I was wondering about the question of whether Madison Bumgarner was not only the MVP of the 2014 World Series, but the MVP of all recent World Series. I mean, here’s something startling: Bumgarner’s ERA for the series was 0.43, over 21 innings. The rest of the Giants staff recorded a 5.71 ERA in their 40 innings of work. Bumgarner wasn’t just the most valuable player — he was, on the pitching side, the only valuable player.
I asked Daniel Erman how far back you had to go to find a comparable performance, and he pointed out that the answer is “One year.” David Ortiz had an insane 1.948 OPS for the series. The next-highest mark on the Red Sox? Jacoby Ellsbury, at 0.599. That is amazing. At least the Giants had Affeldt, who was effective in four games of middle relief. Boston really had no hitter other than Ortiz who was any good at all. The Red Sox had 62 baserunners in the series. 19 of those were David Ortiz.
Are there any other World Series OVPs?
Quomodocumque 