In 2010, San Francisco Giants radio and television announcer Duane Kuiper described the Giants’ road to their first World Series championship since 1954 as “torture.” The same could be said of the Giants’ 2012 post-season performance, where the team was almost eliminated in both the division and championship series. However, no Giants World Series can be quite as torturous as their 2014 victory over the Kansas City Royals, their third World Series win in five years. 

2014 marked the second time in World Series history that two wild-card teams played each other in the World Series and the first time in history that both teams had fewer than 90 wins. The Royals came into the World Series with two straight sweeps in the division and championship series for their third World Series appearance as a franchise, while the Giants were riding high, having defeated the defending National League champion St. Louis Cardinals four games to one.

The Giants got off to a strong start with a 7-1 victory in Game 1. Giants’ ace Madison Bumgarner, fresh off of 15 2/3 innings in the championship series, threw seven scoreless innings before giving up a home run to Royals catcher Salvador Perez in the bottom of the seventh. Bumgarner was backed up by a red-hot offense that started off the first inning with a three-run rally and went on to get 11 hits while the Royals were held to just four. 

In Game 2, the reverse happened. The Royals, led by rookie pitcher Yordano Ventura and veteran reliever Kelvin Herrara, held the Giants to two runs on nine hits. Meanwhile, Jake Peavy was pulled after getting into a tight pinch with runners on base and no outs midway through the sixth inning. Hunter Strickland, one of his replacements, gave up four of five runs in the Royals’ dynamic sixth inning, including a two-run home run to infielder Omar Infante. The Giants were not able to catch up, falling 7-2.

Game 3 was in comparison a low-scoring affair—a 3-2 Royals’ victory. The Royals took a 3-0 lead by the sixth inning, and even though the Giants scratched out a pair of runs in the sixth, they were unable to complete the comeback at home. 

It looked like Game 4 would be another Giants loss, as the Royals took a 4-1 lead by the third inning, thanks to a series of singles against pitcher Ryan Vogelsong. The Giants managed to tie up the game in the fifth inning with Juan Perez’s bases loaded sacrifice fly. They took the lead in a three-run sixth inning and managed to score another four runs in the seventh. Outfielder Hunter Pence was the star of the 11-4 victory, with three hits, two RBIs and two runs scored.

Bumgarner set a World Series record in Game 5 with a 5-0 complete-game shutout of the Royals. 

The Royals only got into scoring position once, thanks to Infante’s fifth-inning double. 

The good luck was not to last, as the Royals hammered the Giants with 10-0 victory in Game 6, pushing the World Series to a decisive Game 7. The Royals scored seven runs in the second inning of Game 6 and held the Giants to just six hits for the whole game.

The Giants struck first in Game 7 when Michael Morse knocked in two runs for a lead in the top of the second inning, but the Royals responded with two of their own in the bottom half of the inning Morse knocked in a second RBI in the fourth inning, giving the Giants a 3-2 lead. Bumgarner, on only two days rest after his impressive shutout, came in to pitch for the Giants in the fifth inning and pitched five scoreless innings to clinch the series.

Bumgarner was named the World Series most valuable player, only the seventh pitcher in history to be awarded the honor. 

He set a World Series record of 21 innings pitched and one earned run. Bumgarner set baseball records for the most post-season appearances, innings pitched, shutout innings, fewest hits allowed as a relief pitcher and lowest World Series career ERA.