In Praising Giants’ Madison Bumgarner, Fox World Series Announcers Suffer Amnesia Regarding Pitching Durability

By Nicholas Stix

Fox’ announcing crew has been claiming that Madison Bumgarner, who won two games as starter, and is now about to begin his fifth inning of relief in game seven against the Royals, is doing something that no pitcher has done since the dead-ball era.

Well, you can prove just about anything, if you fudge things enough.

The rule in the Series used to be that a team’s ace started—and typically finished—three games. The rule.

Thus, Bob Gibson, the greatest money pitcher of them all, started and finished three games against the Yankees in 1964, going 2-1 and being named the Series MVP; completed three games against the Red Sox, going 3-0, and wining Series MVP, in 1967; and completed three games, going 2-1 against the Tigers in 1968.

Gibby did not win the Series MVP in 1968, because his offensively anemic Cardinals scored only one run off Mickey Lolich, who was until that point a fat, .500 workhorse and strikeout artist. (Fat pitchers were then almost unheard of; the only other one I can think of was George Brunet.) Lolich went 3-0 that Series, and won the MVP.