Giants-Cubs: Do Madison Bumgarner and Co. worry…

Nobody shines like Madison Bumgarner and the San Francisco Giants in October.

The San Francisco Giants hung on to win 3-0 against the New York Mets in the National League Wild Card game.

Then came Wednesday and Familia was called upon to keep the game tied after Noah Syndergaard and Addison Reed combined to toss eight scoreless innings to match Madison Bumgarner. He had a no-hitter going until the sixth inning, when Denard Span broke up the bid.

ESPN’s coverage of the 2016 MLB Postseason continues with every game on ESPN Radio, plus Baseball Tonight and SportsCenter coverage through the World Series. Top-of-the-order, Brandon Crawford slugs out a double.

One year ago, Familia was quite possibly the Mets’ MVP in the NL Division and Championship Series. For comparison, Syndergaard’s was 0.409 and the highest figure for a starter this season was 0.735 for Chris Sale in a 1-0 win over the Rays on April 15 in which he allowed two hits and no walks, striking out nine. But whatever ultimately happens, however good the Giants play in that series, you can thank Bumgarner. Then there’s the task of squeaking across enough runs against some battle-tested pitchers, including a former one of their own. That narrative alone is a juicy one, but this time around, it’s the Cubs who come in as the powerhouse after the Giants limped into the playoffs.

The Giants travel to take on the Chicago Cubs. “If we’re playing our type of baseball, we can beat anybody”, Roberts said at Nationals Park, where the Dodgers worked out for about 1 1/2 hours starting a little before 9 p.m. after their cross-country flight.

What you didn’t see on TV: The first pitch, a flawless strike thrown from the mound by 11-year-old Michael Fahy. The Giants were ultimately victorious with a final score of 3-0. Lester, has pitched a total of 11.2 innings against the Giants. The Giants nearly missed the playoffs after a brutal second half of the season, but they won four straight games to end the regular season. Not even 30 and he’s got three World Series rings and a handful of records to go along with those, he might not have a Cy Young or regular season MVP in his trophy case, but he has shown time and time again that those regular season trophies don’t mean much.

Gillaspie drove one out to right for the three-run homer that helped send the Mets packing. The Giants are the underdogs in this series. Afterward they started taking more pitches, but Bumgarner was able to breeze through his first four innings on just under 50 pitches. However, postseason play is a whole new animal and the Giants have proven to be “even year” strong. Curtis Granderson, moved over from right field late in the season because of injuries to two other outfielders, crashed hard with his left shoulder into the padded fence 408 feet from home plate and tumbled to the warning track. “I know I’m proud of this team”.

With Sunday as an off day, the two teams will travel to AT&T Park.