The San Francisco Giants had a hard time getting TO the 2010 postseason, having overtaken the San Diego Padres at the end of the season. But having now attained “critical mass” for the first time in 56 years, winning the World Series, they may soon do so again.
In this regard, they are like the “light hitting” Los Angeles Dodgers team of the mid-1960s led to the World Series by the likes of Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale. Here are five reasons the Giants are likely to repeat.
1. The Giants Have Many Either Relatively Young or Old Players
The first (young) group include their stars such as Matt Cain, Jonathan Sanchez, Tim Lincecum, Pablo Sandoval, Madison Bumgarner and, above all, Buster Posey, the last of whom can be best described as a “veteran rookie.”
On the other side, there are shortstops Edgar Rentaria and Juan Uribe, second baseman Freddy Sanchez and left fielder Pat Burrell, whose experience make them more useful in the postseason than during the season itself.
Promising latebloomers Andres Torres and Travis Ishikawa are a relatively old 32 and 27, respectively, but still club-controlled players. None of these are making the peak salaries of free agents in their prime.
2. The Giants Have “Enough” Money
San Francisco is a mid-budget team, not “flush” like the New York, Los Angeles or Chicago teams, but not cash-strapped like the Pittsburgh Pirates, or their own “poor cousins,” the San Diego Padres. They won’t be competing with the likes of the Yankees for every free agent, but they have enough cash to retain their Cains and Lincecums and even “waste” some on the likes of Barry Zito.
3. The Giants Draft Very Well
Cain, Linececum, Bumgarner and Posey are all products of the first round of recent drafts. Freddy Sanchez came to the Giants in trade for 2007 first round “compensation” pick, pitcher Tim Alderson.
4. The Giants Are In a “Balanced” Division
Every team in the National League West has gotten to the post season at least once in the past ten years. At any given time, some teams are better than others, but there are no dominant “runaway” teams and no weakies to feast on. That makes it hard for Giants to reach the post season.
But once there, their “balance” of pitching and hitting make them a solid contender against other division leaders. If they’ve broken out of their perennial “No. 2” status to lead their division, they should do well in future postseasons. Then, there’s always the Wild Card, which was almost their ticket this year.
5. The Giants Are Winners on the Road
The team won two out of three World Series games played in TEXAS. They won two out of three “pennant” games played in Philadelphia. They won the deciding game of the NLDS in Atlanta. This is no fluke. Their home record in the season of 49-32 wasn’t their division’s best, but their winning road record of 43-38 put them over the top.
Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com