Madison Bumgarner has already cemented his place among the greatest postseason pitchers in baseball history. He has a career 1.94 ERA in 97 1/3 playoff innings and a 0.25 ERA in 36 World Series innings — the best all time among pitchers with double-digit innings.
He is the first pitcher in baseball history to throw a complete-game shutout in two different winner-take-all games — Wednesday’s National wild-card game and the 2014 NL wild-card game. He also is one of just four pitchers with at least three career postseason shutouts — Whitey Ford, Mordecai Brown and Josh Beckett, with three each, and Christy Mathewson, with four, are the others.
But we cannot yet consider Bumgarner the greatest postseason pitcher of all time. That honor still belongs to Curt Schilling.
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Love him or hate him, Schilling regularly rose to the occasion in the postseason. He pitched for three different clubs in the World Series and earned three rings overall — one with the Diamondbacks and two with the Red Sox.
Schilling compiled a plus-4.092 WPA — win probability added — in the postseason, a record among starting pitchers. Baseball-reference.com describes WPA as “the change in probability caused by a given pitcher. A change of +/- 1 would indicate one win added or lost.” Bumgarner’s postseason WPA is plus-2.865, fourth among starters, behind Schilling, John Smoltz and Andy Pettitte. Schilling’s WPA per game also bests Mad Bum’s, plus-0.215 to plus-0.191.
Schilling made his first postseason appearances with the Phillies in 1993, at age 26. He made four starts and had a 2.59 ERA that year. He was named NLCS MVP and kept Philadelphia’s World Series hopes alive with a complete-game shutout in Game 5, with the Phils down 3-1 in the series.
He did not appear in the postseason again until 2001, at age 34, with Arizona. That year, he made six starts and put up a 1.12 ERA, a 0.641 WHIP and 56 strikeouts in 48 1/3 innings. He shut out the Cardinals in Game 1 of the NLDS and threw complete games in each of his first three starts that postseason. He started Games 1, 4 and 7 in the World Series, allowing just four runs in 21 1/3 innings. He and Randy Johnson — who got the win in Schilling’s Game 7 start with 1 1/3 scoreless innings of relief — were named Series co-MVPs.
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In 2002, the D-backs were swept by the Cardinals in the NLDS, though through no fault of Schilling’s. He allowed one run in seven innings in his Game 2 start.
Schilling was back in the postseason in 2004, at age 37, with the Red Sox. He made four starts and had a 3.57 ERA — inflated by a shaky ALCS Game 1 start, in which he allowed six earned in three innings. He bounced back in Game 6, the infamous bloody sock game, in which he pitched with a ruptured tendon in his right ankle. He allowed just one earned run in seven innings to the Yankees, helping the Red Sox force a Game 7. After Boston won that series, it swept St. Louis in the World Series. Schilling made one start, in Game 2, when he allowed no earned runs in six innings.
His final postseason appearances came in 2007, at age 40, again with the Red Sox. He made four starts and had a 3.00 ERA. Schill led the Sox to a Game 2 World Series victory over the Rockies, allowing one run in 5 1/3 innings. The Sox swept the Rox in that series.
Schilling won games in each of the four World Series in which he pitched. He is the only pitcher in baseball history to win a World Series game in his 20s, 30s and 40s. He made five career postseason starts with his team facing elimination; his teams won all five games and Schilling had a 1.37 ERA in those starts. In three career postseason starts with his team able to clinch, he had a 1.16 ERA, and his team won all three games.
And yet, as terrific as Schilling was in the postseason, Bumgarner, 27, may be on his way to dethroning him. The left-hander has a better career ERA, 1.94 to 2.23, but in 36 fewer innings. Bumgarner has not allowed a run in any of his last 23 postseason innings and has a 0.79 ERA in his last nine postseason games. And unlike Schilling’s teams, Mad Bum’s Giants have never lost a series in which he pitched.
Bumgarner will attempt to keep the Giants’ World Series hopes alive Monday night when he takes the hill in a must-win Game 3 against the Cubs at AT&T Park. In the coming games, series and years, we may better be able to determine who the greatest postseason pitcher in history really is, and better answer everyone’s favorite question: Game 7, you can have any pitcher in history on the bump; who do you want going for your team?
Sporting News contributor Ryan Spaeder is the creator and owner/operator of the popular Twitter account Ace of MLB Stats (@theaceofspaeder).