The Giants had the exact same 88-74 regular season record that the Pirates did, so is there something to learn from San Francisco's third World Series championship in five years?
For those who attach a dollar sign to everything that happens in MLB, it's worth noting that postseason monster Madison Bumgarner cost the Giants $3.916 million this season, or less than what the Pirates paid Charlie Morton.
The Giants were proactive and signed Bumgarner to a $35 million deal through 2017 when he had just over one year of major league service time. He's scheduled to make $11.5 million when the contract peaks in 2017. By comparison, Wandy Rodriguez was paid $13 million this past season. The Giants have two option years that guarantee $12 million per season with the possibility of $16 million in the last year. If he hits that, he'll match what the Phillies paid A.J. Burnett this season.
Pitchers can break down without warning, but right now Bumgarner's deal looks like a relative bargain on the scale of Andrew McCutchen's contract.
Beyond that, they're two different organizations. The Giants were seventh in MLB payroll. The $148 million they spent was nearly double the Pirates' payroll.
The Giants' investments aren't all efficient. They sunk $20.8 million into pitcher Matt Cain, whose season ended on July 9 because of elbow surgery. He won two games for them.
They also paid $17 million to Tim Lincecum, who had an OK season before he lost his spot in the rotation in August. In the lengthy postseason, the Giants called on Lincecum exactly once. His lone appearance was less than two innings of mop-up relief in a World Series game the Giants lost 7-2.
The most interesting takeaway from the Giants' run of success is how much lineup turnover they've had in a short period of time. The only regulars still left from their 2010 championship are Buster Posey and Pablo Sandoval. They've had three different closers.
They've been willing to stay fluid and change personnel even though they obviously have the budget to sign long-term deals.
Bumgarner is one of several top draft picks to pay big dividends for the Giants. He was the 10th player taken in 2007, five slots after the Pirates drafted Daniel Moskos.
Moskos got a signing bonus of $2,475,000. Bumgarner got $2 million. Moskos pitched 24 and 1/3 innings for the Pirates. Bumgarner just pitched 52 and 2/3 innings in the 2014 postseason.
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--SCARY ENDING
One of Bumgarner's most impressive accomplishments was the way he stayed on the mound with two outs in the ninth inning rather than sprinting to center field to strangle two of his outfielders in Game 7.
Alex Gordon hit a single that Gregor Blanco inexplicably let skip past him to the warning track. This surprised left fielder Juan Perez so much that he kicked the ball.
Gordon wound up on third, representing the tying run. Bumgarner got the last out, which allowed Blanco to avoid becoming the Venezuelan version of Bill Buckner.
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--CALL ON RESERVES
There were 62,479 people in Heinz Field last Sunday, and it's likely none of them knew that Norm Van Brocklin owns the NFL record for most passing yards in a game.
So it really doesn't matter that Ben Roethlisberger didn't get a chance to get the record. What does matter is Roethlisberger had an excellent chance to get a concussion when he was sandwiched by two tacklers while carrying the ball with 1:02 left in the game.
He said he called his own number because he wanted to spare Le'Veon Bell another hard hit. Bell had just carried the ball five straight times.
Here's a question: Why were Roethlisberger and Bell still in the game for a possession that started with 2:48 on the clock and the Steelers ahead by 17 points? Bell had been forced to leave the game earlier because of an ankle injury.
That closing time was made for backups, but they were on the sidelines while two of the team's most important offensive players were getting needlessly pounded.
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--RADIO WAVES
Commercial broadcasting began on this day in 1920 when KDKA went on the air with Harding-Cox presidential election returns.
It took at least a few weeks for someone to first say, "Thanks for taking my call."
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