With his latest shutdown gem against the St. Louis Cardinals in Game 1 of the NLCS, the Giants’ Madison Bumgarner continues to prove that he welcomes crowd hostility with open arms. In fact, go ahead and boo him Cardinals fans, it’ll only make him better.
Though just 25-years old, the man they call MadBum has two World Series rings (2010 and 2012), and in BOTH of those World Series, he had a victory on at least 7 shutout innings, allowing a total of 5 hits through 15 innings pitched. Make no mistake, Madison Bumgarner is a big game pitcher.
After last night’s victory against St. Louis in which he blanked the Cardinals’ offense over 7 2/3 innings, Bumgarner improved to 4-0 with a 0.59 ERA in four career playoff starts on the road. Almost more impressively, he also extended his consecutive scoreless postseason innings on the road to 26 2/3, a Major League record.
This postseason glory comes off yet another strong year for the San Francisco ace, putting up career-highs in innings pitched (217 1/3), strikeouts (219), BB/9 (1.8), K/9 (9.1) and K/BB (5.09). His 18-10 record, 2.98 ERA, and 1.09 WHIP aren’t too shabby either.
Lesser-known fact: Madison Bumgarner can get it done with the stick, too. Over 78 plate appearance this year, he slashed a robust .258/.286/.470, good for a .755 OPS. In fact, his OPS+ stands at 113 (MLB average for a hitter is 100). He slugged a pitcher-leading 4 home runs, one being a grand slam, and also led all pitchers in RBIs with 15.
If the Giants continue their streak of World Series appearances in even years (2010 then 2012, perhaps 2014), then we will all get another chance to see MadBum quiet both crowds and bats as he quests for his third championship in five years.