San Francisco Giants ace Madison Bumgarner has an uncanny ability to keep his composure even under the most chaotic conditions, so his reaction to Conor Gillaspie’s home run on Wednesday night really comes as no surprise.
Gillaspie’s three-run bomb off of New York Mets closer Jeurys Familia in the ninth inning was more than enough run support for Bumgarner to send his team to the NLDS. And the left-hander knew it right away.
Peavy said Bum was calm in a crazy dugout after Gillaspie HR. Bum simply walked up and said, "Conor, I appreciate the hell out of that."
— Andrew Baggarly (@extrabaggs) October 6, 2016
Reactions like that show exactly why Bumgarner is so good in October. He’s boring, and we mean that as the highest possible compliment.
“(Mets pitcher Noah) Syndergaard was unbelievable,” Giants catcher Buster Posey said after the game. “But there was such a calmness in our dugout. And I think it’s safe to say Bum deserves a lot of credit for that.”
As Jayson Stark of ESPN.com notes, Bumgarner has now pitched eight road games in the playoffs. The Giants are a perfect 8-0 in those games, and Bumgarner has surrendered just three runs in 53 2/3 innings of work. He has also faced 24 hitters with runners in scoring position during those eight games, and not a single one of them has gotten a hit.
Let that sink in for a moment.
Not good enough for you? How about the fact that Bumgarner has not allowed a run in six of his 13 playoffs starts. That ties him with Tom Glavine for the record for scoreless postseason starts, and Glavine did it in 35 games. Bumgarner could have six complete-game shutouts by the time he makes that many starts.
It would not be premature to call Bumgarner the best pitcher in postseason history. The eye-popping statistics go on and on, and the 27-year-old seems to be getting even better. Regardless of the high praise he pays his opponents, Bumgarner is the best in the business with the season on the line.
