Let me begin by making it very clear to everyone the Giants are not my favorite team. In fact they are more like 5th on my favorite teams list and they are only that high because I’ve had the opportunity to meet players both on the major league team as well as getting to know quite a few guys in the minor league system (a perk of being the team photographer for the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes, Single-A affiliate of the Giants). This way you know I am not a bandwagon fan, but yet still have a legitimate reason to cheer for them.
With that clearly out of the way I have to say I am REALLY EXCITED that the Giants won the World Series. No I don’t get a World Series ring, even though I do know a few people that will be getting them, but I do get to see the World Series trophy up close and personal. Like every other organization that wins the World Series, the Giants send the World Series Trophy to each of their minor league affiliates so that they can show of what the big league team did.
As a baseball fanatic the only thing better than standing next to the World Series trophy would be to go to a World Series game (#2 on my baseball bucket list).
I will be the first to admit that I would have never of guessed that the Giants would sweep the Tigers. In fact I had picked the Tigers to win the series in 6 games. The pitching staff of the Tigers along with their offense just appeared to be too much for a Giants team that had to come from behind in two different series to make the World Series.
Each game the Giants shocked me a little and taught me the truth about how good their team was.
Game 1 really made me question my initial assumption of the series as Pablo Sandoval went deep three times and two of those off of Verlander.
Game 2 opened my eyes to the possibility that the Tigers offense may not be dominating, but the Giants pitching might be.
Game 3 confirmed to me that the Giants were not just a smoke and mirrors team that was getting lucky.
With all that I learned in the first three games, it really all meant nothing going into game 4. When a team is on the ropes they can either come out throwing punches like crazy or they can simply give up. I had no doubt in my mind that the Tigers were going to come out fighting, and they did.
Even though the game had the feeling that it was the Giants game to win from the beginning I couldn’t help but feel that the Tigers were playing the role of the pesky underdog who keeps getting hit and yet coming back for more. Even if game 4 had not gone into extra innings I would of rated it the best game of the series because both teams were doing everything that they could to get the win. The extra innings just added a lot more excitement.
In the end I can say beyond a doubt that this was a great post-season for MLB. The one game Wild Card play in games were exciting and fun for fans. Each division series was down to the wire and competitive. The ALCS was a sweep of the Yankees which I liked and the NLCS was a great series to watch. The World Series wasn’t the best in history but there was excitement and it finished before November.
The 2012 season was a pretty good season. However, I love the Hot Stove part of baseball so I am really excited the season is over and I am looking forward to the winter meetings.