San Francisco Giants: Four reasons they’ll make the playoffs in 2018
By Anthony Sosa
A Healthy MadBum
A lot went wrong injury-wise for the San Francisco Giants in 2017. But nothing hurt them more than seeing their ace Madison Bumgarner suffer an injury that caused him to miss over two months. What was even worse was how the injury happened. Bumgarner crashed on his dirt bike in Colorado causing a sprained shoulder.
Not only did the Giants lose a durable arm on the mound but they lost a bit of leadership. Losing one of your leaders to a careless injury like that causes a loss of team morale. Bumgarner also possesses the best bat out of any pitchers in today’s game, so the Giants also lost a good bat every fifth day too.
The 28-year-old garnered a lot of recognition for his success in the 2014 postseason. Where he pitched a whopping 52.2 innings and posted a 1.03 ERA, en route to winning the 2014 World Series MVP. The lefty’s dominated the postseason throughout his career. In 102.1 innings, Bumgarner owns a 2.11 ERA and 87 strikeouts.
As for the regular season, he sports a 104-76 record, a 3.01 ERA, 1.097 WHIP and 1,482 strikeouts. In his nine seasons, Bumgarner’s made four All-Star games, won two Silver Sluggers and has helped the Giants win three World Series.
Losing a workhorse and one of the best pitchers in the game played a big factor in the Giants’ poor 2017. A full year of a healthy Bumgarner could easily shoot the Giants right back into the playoff picture.