2014: A Year to Remember

The 2014 San Francisco Giants, one of the most beloved sports teams in the history of the Bay Area, was honored on Saturday August 10th against the Detroit Tigers. I wanted to find out the fan's favorite players from that legendary team. I asked 48 fans all the same question: Who was your favorite player from the 2014 Giants? Here are the results:

21: Madison Bumgarner 

13: Buster Posey

6: Brandon Crawford

4: Joe Panik

2: Pablo Sandoval

2: Travis Ishikawa

It is no surprise that Madison Bumgarner was the go-to answer to this question. He was the NLCS MVP and the World Series MVP. He had arguably the greatest postseason run by a starting pitcher in the history of baseball. In 7 appearances he had a 4-1 record, 45 strikeouts with an ERA of 1.03. Those numbers don’t even look real. Lastly, he of course had his famous 15-out save on the road in game seven of the World Series. Bumgarner did that on just two days' rest after throwing a complete game shutout in game five. 

The next two answers of Buster Posey and Brandon Crawford were no surprise as well. Both were very young players at the time, and still batted in the middle of the order. Posey, the NL MVP in 2012, had already proven himself as the franchise catcher. Before the 2014 season, Crawford was only playing because of his elite defense at shortstop. In 2014, he became a much better hitter, and fans never forget his clutch hitting in that postseason run. The duo of Posey and Crawford continued to be the faces of the franchise for seven years after that, until Posey retired after the 2021 season. Then Crawford left the team after the 2023 season. 

Joe Panik, who was personally my favorite player from that 2014 team, got four votes. Panik, a rookie in 2014 who was called up right after the All-Star break to play second base, played it at an elite level. Every baseball fan remembers his clutch double play in game seven of the World Series. Giants Manager at the time, Bruce Bochy called it “one of the greatest defensive plays at second base I’ve ever seen.” Which means a lot coming from a manager who has watched more baseball than anybody on the planet. Without Joe Panik, the Giants don’t win the World Series in 2014.

Another guy the Giants don’t make it to the World Series without is outfielder Travis Ishikawa, who got two votes. The reason the Giants wouldn’t have made the World Series without Ishikawa, is because he hit the walk-off home run to send them to the World Series. Ishikawa was mostly a first baseman in his early years and was randomly asked to play left field one day because the Giants already had a first baseman named Brandon Belt. At Saturday's ceremony, Ishikawa said, “I saw on the card I was playing left field, and I was like what the hell? I’ve never played left field before.” Ishikawa will forever be a Giants legend for his pennant clinching home run against the rival St Louis Cardinals. 

The 2014 team means so much more to San Francisco than previous World Series winning Giants teams. It took the Giants all the way to the final day of the regular season to sneak in the postseason. Where Hunter Pence, who surprisingly got no votes, had his iconic speech. In Pence's speech he addressed that the Giants were not guaranteed another home game. In order for another game at home to happen, the Giants had to go on the road to play the Pirates and win. Pence asked the crowd, “do you want to see another game here?” The crowd responded, “YES YES YES.” Moments like that show how much this team meant to not only the players, but the community as well.

This group was resilient. The franchise will forever cherish the 2014 team, and their leader Madison Bumgarner.