Giants Win The World Series

Sunday, October 3, 2010, 1:35 PM ET: It's the last day of the MLB season. Game 162. And the games matter. The day starts with the Atlanta Braves hosting the Philadelphia Phillies. If the Phillies win, the Giants are guaranteed at the very least a playoff spot. It starts off great for the Giants. The Phillies jump off to a 2-0 lead and it looks for all the world that Bobby Cox's last stand will end in Turner Field in humiliating fashion on the last game of the season. A Phillies team with nothing to play for all series long could single handedly send a choking Giants team to the playoffs.....

But Danys Baez enters this game to pitch. And the meltdown begins. 2-0 Phillies becomes 8-2 Braves faster than you can say "Danys Baez, Mike Zagurski, and J.C. Romero are useless pieces of garbage and Joe Blanton in relief is a great idea if you ever want to lose a baseball game." The Phillies rally. 8-2 becomes 8-5. Then 8-7. The Giants may not have to worry after all.......

....The rally was never complete. Braves win 8-7.

Sunday, October 3, 2010: 4:05 PM ET: The Giants send Jonathan Sanchez to the mound in San Francisco against Padre ace Mat Latos in San Francisco with everything to play for, and an arduous road ahead if they lose. If the Padres win and sweep the series, the Giants would have to go on the road and face the Padres in an NL West tie-breaker on Monday with Tim Lincecum on the mound. Win that, and they would need to go to Turner Field to face the Braves in a wildcard tie-breaker on Tuesday. Win that, and on Wednesday, they would start an NLDS series at Philadelphia against a rested Roy Halladay with who knows what pitcher on the mound. The odds would be stacked immensely against the Giants. 4 games in 4 cities in 4 days would be brutal on any team, especially considering the stakes of all those games would be higher than high. 0-0, bottom of the 3rd inning, Jonathan Sanchez hits a triple.......

Monday, November 1, 2010: 10:30 PM ET: The San Francisco Giants are World Champions of baseball.

It happened that fast. An excellent starting pitching staff combined with a very solid bullpen, 3 real good hitters, and a bunch of medicore "huh, they are still playing baseball?" veterans combined to win the World Series. One of those mediocre veterans, Edgar Renteria, won 2010 MVP. Think about it for a minute. Edgar Renteria. 2010 World Series MVP. Edgar. Renteria.

Everything about this run by the Giants has been improbable: the absurd bounces, the ridiculous hot streak from Cody Ross in the NLCS, ridiculous BABIP, the timely hits from Juan Uribe, opposing team's line drives magically finding their ways to Giants gloves time after time again, the hot streak of Edgar Renteria in the World Series, the meek Giant groundballs that squirted through and led to runs, a kid 1 month and 15 days older than me who was struggling with his fastball in the minors earlier in the season pitching the game of a lifetime in Game 4 of the World Series, the unprecedented 6 1-run wins in the post-season, the incredible luck. It all combined together to equal a Giants World Series championship.

Go back to October 3, 2010 at 1:04 PM. Simulate the scenario from then to the playoffs 1,000 times. How many times would the Giants end up as World Series champions? Less than 50? I'd say so. The crazy thing about sports, baseball in particular, is the best team does not always win. If that was the case, we'd be talking about the Rays, Twins, Phillies, or Yankees right about now as World Champions. The best baseball teams of 2010? The truth lies somewhere within the middle of the aforementioned 4. But it's the hottest team at the right time wins. The luckiest team at the right time wins. That team? The San Francisco Giants.

Is that to say it is undeserved championship? Absolutely not. Any team that wins a division in baseball and makes the playoffs is going to be good enough to at least make a run at things, even if they are not the best. 2009 Yankees? They can say there were one of the best in the league. 2008 Phillies? Not among the best of teams. 2007 Red Sox? Among one of the best. 2006 Cardinals? Not even close to being the best; they won a putrid division with a record barely above .500! 2005 White Sox? Up there with the best. 2004 Red Sox? Nope. 2003 Marlins? Nowhere near the best. 2002 Angels? No. 2001 Diamondbacks? They were not the team that set a major league record with 116 wins in a single season.

Over half of the above teams were not among the best or one of the best overall teams in baseball when they won the World Series, yet how many people are saying that the 2008 Phillies did not deserve it, or the 2001 Diamondbacks winning is a scandal? A lot of these teams have got very lucky with some bounces along the way, as did the Giants, but that does not mean they are undeserved champions.

Congrats to the San Francisco Giants. The well-deserved 2010 World Champions of baseball.