Kuzul

They’ve been called Torture, The Dirty Dozen, The Misfits, The Cast-Offs, The Scrapheap Gang, The
Bad News Bears, The Little Rascals and compared to virtually every underdog team in sports history.

For the video accompanying this article go here.

But now they’ll ultimately be known as the 2010 World Champion San Francisco Giants.

For a guy like me who was born and raised in San Francisco and grew up idolizing the Giants, it feels amazing to say.

This team of colorful, diverse, outspoken, crazy characters was indeed a team of destiny.

The Rangers lineup inspires much more fear than the Giants. Cliff Lee was thought to be immortal until the Giants proved otherwise.

The Phillies are a much better team on paper. They’ve got seven all stars in their lineup and a supremely dominant three headed pitching staff. Halladay threw the first no-hitter in the postseason in decades, then a no-name cast-off, Cody Ross, made him look junior varsity.

It doesn’t make sense—at all.

If the Atlanta braves don’t lose Billy Wagner, Martin Prado and Chipper Jones before the playoffs the Giants don’t beat them. Period. Because then Brooks Conrad isn’t on their roster and all those eighth- and ninth-inning comebacks don’t happen. Something miraculous had to happen. And it did.

Miracle after miracle happened, over and over, and no one could even attempt to explain it except with theories of heart and Divine Intervention.

It’s too bad a lot of the country didn’t follow the 2010 Giants and learn their story. It’s a great one, like Boston having their 3-0 comeback against the Yankees and then winning it all. Just a great story.

Sports stories like this one just don’t happen that often.
 
There is story after story of guys on this team who all faced extreme humility and fought back against adversity with the notion of team as their North Star as they overcame every obstacle on their way to World Series glory.

Instead of telling them all, I’ll just tell the most unbelievable one: Cody Ross. A few months ago he wasn’t even a Giant, and he was then, in fact, a strategic acquisition to prevent him from going to competitor San Diego

But more amazingly, Giants fans disliked him a few months ago.

Not like we dislike anyone in a Dodger uniform, but like we dislike Casey Blake for mocking Brian Wilson, or Vicente Padilla for nailing Aaron Rowand.

Ross flipped his bat at Matt Cain after smacking a dinger off him in July. Cain glared at him all the way around the bases, then struck him out swinging his next at bat.

Had that game versus Florida not been close Cody Ross would have gotten a Cain fastball in the ribs. And Giants fans would have loved it.

Has that ever happened before in the history of baseball? A guy goes from hated prick to irreproachable playoff hero in the same year?

It’s the kind of story that fiction writers make up and people laugh at because it’s so implausible and ridiculous. Yet that happened. That happened to the 2010 Giants.

And so in the end, there can be no logical explanation. The Giants played better defense in the playoffs than they’re capable of.

They got more clutch hits in the playoffs than they did in the regular season.

They had a higher percentage of late inning comebacks in the playoffs than they did in the regular season.

Yeah, we’ve always had great pitching, but we didn’t do play like this in the regular season.

We’re 11-4 in the postseason. That’s the best we’ve played all year.

Other teams players got injured. Invincible pitchers suddenly turned mortal. The San Diego Padres lost 10 games in a row, which must have had a probability of less than one percent.

We won game one of each playoff series and never trailed at any time. Everything went right.

The 2010 Giants shouldn’t be the world champions of baseball. But that they are is a reason to believe in something greater than ourselves for anyone out there looking for a reason.

Maybe that sounds like a cliche, but sports isn’t at its greatest when great competition leads to entertaining and dramatic finishes, it’s at its best when great contests tell the amazing, unbelievable and miraculous stories of regular human beings.

That’s what the Giants are: A regular and very flawed group of guys that somehow rose above themselves and played as a TEAM.

And I believe it is a miracle.

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It was 1954 when Willie Mays made “The Catch” and propelled the New York Giants to a four game sweep of the Cleveland Indians in the World Series. In 1962, it was a well played Bobby Richardson that broke hearts in San Francisco after he snagged a Willie McCovey liner in the first appearance of the San Francisco Giants in a World Series. It was the Loma Prieta earthquake that stole to show of a four game sweep by the Oakland A’s in the 1989 Battle of the Bay. And it was a game ball given to Russ Ortiz in the 2002 World Series that was the last good moment for San Francisco in a crushing defeat at the hands of the Angels.

But all is forgiven, at least for the next 4 months, because the Giants are sitting on top of the baseball world, propelled by one of the most dominant pitching staffs of all time and a three-run blast by the man with no left bicep, Edgar Renteria.

It was a dominant conclusion to a rather dominant series outing by the Giants as a team. And it was a thrilling conclusion to a thrilling postseason, one that I, nor most Giants’ fans, will ever forget.

Let us take a closer look at the game which lifted the 56 year drought off of a team, a city, and a fan base and which shocked the world.

Begin Slideshow

The ghosts of opportunities lost can swirl and haunt in an instant, and any temptation for the San Francisco Giants or their fans to look ahead to an assumed World Series title must be stifled.

As Giants fans tingle with the anticipation of a clinching opportunity tonight in Game 5 of the 2010 World Series, the demons of the 2002 World Series are on-deck and ready to swarm.

These ghosts hold permanent residence in the collective memory of all Giants fans.  One need only ask if the name “Scott Spiezio” means anything to a Giants fan, and the resulting expression alone from your victim should aid in clearing up any confusion.

That is, if you don’t get punched first.    

Unfortunately, there is no shelf life attached to the lost moments and horrible memories connected to the recent history of the San Francisco Giants and the World Series.  

I can close my eyes right now and see Dusty Baker handing the ball to Russ Ortiz.  I can remember the 5-run lead in the 7^th inning, and the red noisemakers clanged by the Anaheim Angel fans.  I remember being eight outs away, and slapping fives with my buddies.  I remember watching the rally monkey on the screen, and wishing hateful things.  I remember Brendan Donnelly in his goggles striking out seemingly everybody, and then Mr. Spiezo and his bleached hair, hitting a 3-run bomb that changed the entire complexion of the Series.  

Finally, the very next evening, I remember the Angels beating us and becoming the 2002 World Series Champions.    

It was eight years ago, but that collapse is all there for me in vivid, mental color whenever I don’t want it.  It stings, and is as accessible as the memory of being dumped in the Mountain View Tower Records parking lot by my high school girlfriend.  

Yes, the parking lot.       

As for past gut punches, I can’t accurately speak to the sinking emotions surrounding the 1962 World Series for the older generation of Giants fans, because I never had to live through it.  For anyone witnessing Willie McCovey line out to Bobby Richardson that afternoon at Candlestick Park, the finality of it must have been overwhelming.

By all accounts, McCovey crushed the ball, one that a foot to either side of Richardson would have probably scored Willie Mays from second base with the Series-winning run for the Giants.  Instead, that same crowd, who only a half-second before had been rising to their feet anticipating history, were now cut down where they stood.  

Any visions of Market Street parades that day, lost forever to the sight of a New York Yankees celebration on the Candlestick infield. 

It must have been truly awful, but that is as far as I want to take it.  Any further conjecture risks being disrespectful to the fans in attendance, as well as those listening to Lon Simmons on radios all around the Bay Area that day in 1962.  Any more personal musings risk being callous to the pain those fans probably carry in their hearts to this very day, some 48 years later. 

That said, with 2002 as stirring in my own mind, I think I can at least relate.

Like all true sports fans, Giants fans love deeply and without remorse.  We attach the same elevated meaning in our lives to clutch hits as we do tape-measure homeruns that put us ahead.  We lionize twenty-something catchers and pitchers, and lose our minds when a second baseman climbs the ladder to snowcone-grab a liner.  

The haunting phantoms thrive in this passion, and are all too ready to delight in bringing the pain of lost chances and failed glory to the very forefront of our minds for another five decades.  The one thing, the only thing, that can render these demons powerless, is when we believe without assumption, and support without any expectation. 

The Giants have an excellent chance tonight to end over 50 years of futility—a chance.  Should that unbelievably sweet event happen, and the San Francisco Giants actually win the 2010 World Series, the very first since moving West, and the very first title for an amazing city, only then will all suffering Giants fans be able to collectively exorcise the nagging ghosts of our history.    

The vast amount of space that those awful ghosts heretofore occupied in our minds, now replaced with an amazing and permanent memory that can be cherished, recounted and retold until the day we die. 

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After enduring demoralizing defeats at the hands of the San Francisco Giants on consecutive nights at AT&T Park, the Texas Rangers finally get to make their way home. With Texas’ magical run on the road coming crashing to a halt, they return to the venue where they constructed the bulk of their 2010 playoff credentials.

If you were paying attention all season, you would have known that the Texas Rangers aren’t really the road warriors they’ve been pretending to be throughout the postseason thus far. Before the World Series began, Texas was an impressive 5-1 away from Arlington, beating up on both the Rays and Yankees, outscoring them 36-12 throughout the ALDS and ALCS.

Not bad for a team that was 39-42 on the road during the regular season.

Of course, the Rangers being thoroughly dismantled by San Francisco over the first two games of the series may have come as a slight surprise, but it should be noted that the Giants were 49-32 in their home stadium in 2010.

Baseball has a way of bringing things back to where they should be, of forcing everything to revert to the norm. If you were 39-42 on the road in the regular season, and suddenly you’re 5-1 away from home in the playoffs, the odds are that you have some losing to do in the near future. Aside from the odd outlier, baseball players and teams generally perform according to their rates and averages.

Sure, in any given eight game stretch, a team can get hot and outperform their overall record, but basically, your 39-42 road ledger gave us an idea of what to expect.

The great news for the Texas Rangers is that they’re done with the beautiful city by the bay, for at least a few days. However, if they hope to continue their 2010 season and potentially win the World Series, they know they’ll have to book a return trip.

That can wait for now, as they return to the familiar environs of Rangers Ballpark in Arlington desperately seeking victories. With games scheduled for Saturday, Sunday and hopefully Monday evenings, the Rangers have the opportunity to get themselves back into this series, even if they have a steep hill to climb.

Returning from an 0-2 deficit is clearly not the optimal situation to find yourselves in, but it’s certainly not insurmountable. If they had lost the first two games at home, the story would be altogether different, but thankfully that’s not the case.

Facing a must-win scenario in Arlington, the Rangers will send right-hander Colby Lewis to the mound to face lefty Jonathan Sanchez of the Giants. With Game 3 scheduled for Saturday evening at 6:30 PM Eastern Time, let’s examine some key factors for each team as the Rangers and Giants prepare to do battle.

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Game 2 of the 2010 World Series belonged to Edgar Renteria, Matt Cain and the San Francisco Giants from start to finishing Thursday.

Cain tossed a scoreless gem in 7 2/3 innings of work to vault himself into some historic company, extending his consecutive scoreless innings streak to 21 1/3 innings.

But it was the 35 year-old shortstop from Columbia who absolutely stole the show.

Renteria blasted a tape-measure home run of Rangers’ starter C.J. Wilson in the fifth inning to give the Giants a 1-0 lead, then added a two-run single in the eight to blow the game open.

It ended up being another perfect night by the Bay for the thousands of Giants’ fans who gathered to watch their team creep ever-closer to a World Series crown.

Here’s a comprehensive report card for the San Francisco Giants’ game 2 win.

Begin Slideshow

Expect a healthy dose of torture tonight. 

After last night’s offensive firestorm, where the San Francisco Giants ran up a week’s worth of runs in one game, tonight should be a nice reversion to the tense, nail-biting and familiar mean. 

Cue “The Machine” and bring on the thumbscrews. 

The ability of the Giants to persevere in ridiculously tight matchups, has generated a fan base mirroring the same attributes.  Fans who can maintain a pure hope for success during a one-run lead and cheer for their team just as vociferously during a two-run deficit. 

This purity within the San Francisco Giants fan base is one that I hope will be maintained and one which other notable fan bases have, unfortunately, replaced with complaining, excuses and an air of expectation.   

When I read the East Coast press endlessly describing the “luck” that went into the ascension of the “misfit” San Francisco Giants to the 2010 World Series, the more I just see a sniffling bully off in the corner, trying to explain his black eyes.   

Sometimes luck has nothing to do with it and you actually lose because the other guy was just more talented.  Not because he had a “good day” or had a bunch of “retreads” or because you “choked” or because you “lost” the series, but just because he beat you four times before you could do it to him.   

The stories portending a “ratings implosion” and “unwatchable World Series”, ring more of pure jealousy than of any kind of objective journalism.  

Did last night’s game strike anyone as unwatchable?  

And to further suggest that just because many sulking East Coast fans will not be tuning into the World Series, and that fact somehow lessens the achievement, is just sour grapes at it’s highest level.     

Nothing has come easy for the San Francisco Giants or their fans.  We’ve had line drives, earthquakes and a manager who liked to give out early souvenir balls.  As such, the loyal Giants supporters are the furthest thing from an expectant fan base and ones who will hopefully maintain that attribute, if continued success chooses to shine on this team.Fans who will be living every game like a gift versus an assumption.  

If you have ever followed the San Francisco 49ers, you are aware of the dangers that routine success can breed.

Fighting that birthright urge to place your beloved team above all others, solely on their previous, historic successes is difficult.  It remains an intense struggle to keep your objectivity and fight that temptation, even in the face of blatant empirical evidence.  It becomes very easy to close your eyes to reality and delude yourself into thinking that that your champions “just got unlucky” again.

To stubbornly refuse to give credit to the teams that beat yours. Even when all objective reason, in the form of mounting losses and aged stars, points clearly to the fact that the current team you worship only shares the same uniform colors as the one that wrote the legend. 

Fighting this is not as easy as wearing a fake beard to a game and cheering on Steve Perry in the Club Level as he leads “Don’t Stop Believin’” (which was awesome) or making a few “Ross Boss” signs.  The haze of endless winning seasons, multiple playoff appearances and championships, is where the real danger of becoming a pouting supporter lurks. 

Sometimes, you just get beaten up by the unassuming drama geek with a dynamite right-right-left-left pitching combination.  You can get watery eyes and bellyache when that happens or you can give credit where credit is due. 

Granted, maybe you didn’t see the punch coming in your cocoon of perceived dominance, but that happens in life—and it just happened to your team.   

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

As a New York Yankees fan it is easy to get to know the players in the American League.

Due to geographical circumstances and interleague play, I have learned more about some of the teams in the National League, like the New York Mets, Philadelphia Phillies and Los Angeles Dodgers.

Over the past few seasons, the San Francisco Giants have not come to the Bronx and have not factored in the postseason.

The Giants actually resided in New York City from 1930-57, in which the franchise won five World Championships and 17 pennants. Since making the move to San Francisco, the city still awaits for their Giants to bring a World Series title to the Bay.

Mainly known as the home to starting ace Tim Lincecum (“The Freak”), who has won the Cy Young Award the past two seasons, the Giants are another team residing in the NL West along with the Dodgers and San Diego Padres.

The organization’s biggest star, Barry Bonds disgraced the team’s mainstay. It seemed that the last special baseball moment for the Giants was Bonds hitting for his home-run record. It is his record because MLB can’t count it as baseball history when it was unauthentic.

Other than a cheat and a freak, there wasn’t much reason to get to the Giants over the last five seasons, until now.

After watching a few Giants games I understand their team’s appeal. The Giants players are scrappy, good, fundamental baseball players who are darn fun to watch because they never seem to give up.

STRENGTHS:

The team’s biggest asset is pitching. Three aces: Matt Cain, Jonathan Sanchez and Madison Bumgarner, follow Lincecome.

The Giants starters finished the regular season with a 3.36 ERA, which was the lowest in baseball. The Giants rotation also tossed a total of 1461 innings, gave up the least hits with 1279, 546 earned runs, and struck out the most batters.

All stats led the majors for 2010. They tied for third place with the Dodgers and Marlins for the least home-runs allowed with 134 in total.

The Giants have the top closer in baseball, Brian Wilson. A guy I would want on my team. Not only can Wilson shutdown batters, but he radiates a superior, daunting presence from the mound, making batters wince. Wilson led the majors with 57 saves in 73 save opportunities.

The Giants only offensive strength comes from pure, home-run hitting power. It is the only way the Giants know how to win.

Strategy is finding a way to beat the other team by holding up the opponent’s hitters and capitalizing at the plate on the two, three or four mistakes the opponent’s pitchers inevitably make.

WEAKNESSES:

The Giants approach has no surprises.

Slow is an understatement, as the team is tied with the cubs for the slowest runners in baseball stealing just 55 bases on the season.

The batters hit into a lot of double plays and rely too much on home-runs with nothing else as an offensive back-up. It explains how the Giants wins/losses coincide with the starting pitcher’s performance.

It is not a safe way to make the playoffs, as small ball can get a team those extra wins when other aspects are slumping. In many ways the Giants are an upgraded or superior version of the Toronto Blue Jays, as Toronto’s pitching keeps improving so does the team’s record.

How do I think the Giants will do against the Texas Rangers?

The Giants pitchers need to set the tone and dominate the games from the start. Other than Cliff Lee, the Texas Rangers pitching doesn’t hold a candle to the Giants. Keeping the speedy Rangers completely off the base-pads is essential.

I see no reason why the Giants couldn’t win it in six, only because Lee will win both his starts almost without a doubt.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

So awesome. So. AWESOME!

There’s something special about playoff baseball that just kicks so much ass.

The intensity goes through the roof! It doesn’t matter which team is playing, the ante is always higher the later and later we get into fall.

Last round, I went 0-2, dropping me to 3-3 this season. Good, I’m glad.

How unpredictable has this postseason been? Who knew the Rangers and Giants would be playing in the World Series as they send the Phillies and Yankees—the last two teams to win the Series, as well as the last two teams to participate in the last two seasons—home empty-handed?

I sure as hell didn’t. I said from day one, Phillies over Yankees in the WS. Glad I’m wrong. These playoffs have been incredible to watch. Fortunately, it’s the World Series. Unfortunately, playoff baseball is ending in 4-7 games.

Behold the schedule…in all its glory:

Game 1: TEX@SF – Oct 27 7:57pm
TEX: LHP Cliff Lee
SF: RHP Tim Lincecum

Game 2: TEX@SF – Oct 28 7:57pm
TEX: LHP C.J. Wilson
SF: RHP Matt Cain

Game 3: SF@TEX – Oct 30 6:57pm
SF: LHP Jonathan Sánchez
TEX: RHP Colby Lewis

Game 4: SF@TEX – Oct 31 8:20pm
SF: LHP Madison Bumgarner
TEX: RHP Tommy Hunter

Game 5: SF@TEX – Nov 1 7:57pm
SF: RHP Tim Lincecum
TEX: LHP Cliff Lee

Game 6: TEX@SF – Nov 3 7:57pm
TEX: LHP C.J. Wilson
SF: RHP Matt Cain

Game 7: TEX@SF – Nov 4 7:57pm
TEX: RHP Colby Lewis
SF: LHP Jonathan Sánchez

Game 1. Cliff Lee. Tim Lincecum. I’m not making this up. And if there is a god, we get to see this again in Game 5.

It’s going to be a *terrible* series for TV, but for baseball fans and enthusiasts, they’ve been salivating over it for days. Neither the Giants nor the Rangers were supposed to get this far, but both have proven they deserve it. The Giants are gunning for their first championship since 1954, while the Rangers are going for their first one ever. Both crowds are going to be bananas.

How’s this for karma? Coming into this season, the Giants have not won a World Series Championship in 52 seasons. The Rangers went 49 years without even a postseason series win, let alone a World Series appearance. These two teams account for two of the top four clubs with the longest World Series Championship droughts. Add them up, and what do you get? 101, the number of years the Cubs have been waiting. That damn goat!

We BeLEEve!

I’m going to throw some stats at you, just to show you how unfair this is.

In eight postseason starts, Cliff Lee is 7-0 with a 1.26 ERA. Only Sandy Koufax and Christy Mathewson have a lower ERA among pitchers with at least five starts in the postseason.

He’s the first pitcher ever with three straight postseason games of at least 10 strikeouts. He has five 10-strikeout games in his postseason career; one more and he’ll be the only one ever with six, passing legend Randy Johnson. Lee had 30 strikeouts in between walks, another postseason record. There have been eight postseason games in history in which a pitcher has struck out 10 and walked none; Lee has four of them.

This dude is dirty. He’s got a solid fastball, jams hitters inside, and has an outstanding curve and cutter. You know he’s throwing strikes, but you can’t do anything about it. Lee will be on more than full rest for Game 1 (as per all starts), but can he go on short rest if he has to, something he’s never done in the postseason?

Pitching

The Giants’ starting pitching is very good, but with one “Giant” hazard (so to speak): Jonathan Sanchez.  He lasted only two innings in Game 6. If he’s again caught up with the different release points of all his pitches, he’s going to be wild and will walk/hit a bunch. Such an issue is non-existent with the Rangers’ No. 3 starter, Colby Lewis, who dominated the Yankees twice in the ALCS.

Both teams had solid pens in the regular season, but the Giants get the edge in the postseason (the Rangers imploded against the Yankees, and the Giants relieved seven innings when Sanchez was pulled after two-plus).

RHP Brian Wilson became the fourth pitcher to win or save four games in one postseason series. His postseason game plan has been low, outside fastballs until he gets two strikes, followed by a breaking ball strike. He’s been lights-out.

Both teams have great lefty relievers, but the Giants will need help from their righty setup men—they were good in the regular season, but were unsteady by the end of the NLCS, thus, Lincecum’s relief appearance in Game 6.

How did THEY get here?

Many people are asking how the Giants got here.

Statistically, they don’t belong—they’re not a good defensive team. They aren’t patient at the dish, and they don’t steal.

They’ve got good pop from No. 1-8 in the order, but is that it? They don’t get many hits, but the ones they do get are key, critical base knocks at exactly the right time.

Proof? They’ve won six games by one run in this postseason, tying a record for the most one-run wins in a single postseason. But that’s exactly the way their team is built—the team is primarily composed of castoffs and misfits from other teams. As third-base coach Tim Flannery says, “They’re Street Fighters.”

Oh…well then, who invited THEM?

The Rangers’ offense has been the primary reason why they’ve gotten to the Fall Classic. In this postseason, they have hit 17 home runs and stolen 16 bases. They’ve homered in 11 consecutive postseason games, one short of the record set by the Astros in ’04 . They beat the Yankees four times by at least five runs, the second team ever to do that in a seven-game series.

They’ve got a ton of pop, too–OFs Josh Hamilton hit four bombs in the LCS, and Nelson Cruz has five this postseason.

The big thing that I’ve been stressing for years is finally being showcased—speed wins ballgames! Take Rangers’ SS Elvis Andrus for example. He runs constantly. Even if he doesn’t steal, his speed intimidates pitchers and throws them off their game, as they constantly have that stolen base threat staring right at them. Andrus even scored on an infield ground out while at second base. And it doesn’t end there: Cruz, Hamilton, Kinsler, Murphy, Francoeur and Young are all good-to-excellent runners, just to name a few.

This team runs the bases exceptionally well, and they’ve even managed to turn C Benjie Molina into a (more) aggressive runner. And what does poor pitcher concentration lead to? Poor pitches. And what do poor pitches lead to? See Hamilton and Cruz, above.

Finally, the Rangers have scored 59 runs in 11 postseason games. They scored 36 runs against the Yankees in the ALCS. San Francisco has scored 24 runs this entire postseason.

Cody Ross 4 Prez

Fate, destiny. Whatever you want to call it, it’s thrown around a lot. But the Giants can certainly make a claim for being the team of destiny.

It’s hard to explain, but sometimes when the bounces go your way, the bounces go your way. And when they don’t, they don’t—you can’t do much about that, either.

The Giants have been lucky to get a lot of little benefits throughout the 2010 postseason. Case in point: Game 6 of the NLCS against the Phillies, where Andres Torres got a perfect bounce off the center field wall to stop Jimmy Rollins from scoring.

If you’re talking destiny, let’s look at Cody Ross’ story—he’s claimed on waivers because the Giants didn’t want him to go to the rival Padres, essentially a blocking claim. He drove in seven runs in 73 at-bats with an over-crowded Giants’ outfield. Then he hit four home runs, two in one game off Roy Halladay, and drove in eight runs, slugging .794 in the postseason with a .362 average against changeups.  I defy any rational explanation for this.

Stories like Ross’ are so incredibly rare in every other sport—there’s no way the 11th man on an NBA team ends up as the best player in any playoff series—but in baseball, it happens constantly. He’s been the reason why Giants have made it this far. Key hits at the right time. Oh yeah, Ross wanted to be a rodeo clown as a kid.

But, Cody Ross isn’t going to hit a home run every night. The unlikely NLCS star is great at breaking up no-hitters, but nobody else is getting on base in front of him. All four of Ross’ home runs have come with the bases empty.

Final Thoughts

The true winner: Benjie!

The rotund backstop gets a World Series ring regardless of whether he wins or loses. Talk about having your “bases” covered! He is about to become the first catcher in baseball history to appear in the Fall Classic against a team he played for earlier in the season.

Molina, with the Giants since 2007, played 61 games for San Fran in 2010, was then dealt to Texas for RHP Chris Ray and a minor leaguer, then played 57 games for Texas during the regular season.

He’s also been solid in the postseason, batting .333 with two homers and seven RBIs in nine games. He belted a three-run shot against the Yankees in Game 4 of the ALCS that helped propel them to the big dance.

Ray, a reliever who pitched well for both teams, could also end up with a ring regardless who wins, although the Giants haven’t put him on their playoff rosters. Does Molina hold a wild card when it comes to knowing the Giants’ pitching tendencies?

The team of destiny is the Lone Star. I’ve doubted them from the beginning, and they continue to make me look stupid. This ends now. I keep looking for a reason to think the Giants are going to win, and I keep coming up empty. This is going to be an outstanding series, an absolute thriller, but Texas comes out on top.

Pick: Rangers in 7

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

As everyone witnessed this past ALCS and NLCS, postseason games come down to the final pitch. Some ball players are propelled toward excellency in this one moment, and some are forever distastefully remembered for it, but its the rare feat of striking out looking that really pushes the buttons of baseball fans everywhere, and the mere fact that a backwards K can end a teams season as quickly as it began is something no fan looks forward to. 

The dismal feat of striking out looking has only happened 10 times in all the years Major League Baseball has been in existence, and this is the first year that a backwards K has ended both League Championship Series, but from the looks of history, it sure won’t be the last time we see a player end their season watching strike three fly by. 

Begin Slideshow

The World Series kicks off Wednesday, and there are few people who would have guessed it would be the Texas Rangers and San Francisco Giants left standing when the season came down to its final series.

On one side, there is the offensive juggernaut that is the Rangers, a team that outscored the Yankees nearly 2-1 in knocking them off and advancing to their first World Series ever. Throw in the ace of all aces in Cliff Lee, and you see why the Rangers are favored to win it all.

On the other side, there are the underdog Giants, a team that needed a win on the final day of the season just to qualify for the postseason. Their offense is nothing to write home about on paper, but they always seem to score just enough to back their stellar pitching.

So here are ten aspects of the upcoming best of seven series, and who holds the edge, as we look at every area of the Ranger vs. Giants match-up to come.

Begin Slideshow