he faced. Although the Giants hoped he would bounce back to his previous form in 2016, he’s been relatively the same pitcher this season; however, he has provided depth to their rotation, which they desperately needed.
Johnny Cueto, on the other hand, has been a great sign for the Giants. He has a 2.93 ERA, 1.08 WHIP, 22.7% strikeout rate, and 4.56 K/BB; all of those stats better than his performance in 2015.
The Giants have received a huge boost from their pitching staff, but their position players have been no slouch either. Brandon Belt, Buster Posey, and Brandon Crawford have all been huge parts of the Giants success so far this season. All three players are monsters at the plate and well-known for their ability in the field.
As I mentioned above, the Giants have hit a rough patch this August as the Dodgers have caught up to them in the NL West. The closest the two have become was a tie between the Giants and the Dodgers earlier this week. However, the Giants have once again pulled out to a one game lead. Regardless, the Giants aren’t a team that must dominate the field throughout the season to win the Championship. They have veterans who know that all it takes is getting hot at the right time, pitching well, and being able to win series after series.
For that reason alone, the Giants may have a slight edge over their two top competitors in the National League this season: the Cubs and the Nationals. The Cubs got a taste of playoff baseball last season when they won the Wild Card game, beat their rival Cardinals in the NLDS, and eventually lost to the Mets in the NLCS. Their experience, however, pales in comparison to the overall experience on the Giants roster. The Nationals are extremely inexperienced in the playoffs, which could give them a disadvantage when facing an opponent like the Giants.
This 2016 season once again fits the mold for what has made the Giants successful in the past. They have great pitching and hitters who should come through for them when needed most. They’re not the clear favorite to win it all, and they’re okay with that.
It would be an outstanding feat if the San Francisco Giants were able to win the World Series during an even season once again. Will even year magic play a part in their journey towards possibly another World Series Championship? If you consider their ability to pitch in the playoffs and hit when needed most to be even year magic, then absolutely it will.