Two of a Kind Big Game Pitchers: Madison Bumgarner & Marco Estrada
At first glance, the notion that pitchers Madison Bumgarner (San Francisco Giants) and Marco Estrada (Toronto Blue Jays) are two of a kind seems ridiculous. After all, the former is a 6 foot five, 250 lb. lefty while the latter is a comparatively smaller 6 foot, 200 lb. right hander. However, upon closer examination, Madison Bumgarner and Marco Estrada are much similar, especially when their recent post-season pitching performances are compared.
Let's start with Madison Bumgarner, the best big game pitcher in baseball today. Most recently, he shut out the New York Mets in the National League Wild Card game this past Wednesday, October 5 at Citi Field, NY. While former Blue Jays' prospect turned Mets' ace Noah Syndergaard, aka, Thor, may have allowed fewer hits in their-head-to-head match-up, Bumgarner outlasted him en route to a 3-0 victory thanks to a 9th inning 3 run HR by Connor Gillaspie.
For his career in the post season, Madison Bumgarner's stat line looks like this:
(8-3) W-L Record, .727 Winning %, 1.94 ERA, 15 Games, 13 Games Started, 3 Complete Games, 3 Shutouts, 1 Save, 97. 1 IP, 21 ER, 83 K's with a 0.86 WHIP.
Still not convinced that Bumgarner is the best big game pitcher in the game today? Look no further than his 2014 post season performance, perhaps the most dominant of its kind in the modern history of Major League Baseball.
In the 2014 NL Wild Card game against Pittsburgh, Madison Bumgarner, like he did against the Mets in this year's NL Wild Card game, pitched a complete game four hit shutout. While Madison Bumgarner actually lost his only start in the 2014 NLDS against the Washington Nationals (despite surrendering just two earned runs over seven quality innings pitched), he returned to his dominant ways in both the 2014 NLCS against the St. Louis Cardinals and the 2014 World Series against the Kansas City Royals. Not surprisingly, Bumgarner was named the Most Valuable Player of both the 2014 NLCS and the 2014 World Series.
In the NLCS, he went 1-0 with a 1.72 ERA over 15.2 IP while striking out 12 in 2 starts. As for the World Series, Bumgarner went 2-0 with a 0.43 ERA in two starts. The fact that he pitched some four innings (or so) of relief to earn the save in Game 7 of the World Series (on short rest) is more proof that there is no better pitcher to have on the hill than Bumgarner with everything on the line.
As for Estrada, while he has not reached Bumgarner's level of post season success just yet, his recent post season performances with the Blue Jays, at least puts him in the conversation. For his post season career (which includes two post season relief appearances for the Milwaukee Brewers in 2011 where he allowed four earned runs over six innings while striking out 9 ), Estrada is 3-1 with a 2.67 ERA & 30 strikeouts over 33.2 innings pitched with a 0.83 WHIP.
When one only considers his four post season starts to date with the Toronto Blue Jays (three in 2015 and one so far in 2016), then Estrada's numbers become even more comparable to those of Madison Bumgarner. While his record (3-1) remains the same, most of his other numbers markedly increase:
(3-1) 1.99 ERA with 21 strikeouts over 27 2/3 innings pitched, allowing only six earned runs. In 2015, Estrada allowed just one earned run over 6.1 innings pitched against the Texas Rangers when the Jays were trailing 2-0 in their first round ALDS. In the ALCS against KC last season, Estrada went 1-1 with a 2.77 ERA. In Game 1 of the 2016 ALDS, Estrada turned in his best start of his career, allowing just four hits while striking out 6 over 8 1/3 IP against the Rangers.
Tonight (8:30 pm Atlantic/7:30 pm Eastern), the Blue Jays will be sending Aaron Sanchez to the mound in hopes that he can put the Texas Rangers away. As for Madison Bumgarner, the Giants will be relying on him to pitch the game of his life (again) Monday (10:30 pm Atlantic/9:30 pm Eastern) when their best of five NLDS with the Chicago Cubs (who lead 2-0) shifts to San Francisco Bay Area.
As for Estrada, the Jays would likely pitch him in game five (if necessary) of the 2016 ALDS against Texas (more likely Game of the ALCS against BOS or CLE.
(Madison Bumgarner and Marco Estrada Stats Courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com)
******************************************************************************BREAKING NEWS: The Cleveland Indians/Boston Red Sox game that was scheduled for this afternoon has been postponed until Monday at 7:00 pm Atl./6:00 pm Est. on TBS/Sportsnet due to rain from Hurricane Matthew.
As for Toronto, assuming game four against Texas is necessary, they will be sending 2016 American League Wild Card starting pitcher Marcus Stroman to the mound on Monday at 2:00 pm Atl./1:00 pm Est. against TBD for Texas.
Here is the remaining Post Season Schedule-Eastern (Courtesy of Mlb.com)
Sunday, October 9
NLDS Gm 2 Dodgers @ Nationals (Hill vs Roark)
FS1
PPD ALDS Gm 3 Indians @ Red Sox
7:30 PM ALDS Gm 3 Rangers @ Blue Jays Lewis (6-5) at Sanchez (15-2)
TBS / SNET
Monday, October 10
1:00 PM ALDS Gm 4* Rangers @ Blue Jays TBD at Stroman (9-10)
TBS / SNET, CNN en Español
4:00 PM NLDS Gm 3 Nationals @ Dodgers Gonzalez (11-11) at Maeda (16-11)
MLBN, Univision Deportes
6:08 PM ALDS Gm 3 Indians @ Red Sox TBD at TBD
TBS
9:30 PM NLDS Gm 3 Cubs @ Giants Arrieta (18-8) at Bumgarner (15-9)
FS1, FOX Deportes
* if necessary
Tuesday, October 11
TBD ALDS Gm 4* Indians @ Red Sox Tomlin (13-9) at Buchholz (8-10)
TBS, CNN en Español
5:00 PM NLDS Gm 4* Nationals @ Dodgers TBD at Urias (5-2)
FS1, FOX Deportes
8:30 PM NLDS Gm 4* Cubs @ Giants Lackey (11-8) at Moore (13-12)
FS1, FOX Deportes
* if necessary
Wednesday, October 12
6:00 PM ALDS Gm 5* Red Sox @ Indians TBD at TBD
TBS, CNN en Español
9:30 PM ALDS Gm 5* Blue Jays @ Rangers TBD at TBD
TBS / SNET, CNN en Español
* if necessary
Thursday, October 13
5:00 PM NLDS Gm 5* Dodgers @ Nationals TBD at TBD
FS1, FOX Deportes
8:30 PM NLDS Gm 5* Giants @ Cubs TBD at TBD
FS1, FOX Deportes
* if necessary
Friday, October 14
TBD ALCS Gm 1 AL Lower Seed @ AL Higher Seed TBD at TBD
TBS
Saturday, October 15
TBD ALCS Gm 2 AL Lower Seed @ AL Higher Seed TBD at TBD
TBS
TBD NLCS Gm 1 NL Lower Seed @ NL Higher Seed TBD at TBD
FOX / FS1
Sunday, October 16
TBD NLCS Gm 2 NL Lower Seed @ NL Higher Seed TBD at TBD
FOX / FS1
Monday, October 17
TBD ALCS Gm 3 AL Higher Seed @ AL Lower Seed TBD at TBD
TBS
Tuesday, October 18
TBD ALCS Gm 4 AL Higher Seed @ AL Lower Seed TBD at TBD
TBS
TBD NLCS Gm 3 NL Higher Seed @ NL Lower Seed TBD at TBD
FOX / FS1
Wednesday, October 19
TBD ALCS Gm 5* AL Higher Seed @ AL Lower Seed TBD at TBD
TBS
TBD NLCS Gm 4 NL Higher Seed @ NL Lower Seed TBD at TBD
FOX / FS1
* if necessary
Thursday, October 20
TBD NLCS Gm 5* NL Higher Seed @ NL Lower Seed TBD at TBD
FOX / FS1
* if necessary
Friday, October 21
TBD ALCS Gm 6* AL Lower Seed @ AL Higher Seed TBD at TBD
TBS
* if necessary
Saturday, October 22
TBD ALCS Gm 7* AL Lower Seed @ AL Higher Seed TBD at TBD
TBS
TBD NLCS Gm 6* NL Lower Seed @ NL Higher Seed TBD at TBD
FOX / FS1
* if necessary
Sunday, October 23
TBD NLCS Gm 7* NL Lower Seed @ NL Higher Seed TBD at TBD
FOX / FS1
* if necessary
Tuesday, October 25
TBD WS Gm 1 NL Champion @ AL Champion TBD at TBD
FOX
Wednesday, October 26
TBD WS Gm 2 NL Champion @ AL Champion TBD at TBD
FOX
Friday, October 28
TBD WS Gm 3 AL Champion @ NL Champion TBD at TBD
FOX
Saturday, October 29
TBD WS Gm 4 AL Champion @ NL Champion TBD at TBD
FOX
Sunday, October 30
TBD WS Gm 5* AL Champion @ NL Champion TBD at TBD
FOX
* if necessary
Tuesday, November 1
TBD WS Gm 6* NL Champion @ AL Champion TBD at TBD
FOX
* if necessary
Wednesday, November 2
TBD WS Gm 7* NL Champion @ AL Champion TBD at TBD
FOX
* if necessary
.
