Is San Francisco on another World Series run?

Let’s start with two things: one, it’s an even numbered year (think about the last two Giant runs), and two, one team’s big time pitcher got it right under the bright lights (looking at you Jon Lester).

If there’s anything that we learned from the Giants 8-0 blowout of the Pittsburgh Pirates in the National League Wild Card Wednesday night it’s this: they’re back.  How long this current run lasts will be seen when they begin the NLDS against Washington Friday night.

Maybe it was Brandon Crawford’s grand slam in the fourth inning against Edison Volquez on a hanging breaking ball, or Madison Bumgarner’s stellar night that signaled the Giants official entrance into the 2014 postseason.  And it was a loud one.

Crawford became the first shortstop in the history of the game to hit a grand slam in the postseason and Bumgarner improved his postseason record to 4-2 in his career with a 3.02 ERA as he went the distance Wednesday night, allowing just four hits while striking out 10.

Giants’ manager Bruce Bochy wanted to pull Bumgarner from the game after the eighth, but all his ace left-hander said was “I ain’t coming out.”  He told the media after that it would have taken a tractor with at least 200 horsepower to drag him off the field.

“Honestly, I don’t say this much, but in the bullpen he just had that feel,” catcher Buster Posey said.  “He threw the ball where he wanted to.  The moment never seems too big for him.”

Pablo Sandoval had a highlight-reel play in the seventh inning, catching a foul pop-up while flipping over and into the Pirates dugout (while landing on his feet) and Brandon Belt is staying hot, going 2-for-3 with a pair of walks and three RBIs.

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Their road to the postseason, even if just the final Wild Card spot, was far from perfect.  But knowing this decade’s Giants team, they’d have it no other way.

San Francisco started the season 43-21 through June 8, keeping neck-and-neck with their Bay Bridge rivals, the Oakland A’s, as one of the best teams in baseball.  The Giants had a 10-game lead over the L.A. Dodgers in the NL West, however the Giants lost a lot of steam in the summer, finishing the rest of the season 45-53, including going 6-9 in the final 15 games to sneak into the postseason.

Even though they “snuck” into the postseason, expect the Giants to be loud the rest of the way.

Loud and hell-bent on winning their third World Series in five years.

In 2010, the Giants were ecstatic to be in the Fall Classic, let alone go on the run that they did (I would know, because I was there).  In 2012, it began to become expectation that this team would reach the Fall Classic again and they did and exceeded that expectation by sweeping the formerly dominant Detroit Tigers.  This time around, winning it all is the expectation.  But the one thing about this team that remains from their original 2010 run and their 2012 run is their resilience.

The road for the Giants in the postseason won’t be an easy one.  They’ll take on the best team with the best record in the National League in the Washington Nationals, who finished their season on a 33-13 run and went 5-2 against San Francisco this year and if the Giants can take three-of-five from them, they’ll probably take on their SoCal rivals in the Dodgers who overtook the Giants in the NL West and kept the Giants in their rear view the rest of the way.

As far as the aforementioned resilience is mentioned, during the 2012 run the Giants had to win six elimination games just to get to the Fall Classic.  Wednesday night marked their seventh straight win in an elimination game.  This team simply doesn’t go down easy and has thrived when the chips are against them.

Something to take note of while we all watch their run toward a World Series: the Giants are led by a new ace in Bumgarner, with their first ace in the bullpen and the last one out for the year with an injury.  They’re also hitting a lot better than they did in the last two runs.

It seems as if everything would be against the Giants winning it all again this year: the losing trend to enter the playoffs, the road they have to take just to get to the World Series, including the Wild Card and having a lot of people doubt their chances over two of the best teams in the National League this year.

Is it possible that the Giants have everyone right where they want them?

“Yes!  Yes!  Yes!”

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