Due to the coronavirus outbreak suspending the 2020 MLB season, we’re rewatching the three San Francisco Giants postseason runs, game-by-game, on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday nights at 6 p.m. PT, with a gamethread for each.
The first two games of the 2014 NLDS between the San Franscisco Giants and Washington Nationals could not have been closer. After 27 innings of play, only two runs separate the teams. Yet the Giants managed to emerge with wins in both games, winning the series opener 3-2, and taking Game 2 by a score of 2-1 ... in 18 innings.
And so they return to San Francisco with a 2-0 series lead, needing just one win in the next three games to advance to the NLCS. But they won’t get ahead of themselves; after all, it was just two years ago that the Giants themselves won three straight road games against the Cincinnati Reds to overcome a 2-0 NLDS deficit.
To try and close out the series, the Giants turn to Madison Bumgarner, a left-hander. Bumgarner finished the season with an 18-10 record, a 2.98 ERA, a 3.05 FIP, and 219 strikeouts in 217.1 innings. He made the All-Star team, finished fourth in Cy Young Award voting, and won the Silver Slugger Award.
The Nationals are trying to keep their season alive behind Doug Fister, a right-hander. Fister finished the season with a 16-6 record, a 2.41 ERA, a 3.93 FIP, and 98 strikeouts in 164 innings. He finished eighth in Cy Young Award voting.
We’re starting this rewatch at the same time as all the other ones: 6 p.m. PT. The video is embedded at the bottom of the article, or you can find it at this link, or you can YouTube search “Giants 2014 NLDS Game 3” and click the first link.
Here’s Matt Williams’ elimination game lineup:
- Denard Span — CF
- Anthony Rendon — 3B
- Jayson Werth — RF
- Adam LaRoche — 1B
- Ian Desmond — SS
- Bryce Harper — LF
- Wilson Ramos — C
- Asdrubal Cabrera — 2B
- Doug Fister — P
And Bruce Bochy’s squad:
- Gregor Blanco — CF
- Joe Panik — 2B
- Buster Posey — C
- Pablo Sandoval — 3B
- Hunter Pence — RF
- Brandon Belt — 1B
- Brandon Crawford — SS
- Travis Ishikawa — LF
- Madison Bumgarner — P