The Giants know the moment all too well.
Just four seasons ago, they endured their own Game 7, a heart-stopping, panic-inducing 3-2 win over the Kansas City Royals that turned Madison Bumgarner into a baseball icon.
On Wednesday evening, the Dodgers and Astros will meet in a winner-take-all affair, and at some point, new postseason heroes will be crowned. Will anyone live up to Bumgarner’s heroic relief appearance that saved the Giants’ third World Series title? That’s impossible. But according to Giants’ broadcaster Duane Kuiper, Houston Astros ace Dallas Keuchel and Los Angeles Dodgers’ southpaw Clayton Kershaw may try.
“Well see if the Dodgers or the Astros have a Madison Bumgarner in their bullpen,” Kuiper told Murph & Mac on KNBR on Wednesday morning. “We’ll see.”
Kuiper said that while Dodgers starter Yu Darvish and Astros’ right-hander Lance McCullers will get the ball to start the game, it’s going to be up to the bullpens to decide who will be crowned the 2017 World Series champions. And on Wednesday night, those bullpens might not look so deep.
“Tonight is one of those nights where the guys you see that usually come out of the bullpen, they might as well just stay at home,” Kuiper said. “Except for Kenley Jansen. Everybody else just stay at home. It’s going to be Kershaw. There’s no doubt in my mind he’s going to pitch tonight, somewhere. And if anything, just to try to pick him up after the start that he had in Houston. Plus he wants to and I don’t blame him. I would too. it’s going to be Kershaw and Kenley Jansen tonight, you know, assuming Darvish at least goes five or six.”
The longtime Giants’ broadcaster recalled his own Game 7 memories, as the Giants misplayed a hit off the bat of Alex Gordon which allowed Gordon to advance to third base with two outs in the ninth inning. Ultimately, Bumgarner finished off Kansas City, but the Giants’ broadcaster barely survived.
“If you have a massive rooting interest for your local team, it’s so much fun and it’s nerve-wracking,” Kuiper said. “Absolutely nerve-wracking. When I saw that ball get by Gregor Blanco, I literally thought that I was going to have a heart attack. And then when Juan Perez couldn’t pick it up, I thought I was having two heart attacks. You’re thinking, this is not happening. It’s not. And I guess that’s the beauty of game sevens.”
To listen to Kuiper’s full interview on Murph & Mac, click the podcast link below. To listen to Kuiper talk about