Kuzul

Though sports are fueled by speculation, opinion and debatable assertion, baseball—to borrow a tidbit from our country’s Declaration of Independence (h/t to Thomas Jefferson)—holds certain truths to be self-evident.

Among them is that playoff baseball is a different brand of the game, one that’s dominated by pitchers. The parity in the sport increases because teams only need to win a handful of games—three in the division series and four in both the league championship and World Series—in stark contrast to the test of a 162-game regular season. A starting pitcher has so much influence over a single game that his team can be offensively inept yet still ride the coattails of his dominance during the much shorter playoff schedule.

If you’ve made it through this rhetoric, then you understand why the Chicago Cubs aren’t overwhelming favorites to win the World Series, and why it’s fair to suggest that the San Francisco Giants, more than the New York Mets or St. Louis Cardinals, are the biggest threat to derail the Cubs among NL wild-card hopefuls.

Having clinched the NL’s best record, Chicago will face one of the three aforementioned teams in the NLDS.

But Cubby Nation should hope, pray and plea that it’s not the Giants, because San Francisco’s pitching stands as the most threatening.

The Cardinals’ 4.13 ERA ranks eighth in the NL, behind every other team that would be in the playoffs. In fact, if St. Louis doesn’t play October baseball, the top five teams in NL ERA would end up as the league’s playoff teams.

When the 2016 season began, many thought the Mets had the game’s best starting staff, boasting a group of power arms that would satisfy New York’s most demanding fans.

Then ace Matt Harvey was diagnosed with thoracic outlet syndrome. He was ruled done for the year. Righty Jacob deGrom underwent elbow surgery this month. He’s done for the year. Most recently, lefty Steven Matz, who hasn’t pitched since Aug. 14 due to elbow inflammation, was—drumroll…OK, you guessed it—ruled done for the year.

That all leaves right-hander Noah Syndergaard, who might own the organization’s most promising arm but has dealt with bone spurs this season. One pitcher is hardly enough for the offensively inept Mets, anyway. Even with its 12-run extravaganza Tuesday night, New York ranks 26th with 654 runs scored this season.

We may talk about the Mets as an October threat in future seasons. But injuries have swallowed their chances in 2016.

Which brings us to the Giants, the team that boasts starting pitching capable of dominating any series. While one dominant pitcher won’t satisfy a team’s October needs, two is just enough. And if those two are at the top of their games, three may not matter.

That’s important because southpaw Madison Bumgarner (2.71) and righty Johnny Cueto (2.79) own the fourth- and fifth-best ERAs in baseball, respectively, this season.

Cueto is nursing a groin injury and missed his start Sunday. But his expected return for the playoffs would undoubtedly make the Giants among the biggest threats to Chicago.

The Cubs, it should be noted, do have MLB’s best ERA (3.10), and starters Kyle Hendricks (1.99) and Jon Lester (2.28) own baseball’s two best individual marks in the category. Chicago’s reigning NL Cy Young Award winner, Jake Arrieta, ranks seventh with a 2.85 ERA.

This isn’t a dispute as to whether the Cubs are better than the Giants, though, only one that suggests that San Francisco’s pitching presents a tougher matchup for Chicago than that of St. Louis or New York.

That said, both Bumgarner and Cueto have fared well against Chicago.

In two games against the Cubs, Bumgarner only allowed two runs and issued two walks. Cueto only pitched one game against Chicago, but allowed just one run in seven innings of work. His career numbers at Wrigley Field—3.07 ERA and 1.26 WHIP—give reason to be optimistic about his potential to help San Francisco steal a game on the road.

Bumgarner and Cueto have four World Series rings between them. The former won three with the Giants, and the latter earned his last year with the Kansas City Royals.

Lester is the only player among the Cubs’ top three pitchers who owns a World Series ring. Hendricks and Arrieta got their first taste of playoff baseball just last season.

Of course, the Giants need to win the one-game NL Wild Card matchup in order to get their shot against the Cubs. If he’s available, Bumgarner, the team’s ace, is likely to get the call.

But even in that scenario, Cueto would be available to pitch Game 1 of the NLDS, thus allowing the duo to pitch a combined three possible games in that series—the exact number a team needs to win.

So, in essence, if Bumgarner and Cueto dominate as they can, it won’t matter what happens in the other two games.

Of course, that puts all the pressure on the duo. But one could argue based on numbers and experience that there isn’t a pair of pitchers in baseball a team would rather have at the top of its rotation.

Given what it takes to win in the playoffs, the Cubs certainly aren’t the only team with the players—check that, the arms—to make an October run.

All stats current through Tuesday’s games.

Seth Gruen is a national baseball columnist for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter @SethGruen.

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San Francisco Giants starting pitcher Johnny Cueto was forced to exit Tuesday night’s start against the Los Angeles Dodgers with a groin injury. 

Continue for updates.

Latest on Cueto’s Timeline for Return

Thursday, Sept. 22

Andrew Baggarly of the Mercury News reported Cueto will try to play catch Friday and isn’t ruled out for Sunday’s start.

Cueto Among League’s Best in Rebound Season

Cueto, 30, signed with the Giants in the offseason after going 11-13 with a 3.44 ERA, a 1.13 WHIP and 176 strikeouts for the Cincinnati Reds and Kansas City Royals—with whom he won the World Series title in 2015. He struggled in his short stay in the American League, however, posting a 4.76 ERA and 1.45 WHIP in 13 regular-season starts.

The Giants were banking on a return to the National League rejuvenating Cueto, who established himself as one of the best pitchers in baseball in his seven-and-a-half seasons with the Reds. In 2014, he was an All-Star and finished as a runner-up in Cy Young voting.

He also went 2-1 in the 2015 postseason, including a complete-game, two-hit, one-run victory over the New York Mets in Game 2 of the World Series.

He’s 17-5 this season with a 2.79 ERA, 1.08 WHIP and 187 strikeouts in 212.2 innings pitched.

In San Francisco, Cueto joined an excellent rotation that includes Madison Bumgarner, Jeff Samardzija and Matt Cain, while the team acquired Matt Moore at the trade deadline. The Giants—watching as the Mets reached the World Series behind the trio of Matt Harvey, Jacob deGrom and Noah Syndergaard—felt that upgrading the rotation was a priority in the offseason.

But despite that impressive depth, the Giants will hope Cueto is able to return in time for his next start with the team fighting for its life in a wild-card race that figures to come down to the wire. 

You can follow Timothy Rapp on Twitter.

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Brandon Crawford has developed into one of Major League Baseball’s best all-around shortstops in recent years, but the San Francisco Giants may be without their star middle infielder after he suffered a finger injury during Tuesday’s game against the Los Angeles Dodgers.  

Continue for updates.

Crawford Out vs. Padres

Friday, Sept. 23 

The Giants announced Crawford will not be in the starting lineup against San Diego on Friday.

Crawford’s Bat Essential to Giants Lineup

The 29-year-old veteran is currently hitting .267/.333/.423 with 12 home runs and 80 RBI, and he also provides Gold Glove-caliber defense in support of his pitchers.

Crawford has been in the league since 2011, but it wasn’t until 2014 that he truly started to break out. He hit .246 with 10 home runs and 69 RBI while helping the Giants win their third World Series title in five years.

That momentum carried over into 2015, as Crawford had the best statistical season of his career, setting personal marks with a .256 batting average, 21 home runs, 84 RBI and 65 runs scored. Crawford was also named to the All-Star team for the first time and took home both the Gold Glove and Silver Slugger awards.

Crawford was rewarded for his spectacular season in a big way, as the Giants signed him to a six-year, $75 million contract extension.

Crawford has dealt with a few nagging injuries over the course of his career, missing an average of 15 games per season from 2012 through 2015, and the Giants are hopeful that his current ailment is nothing bigger than that.

The Giants are a team capable of battling through adversity and remaining in the race even when they lose players, and they’ll have to draw on their winning experience to ensure that is the case.

Crawford’s value to San Francisco is tough to measure, but there is no question that his presence will be missed both at the plate and in the field.

Follow @MikeChiari on Twitter.

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The late innings have become a minefield for the San Francisco Giants. On Monday, there was another explosion.

In a crucial, borderline must-win game against the archrival Los Angeles Dodgers at Chavez Ravine, the Giants carried a 1-0 lead into the ninth inning.

Ace Madison Bumgarner did his thing, twirling seven innings of no-run, one-hit, 10-strikeout ball and getting into an inevitable benches-clearing staring contest with Dodgers outfielder Yasiel Puig.

The Giants, meanwhile, plated a single run against Clayton Kershaw when third baseman Eduardo Nunez tapped an infield single, stole second, advanced to third on a throwing error and scored on a wild pitch.

It had the makings of a momentum-shifting win for the Giants, who came into the game trailing Los Angeles by five games in the National League West and locked in a tight battle with the St. Louis Cardinals and New York Mets for a wild-card slot.

Instead, an eerily familiar monster reared its ugly head. The Giants bullpen coughed up the game.

Lefty Will Smith and right-hander Derek Law combined for a scoreless eighth. But Law gave up a single to Andrew Toles to start the ninth, and southpaw specialist Javier Lopez surrendered a base hit to Corey Seager to put runners at the corners.

At that point, Giants skipper Bruce Bochy summoned Hunter Strickland, whose fastball can touch triple digits. Strickland got two strikes on Justin Turner, but he ultimately allowed a game-tying single.

By the time Adrian Gonzalez knocked in the walk-off run with a two-bagger, it all seemed a foregone conclusion.

This San Francisco pen has been a gaping liability, no two ways about it. And the club is running out of time to stop the bleeding, even year or no.

The Giants have now blown 28 saves on the season—eight in September alone—putting them in the mix with the Miami Marlins and Chicago White Sox for the MLB lead.

Former closer Santiago Casilla owns nine of those blown saves and has lost his gig to a tepid closer-by-committee approach.

So far, the committee is mired in bureaucracy.

There are pieces, including veterans such as Lopez and right-hander Sergio Romo, who have played a role in all three of the club’s recent championship runs. Strickland, with his radar-gun-singeing fastball, has closer potential. Really, the bullpen hasn’t been entirely dreadful, as it ranks exactly in the middle of the NL pack with a 3.65 ERA.

But as Monday’s loss demonstrated, the Giants don’t have the secret formula to lock down close games. They are vulnerable in the final frames, when so many pennant-race and postseason games are decided.

“It’s been the most trying season for me getting the bullpen in order,” Bochy admitted, per Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle.

Now, he’s running out of time. Yes, the Giants (79-71) are tied with the Cardinals for the second wild-card position entering play Tuesday. But five of their remaining 12 games are against those same first-pace Dodgers, while the Cards and Mets have softer schedules.

Even if San Francisco manages to back into the postseason, its bullpen woes make the team vulnerable.

The rotation has Bumgarner, backed by co-ace Johnny Cueto, trade acquisition Matt Moore and Jeff Samardzija. The lineup has October-tested bats such as Buster Posey and Hunter Pence.

Unless the relief corps congeals quickly, however, it might not matter.

The words “dumpster fire” come to mind. Just ask Barry Svrluga of the Washington Post:

As mentioned, we’re in a year divisible by two. In 2014, the Giants won the National League Championship Series on a home run by former first base prospect-turned-emergency-outfielder Travis Ishikawa. So it’s tempting to predict some sort of out-of-nowhere turnaround.

Heck, the Giants signed 41-year-old former prospect Joe Nathan, whom they traded to the Minnesota Twins in 2003. He could capably fill the Ishikawa role.

Things don’t have to work that way, though. There isn’t any even-year magic; not really. Just ask the Tooth Fairy.

The Giants have an unsettled bullpen, to put it kindly. They have a crummy bullpen, to put it harshly. And they have two weeks to figure it out.

They’re twisting through a minefield. They could make it. But bet on more explosions.

All statistics current as of Monday and courtesy of MLB.com unless otherwise noted.

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Officially, the San Francisco Giants‘ mascot is Lou Seal—a beer-bellied, semi-aquatic marine mammal in an oversized T-shirt.

In reality, the team’s mascot, spark plug and beating heart is Hunter Andrew Pence.

In Sunday’s 5-3, sweep-sealing win over the Arizona Diamondbacks, Pence went 1-for-3 with a walk, a run scored and a two-RBI double that proved to be the difference.

Scaling back a tad further, Pence is 12 for his last 20 with a home run, four doubles, four RBI and eight runs scored.

Not coincidentally, San Francisco has gone 4-1 over that stretch, righting a ship that was sinking faster than a greased boulder in quicksand.

After finishing an MLB-best 57-33 at the All-Star break, the Giants have gone a dismal 20-32 since. Their recent sweep of the D-backs—owners of the NL’s second-worst record—doesn’t wipe the malaise board clean.

It’s something, however, and they’ll take it.

Sunday’s win, coupled with the Los Angeles Dodgers‘ 3-0 loss to the Miami Marlins, moved the Giants (77-65) to within three games of the NL West lead.

They also maintained a 1.5-game cushion for the Senior Circuit’s top wild-card spot, ahead of the New York Mets (76-67) and St. Louis Cardinals (75-67). 

Everything is up in the air with 20 games left, including six between the Giants and Dodgers. But if you’re a San Francisco fan casting about for optimism, fix your gaze squarely on Pence.

Yes, that can be frightening. Pence is an unconventional dude. There’s the springy hair. The wild eyes. The kale munching and the herky-jerk mechanics that seem to defy both the rules of baseball fundamentals and, at times, the laws of physics.

Ultimately, though, Pence is a three-time All-Star with the Houston Astros, Philadelphia Phillies and, finally, the Giants, and a linchpin in San Francisco’s 2012 and 2014 championship runs.

Recall the inspirational postseason sermon he delivered in 2012, which led then-third-base coach Tim Flannery to dub him “the Reverend Hunter Pence,” per USA Today‘s Bob Nightengale. 

He pulled a similar gambit in 2014, and fans and his teammates bought into it.

Anyone can shout. It takes finesse to get people to listen.

Of course, what Pence does between the lines is more important than anything he says in the locker room or into a microphone. Right now, he’s showing signs of going on a tear.

Granted, much of his recent flurry came against a lousy Arizona team at hitter-friendly Chase Field. But he looked like the Pence who has reeled off hot streaks in the past—working counts, punishing mistakes and slashing the ball to all fields.

Forget the June hamstring surgery that cost the 33-year-old seven weeks. Forget the foul ball off the face that left him with a nasty shiner. This is vintage Pence.

Apparently, it’s contagious. The Giants plated 23 runs in three games in the desert. They received contributions from up and down the lineup, with catcher Buster Posey, first baseman Brandon Belt and second baseman Joe Panik, among others, finding their strokes. 

This Giants offense ranks sixth in the NL in runs scored and ninth in OPS. Still, they have capable hitters up and down the lineup. Seven of their position-player regulars have double-digit home runs.

There’s no single stat-stuffing superstar, but there are a lot of guys who can hurt you.

The starting rotation is anchored by October demigod Madison Bumgarner and co-ace Johnny Cueto, with Jeff Samardzija and trade-deadline addition Matt Moore rounding out a solid top four. The bullpen, despite closer Santiago Casilla’s struggles, has valuable pieces such as veterans Sergio Romo and Javier Lopez and hard-throwing Hunter Strickland.

If the Giants can score, in other words, they’re a threat. The prospect of Pence strapping them to his back for the next few weeks in this—wait for it—even year should leave possible playoff opponents fretting.

“You start with the talent and the way he’s swinging the bat,” manager Bruce Bochy said of Pence, per Alex Pavlovic of CSN Bay Area. “But just the energy he brings [is big]. I talk about it so many times, but he brings it every day.”

Pence can’t constantly beat the fire and brimstone drum. But he can light subtle sparks, as Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News outlined:

Pence knows he cannot go Pentecostal every night. But even amid two of the worst months of baseball in Giants history, his optimism has been impossible to slay. He has done most of his motivational work on a quieter and more individual basis in recent weeks, taking Matt Moore aside in the kitchen or speaking to Eduardo Nunez in the trainer’s room or enthusiastically offering free samples of his latest cold brewed coffee concoction from his enormous thermal mug.

That’s typically idiosyncratic and typically Pence. The question now is can he be a mascot, a spark plug and, more to the point, a three-time champion?

All statistics current as of Sunday and courtesy of MLB.com unless otherwise noted.

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When San Francisco Giants left-hander Matt Moore left the field in the sixth inning of Wednesday’s game against the Arizona Diamondbacks, the AT&T Park faithful stood and offered him a hearty cheer.

They were applauding Moore’s effort—5.1 innings of five-hit, one-run ball that keyed a 4-2 Giants win. But they were also officially welcoming Moore into the fold exactly one month after the Giants acquired him from the Tampa Bay Rays.

That trade—which sent popular homegrown third baseman Matt Duffy and two prospects to Tampa Bay—didn’t click right away.

Moore wobbled initially in the orange and black, surrendering 17 hits and 12 earned runs in his first four starts and running his Giants record to 0-3. 

Then, last Thursday, he came within one jam-shot Corey Seager single of tossing a no-hitter against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium.

If you’re making a list of things Giants fans appreciate, put that near the top.

Moore settled for an 8.2-inning, one-hit, seven-strikeout gem that helped San Francisco avoid a sweep at Chavez Ravine.

His Wednesday encore wasn’t as sexy, but it was solid nonetheless. He located his mid-90s fastball. His cutter cut. His curveball missed bats. He kept the D-backs in check and threw like the guy the Giants hoped they were getting at the deadline.

As Grant Brisbee of SB Nation’s McCovey Chronicles pointed out:

Moore picked up 14 swinging strikes on the afternoon, which is just one short of Johnny Cueto’s best game of the season, for perspective. It’s what Madison Bumgarner had when he struck out 11 in a complete game against the Padres. It’s what Moore had when he almost no-hit the Dodgers. It’s a fair amount of whiffs.

“It feels great,” Moore said of Wednesday’s standing ovation, per Justin Wise and Rick Eymer of MLB.com. “This is the first time I’ve won at this ballpark. It feels great to be accepted.”

Once upon a time, Moore was among the hottest young arms around. As a 24-year-old in 2013, he posted a 17-4 record and 3.29 ERA with Tampa Bay and finished ninth in American League Cy Young Award balloting.

Then came Tommy John surgery in April 2014 and an up-and-down comeback during which he showed flashes but never quite put it together.

He posted a 2.41 ERA in July, however, seemingly prompting the Giants to pull the trigger on a deal that included Duffy, the 2015 NL Rookie of the Year runner-up. 

Moore’s contract has a series of affordable team options through 2019, so the swap was about much more than the short term.

San Francisco, though, was also seeking to bolster its starting rotation for the stretch run.

Ace Madison Bumgarner boasts superlative numbers overall but has faltered in August. Johnny Cueto has lost four of his last five decisions. Jeff Samardzija sports a 4.00 ERA. And veterans Matt Cain and Jake Peavy are on the disabled list.

A run of brilliance from Moore would take some pressure off the rest of the starting corps. That could make all the difference in an NL West battle with the archrival Dodgers that appears destined to go the distance.

Moore doesn’t fix all the Giants’ problems. He can’t single-handedly re-create the 6.5-game lead they held over Los Angeles at the All-Star break. He can’t jump-start an offense that has scored the third-fewest runs in the NL during that span. 

Despite its second-half swoon, San Francisco is in position for a postseason run. The Giants have won four of their last six. And we’re in a year divisible by two, in case you hadn’t heard.

“I think August was the month that gave us a test to see where our heads were,” closer Santiago Casilla said after nailing down Moore’s win Wednesday, per Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle. “Now comes September.”

Welcome to the Bay Area, Matt Moore. Pull up a seat and stay awhile.

All statistics current as of Wednesday and courtesy of MLB.com and Baseball-Reference.com unless otherwise noted.

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The San Francisco Giants accomplished a rare feat in Sunday’s 13-4 win over the Atlanta Braves, joining the Cleveland Indians as the only teams to record three triples in an inning this season, per ESPN Stats & Info.

Sunday’s outburst occurred during an eight-run seventh inning, with shortstop Brandon Crawford and outfielders Jarrett Parker and Conor Gillaspie each contributing three-baggers.

San Francisco finished the inning with seven hits, three walks and a hit batsman, highlighted by Parker’s two-run triple, Eduardo Nunez’s solo home run and Gorkys Hernandez’s two-run double.

The massive rally turned a 5-3 lead into a 13-3 rout, though the Braves did bounce back with a lone run later on.

The Giants finished the game with four triples, as first baseman Brandon Belt smacked his seventh of the season earlier in the contest, helping the Giants take an early 2-1 lead in the second inning.

San Francisco has the second-most triples (45) of any team this season, joined in the top three by a pair of National League West rivals—the Arizona Diamondbacks (50) and Colorado Rockies (36).

It’s probably not a coincidence that the division has seen so many triples this season, as every team besides Arizona has a spacious ballpark that can turn some doubles into three-baggers.

The Diamondbacks have the advantage of speed, ranking fourth in the majors in stolen bases (108), whereas the Giants are 14th (65) and the Rockies 18th (55).

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San Francisco Giants outfielder Hunter Pence suffered a hamstring injury on Aug. 26. However, he has been cleared to return. 

Continue for updates.

Pence Active vs. Diamondbacks

Tuesday, Aug. 30

Alex Pavlovic of CSN Bay Area reported Pence will play against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Tuesday.

Injury-Prone Pence Still Productive Offensive Force 

Pence played in only 52 games in 2015 after starting the season on the disabled list because of a fractured left forearm. He also suffered a hamstring injury earlier this season that forced him to miss time.

Prior to the injury, Pence hit .273 with eight home runs and 41 RBI in 2016 after hitting .275 with nine home runs and 40 RBI last year.

When healthy, Pence is an important part of the San Francisco lineup. He is a three-time All-Star and boasted seven straight years with at least 20 home runs before his injury-plagued 2015. Pence also has two seasons with a batting average above .300 and six seasons with double-digit stolen bases on his resume.

Still, the Giants are on the short list of National League teams with realistic World Series aspirations, and they could use a healthy Pence anchoring the lineup on a daily basis down the stretch. 

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The San Francisco Giants have lost some pitching depth heading into the season’s final month, as Jake Peavy has gone on the disabled list.  

Continue for updates. 

Peavy Lands on 15-Day DL

Saturday, Aug. 27

Per the Giants’ official Twitter account, Peavy is suffering from a strained lower back. The team recalled Albert Suarez to start Saturday’s game against the Atlanta Braves. 

After he struggled as a starter, the Giants moved Peavy to the bullpen earlier this month. He hasn’t been any better in that role, posting a 6.75 ERA in eight relief appearances, but he was going to get the start on Saturday with Matt Cain still on the disabled list. 

The injuries to San Francisco’s starting rotation are just part of the problem for this team in the second half.

After going into the All-Star break with the best record in Major League Baseball (57-33), the Giants have gone 13-25 over their last 38 games and trail the Los Angeles Dodgers by one game in the National League West. 

Peavy seemed to resurrect his career with the Giants after they acquired him in a trade during the 2014 season. He helped the team win the World Series two years ago and posted a 3.58 ERA in 19 starts last season. 

This year, Peavy’s age (35) and mileage on his right arm have caught up with him. The Giants still have a strong trio atop their rotation with Madison Bumgarner, Johnny Cueto and Jeff Samardzija, but the team has to go deep into the vault just to get through the days when those three aren’t on the mound.

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The second half of the season has not been kind to the San Francisco Giants, to put it mildly.

Since the All-Star break, they’ve gone 11-25 with a minus-29 run differential and watched a 6.5-game lead over the archrival Los Angeles Dodgers evaporate into a three-game deficit. There are problems all over, from slumping hitters to bullpen blowups.

But this might be the most concerning development of all for San Francisco: uber-ace Madison Bumgarner suddenly looks mortal.

Bumgarner took the loss Tuesday to the Dodgers, surrendering nine hits and five earned runs in five innings in a 9-5 defeat.

It’s one game, sure. And Bumgarner’s overall stats remain exemplary, as we’ll delve into shortly.

But August, overall, has not been kind to the Giants lefty. In 30 innings this month, Bumgarner has yielded 30 hits and 18 runs—14 of them earned.

He mixed in a couple of strong outings Aug. 7 and 13 against the Washington Nationals and Baltimore Orioles. But he was tagged for 10 hits and eight runs Aug. 2 against the Philadelphia Phillies. And on Aug. 18, the New York Mets hung four runs on him in five innings.

“He wasn’t Bum-like,” Giants manager Bruce Bochy said after Tuesday’s dud, per MLB.com’s Chris Haft. “He wasn’t quite himself. That was pretty evident.”

Here’s the question now: Is this an anomaly or the start of a disturbing trend?

Again, Bumgarner’s overall numbers are great. He ranks second among qualified pitchers in ERA (2.44) and third in strikeouts (202). He paces the pack with 180.2 innings pitched.

That last number, however, hints at one explanation for his recent struggles: fatigue. The other “F” word.

Bumgarner is the definition of a workhorse. He’s eclipsed 200 innings every season since 2011. He’s logged another 88.1 postseason frames since 2010, including a historic run of dominance in 2014.

Add it up and Bumgarner has carried a much heavier load than most 27-year-old pitchers. He’s absorbed it like an invincible, tree-chopping demigod so far.

Is it possible he’s finally tuckered out?

McCovey Chronicles’ Grant Brisbee floated the possibility Tuesday:

The curve was sharp, but the slutter [slider/cutter] was never buried on the hands of the right-handers. He couldn’t do anything but chuck it down the middle against left-handers.

He looked tired, in other words. No idea if he is, at least to a greater degree than most starting pitchers in August, but he looked it.

Because of the small sample, the eyeball test is all we have. Bumgarner’s average fastball velocity has dropped from 92.0 in 2015 to 90.6 this year. Again, though, he’s putting together one of his best campaigns even with the diminished zip. Despite the August speed bump, he’s squarely in the National League Cy Young conversation.

More than anything, Bumgarner has struggled against the Dodgers, who have tagged him for 10 runs in 19 innings over three starts this season.

As Fox Sports’ Chris Bahr noted, “Dating back to last September, Bumgarner is 0-4 in his past five starts against L.A., allowing seven homers and 36 hits in 28.2 innings.”

Do the boys in blue have his number?

“If that continues, maybe there is something,” Bochy said of L.A.’s MadBum ownage, per Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle.

The same could be said for Bumgarner’s troubles overall. Give it another start or two. If he keeps coughing it up, let the handwringing commence.

Johnny Cueto has thrown like a co-ace in his first year with the Giants. Jeff Samardzija and trade acquisition Matt Moore also have the talent to be front-line starters, though the results have been up and down.

The offense—despite some haplessness, particularly with runners in scoring position—ranks fourth in the NL in batting average (.260) and third in on-base percentage (.333).

Make no mistake, though: San Francisco’s fortunes rest on Bumgarner’s shoulders. He authored the club’s last even-year run in 2014, single-handedly at times.

If that’s going to happen again, he needs to prove his uneven August is more a fluke and less a fatigue-induced harbinger.

In other words, he needs to be Bum-like.

All statistics current as of Aug. 24 and courtesy of MLB.com and FanGraphs unless otherwise noted.

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