The Giants Win Everything In The World

It really doesn’t get much better than this.

Throughout this entire run, I couldn’t help but flashback to the memories of the mid to late 2000’s.The dark years of Giants baseball were immersed in the repetitive off seasons of signing over the hill veterans with a sub .650 OPS. The Giants were known for their porous farm system, dragged down by the front office’s perpetual philosophy of building a team through veteran free agents while seemingly undervaluing the importance of draft picks and minor leaguers, particularly young hitters. The symbolic moment of the era was Lance Niekro striking out against Takashi Saito, which clinched an NL West championship for the Dodgers. A struggling prospect the Giants were banking their offensive future on, striking out to end the Giants season while igniting their archrival’s playoff run.

So when Sergio Romo struck out Miguel Cabrera to clinch one of the most remarkable championships in the history of baseball, all that perspective kicks in like a backup generator. The Giants were the hunters for so many years, whereby hunters I mean 5 year olds with wooden sticks trying to chase down 350 dinosaurs holding AK 47s. All this is to say, there is no way to take this for granted. It wasn’t that long ago the Giants were the team tumbling along the 65 win mark while playing in a baron wasteland of young talent.

Tonight, everything is perfect. 4 years ago this was the opening day lineup for the Giants. Remember how that felt. Remember the feelings from that season just as much as you remember this one. That is what makes everything even sweeter. Remember everything that happened then, and how far the team has come now. Barry Zito started that game series in 2008. Remember the days when Barry Zito started series? Everything is so different now. 

This is the type of season fans dream about. Many are calling it the greatest season in San Francisco Giant history, and right now, while everyone is still drunk of championship fever, it’s certainly hard to argue wit that. The Dodgers fell on their face, Matt Cain threw a perfect game, Buster Posey has a pending MVP award, and get this, the Giants also won the World Series. There’s plenty more than that, but if you condense the season to those 4 events, you’ve already have one of the greatest seasons in Giants history.

There is so much that stands out from the season that if I try to jot down everything I’m bound to forget something. All you really need to remember is this was a championship team that once featured an infield with Charlie Culberson, Emmaneul Burriss and Brett Pill. 

For now, let me just reiterate my favorite memory from the season. The Giants were down 2-0 to the Reds. Bronson Arroyo had just 1 hit the Giants. The Reds had 3 chances at home to eliminate the Giants. In game 3, Homer Bailey carried a no hitter into the 6^th inning, and also 1 hit the Giants. With the score 1-1 in the 9^th inning, Aroldis Chapman struckout Pablo Sandoval to send the game to the bottom of the 9^th inning, where the Reds could win the series with just one run.

The final 3 games of that series provided the most exciting, nerve wracking, vomit inducing innings of baseball I’ve ever watched. So many little plays that could have gone either way completely changed the series. Zach Cosart and Scott Rolen, two of the most best Reds defenders, made critical fielding blunders. Brandon Phillips inexplicably tried to advance to third from first on a wild pitch. After game 2, Marty Lurie was criticizing the Giants for not coming out of the dugout to thank the fans for a great season. In retrospect, it would be hilarious if they did that.

Less than 3 weeks later, the Giants swept the Tigers to capture their 2^nd World Series title in 3 years. Soak this one in a while.