Madison Bumgarner Is SI Sportsman Of The Year

By Scott Allen | Dec 8, 2014

San Francisco Giants and World Series MVP pitcher Madison Bumgarner is Sports Illustrated’s “Sportsman of the Year”

The 2014 World Series and MLB Postseason will be remembered for a lot of reasons for a long time. There can be no greater memory than what San Francisco Giants pitcher Madison Bumgarner did in the 2014 postseason and most importantly in the 2014 World Series against the Kansas City Royals. Now he is Sports Illustrated’s “Sportsman of the Year.”

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Bumgarner had a historical run in the World Series. He finished with an ERA of 0.43 in going 2-0 in three appearances. He started two games and then even more amazingly pitched five scoreless innings in relief in Game 7 after starting Game 5. He was truly dominating. In his three World Series appearances in 2010, 2012, and 2014 he now has a career record of 4-0 with a 0.25 ERA.

His performance was none other like we had ever seen. Pitching on very short rest. Not only did he pitch on that very short rest but did it convincingly dominate fashion. He gave up just nine hits and one run in 21 innings pitched in the World Series. He struck out 17 in the process.

All of this and we’ve not even discussed his regular season. Bumgarner had a 2.98 ERA with an 18-10 record in the regular season. Nothing to sneeze at for sure. He also won the 2014 National League Championship Series MVP. However it will be his World Series performance that will always be remembered.

There could have been a lot of choices for the Sportsman of the Year and I think there are several people you could have given this award to but the most right answer had to be Madison Bumgarner.

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