MLB teams
Mike Petriello, ESPN Insider 9y

Are we all overrating Bumgarner?

MLB, San Francisco Giants, Chicago White Sox

How much do October heroics count for, really?

For the San Francisco Giants, what Madison Bumgarner did for them last autumn added up to a world title. It took a lot of moving pieces to get that third title in five years, but easily the most important part was Bumgarner doing things we've never seen, at least on that stage. In 52 2/3 postseason innings, Bumgarner allowed a mere six earned runs, and he carved his name into baseball history by throwing five nearly perfect innings to close out Game 7 on only two days' rest, after having thrown a shutout in Game 5.

It was without question one of the most spectacular postseason performances we'll ever witness. So how much is that worth? That's the question today, because Bumgarner stands out as ranking surprisingly high (third) in the BBTN left-handed starting pitcher rankings, ahead of such names as David Price and Jon Lester. He's up two spots among lefty starters from a year ago, and judging by some of the names he's ranked above, he'll likely place much higher in the overall rankings as well (he was 40th in 2014).

To jump that far in a single year would indicate he's coming off one of the most spectacular years in baseball. Based on only a few October weeks, maybe that's true. But what about the far bigger sample size of multiple regular seasons, or that his regular season was a pretty good one that stood alongside pretty good ones from a lot of other pitchers? Were we so blown away by a few dozen great innings of pitching that we've looked past nearly a thousand innings across his career? Let's investigate.

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