The Detroit Tigers came into the World Series as
favorites—and it is not hard to see why. Justin Verlander has a Cy Young and
MVP award to his name and Miguel Cabrera just won the first Triple Crown since
1967. Quite frankly, the Tigers came into the World Series with both the
best pitcher and the best hitter in baseball.
That’s nothing to shrug your shoulders at, but ignoring the
efforts of the other competitor is ridiculous.
Look at MLB.com,
and you’ll see the vast majority of the media personalities surveyed have
predicted the Tigers to win the World Series. (Thankfully at least those at
ESPN were a bit less biased in that
survey.) While the World Series is far
from over—as the Giants proved
in their comebacks in both the NLDS and NLCS—it is ridiculous to see such a
bias in World Series predictions. Didn't the Giants just prove twice not to count them out?
This east coast/anti-West coast bias prevailed throughout
the first two games of the World Series, too. The infamous two check marks were insane. How badly
did the Giants prove Tim McCarver wrong? Verlander got rocked and Zito threw a gem. Pablo
Sandoval had a three home run game.
And yet, somehow it was often attributed to luck. After all, who could hit a 95 MPH
fastball, never mind some dude nicknamed Kung Fu Panda?
Well, before Sandoval took his first swing against
Verlander, my thoughts were: “if anybody can hit Verlander, Sandoval is that
guy.” I would be lying if I told you that I predicted that he would hit three
home runs, but Sandoval’s free-swinging nature is made for a flame-thrower like
the former Cy Young winner.
Verlander loves to elevate his fastball—which Tim McCarver
repeatedly called “unhittable” (until Giants hitters made it look like a
watermelon)—and guess what Pablo loves swinging at? You guessed it: the high
fastball. Rewind a couple years and that is exactly what Pablo’s problem was
because he could not catch up to the high heat. But now, two years later and 40
pounds lighter, Pablo has shown that his free-swinging nature works. His
career .303 average does not lie.
For those who do not buy the hitting ability of Sandoval,
how about his All-Star performance against Verlander? The three-run triple
proved that Verlander is not unhittable. He is underrated and a bit overweight,
but the Panda can hit. And he owns Verlander.
An even more ridiculous claim: the Giants have gotten lucky in games
one and two. Even former San Francisco
Chronicle writer Gwen Knapp wrote that the Giants “have been so fortunate in the last week that even
their mistakes end up working to their advantage” and “the Giants’ luck took on a paranormal
quality late in the NLCS.”
Again, who knows how it will play out in the rest of the
World Series, but from Game 5 of the NLCS through Game 2 of the World Series,
the Giants have played nearly perfect baseball. To point to Blanco’s
bunt, Pence’s broken-bat
knock, or Pagan’s
hit that bounced off third base as reasons for the Giants three consecutive
wins is insane.
Offense, defense, pitching, managing—it has all been nearly
perfect from Game 5 of the NLCS through Game 2 of the World Series.
And it hasn’t magically appeared, either. Take another
wildly miscalculated Giant player for example: Barry Zito. First of all, the
guy has been, well…perfect. In his past
14 starts, the Giants are a 14-0. Luck? Give it a break…he won a
back-to-the-wall elimination Game 5 in the NLCS and Game 1 of the World Series. Any argument as to the validity of Zito’s pitching ability is outdated and
lacks a factual basis. He deserves
a large amount of credit for the Giants success. He earned the “Barry”
chants at AT&T Park.
On that note, Joe Buck mentioned the “Barry chants” were a
first since another famous Barry. Tim McCarver’s response?
“When Barry Manilow was playing in a concert.” He forgot the most renowned
Giant of all time. East coast bias or a lack of baseball knowledge? Who knows,
but I find it embarrassing that these guys are in the announcers booth on
baseball’s biggest stage.
Something would surely
change in Game 2, right?
Similar claims of luck were made as to Madison Bumgarner’s
seven innings of shutout baseball. The excuse this time was his recent
struggles and 11.25 postseason ERA. No mention was made of Bumgarner’s 0.00 ERA
in the World Series (which still holds true after his Game 2 start). He is the first
pitcher since 1986 to allow 0 ER in his first 15 IP in the World Series.
How many times did you hear that mentioned on ESPN or during
the game on Fox?
Nothing was made of the fact that the Giants have, as Brian
Sabean said after the Giants won the pennant, the best coaching staff in
baseball. Dave Righetti has seen some great pitchers in his 12-year tenure as
the Giants pitching coach and Bruce Bochy has seamlessly integrated a Brian
Wilson-less bullpen. Bumgarner’s mechanical flaws were no problem to fix for
this staff.
How about now that the World Series shifts to Detroit? Well,
home-field advantage means that the Tigers have nothing to worry about. In fact,
they “won’t waste time
winning the World Series.” We could pull up article after article on
national media that would lend Stephen A. Smith to repeat one word:
disrespectful.
Even the east-coast biased Joe Buck called AT&T Park the most electrifying ballpark in baseball, and he's announced playoff games in Yankee Stadium and Fenway Park.
Even the east-coast biased Joe Buck called AT&T Park the most electrifying ballpark in baseball, and he's announced playoff games in Yankee Stadium and Fenway Park.

They have talent, baseball intelligence, and a brotherhood
that has proven to be crucial in playoff runs (see the “idiots” in Boston in
2004 and the “fear the beard” team of 2010).
49ers quarterback Alex Smith made a controversial
stand to support San Francisco by wearing a Giants hat in a postgame interview.
Smith plays a completely different sport but has respect for a Giants team that
has proven they know how to get the job done. Jim Harbaugh voiced similar sentiments after Bochy wore a 49ers hat in a postgame interview of
his own.
Harbaugh’s words, more
than a month ago: “[The Giants
are] a team that just never gives up. They're always fighting and they're
coming back. It's a never-say-die type of team.”
While their road to winning
the World Series will mean holding on to a 2-0 lead, those thoughts quite
accurately echo their road to the Series.
Maybe someone should give Harbaugh—a football coach—a spot on
ESPN or Fox as a baseball analyst. Sadly, he seems to know more about baseball than too
many of the so-called “experts.”
Great read, it's sad that Fox chooses Buck and McCarver every year, one well past his prime and another who got the job from daddy. Cant wait for game 3 tonight. Came here from Reddit btw.
ReplyDeleteGreat article man and couldn't agree more it's just an embrassment for everybody who down talks to Giants play as luck or just getting breaks. Fox,ESPN, MLB Network, and Joe Buck and company are a prime example of East Coast bias. however it all doesn't matter because the Giants are on their way to another world Series Championship!!
ReplyDeleteI have to say, and I can't believe I'm saying this, I'm starting to like Joe Buck a lot more than the rest of the national sports media. McCarver is a joke, but Buck is giving credit where it's due while the others are just making endless excuses for Detroit.
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