The dynasty debate raged into the wee hours of Thursday morning, in between showers of champagne and beer around the plastic sheets in the San Francisco Giants clubhouse.
Their manager talked about the New York Yankees, their pitching coach referenced John Wooden’s UCLA Bruins, and still others mentioned the San Francisco 49ers, or Boston Celtics, or Chicago Bulls.
Buster Posey tried to find the middle ground, telling reporters that if the Giants aren’t a dynasty “it’s as close as you’re gonna get.” It was the only ball Posey hit out of the park all World Series — actually, his only hit period.
Truthfully? If the Giants had managed to win a couple of these things consecutively, the dynasty argument would get a lot more interesting. But in an era where making the playoffs is easier than ever before – baseball in 2012 added an extra wild-card team and one-game playoff in each league after adding a wild-card team in 1995 – but the chances of being short-circuited are greater (see: the 2014 Oakland Athletics), the Giants have won three World Series titles in a five-year span, each of them against different American League champions. That’s something, no?
Nine teams have put together a run of success in which they’ve won three World Series within five years, but the last team to rattle off three in a row was the 1998-2000 Yankees.
But let’s look at the last 10 years, in which 12 different teams have made World Series appearances and six have made multiple appearances, out of which six different champions have been crowned. No team has won more titles than the Giants in that time (three) and only the St. Louis Cardinals have as many World Series appearances.
World Series titles and finals appearances in last 10 years
Comparatively, the NHL has had 15 teams make the finals, five teams make multiple appearances, eight different champions and just two multiple title winners.
Stanley Cups and finals appearances in last 10 years
The NFL has had 13 different teams make the Super Bowl with two titles each for the Pittsburgh Steelers and New York Giants, while in the NBA only nine different teams have made the finals in that time, with the Miami Heat and San Antonio Spurs winning three each, with the Los Angeles Lakers winning two.
Super Bowls and finals appearances in last 10 years
Only the Heat and Spurs have won as many championships as the Giants, but let’s be honest, it’s easier to make the playoffs in the NBA than baseball. More teams make the playoffs, there’s more randomness to the game, and debilitating injuries are more common.
NBA titles and finals appearances in last 10 years
What cannot be denied is that there are dynastic elements to the Giants. Manager Bruce Bochy, general manager Brian Sabean, and most of the coaching staff have been together for all three World Series wins (2014, 2012 and 2010).
They’ve had three different closers and, effectively, three different aces in that time but eight players have been with them, including the guts of a bullpen (Javier Lopez, Santiago Casilla, Sergio Romo and Jeremy Affeldt) that flies in the face of the notion that any dunce can put together a bullpen out of odds and ends.
Posey is 27, Madison Bumgarner 25, Brandon Crawford 27 … and rookie second baseman Joe Panik turned 24 today.
Ah, Joe Panik. Among Cliff Floyd’s many regrets arising from the 1994 players strike was the way it robbed him of at least the chance to be part of a championship team in his rookie season, with the Montreal Expos.
Years later, as his career was winding down, Floyd – who is currently an analyst for the MLB Network – commented that it was one aspect of Derek Jeter’s career that he’d wanted to emulate – Jeter was part of a World Series championship in 1996, his first full season with the New York Yankees. “Buster Posey,” too, Floyd said.
Indeed. Posey, too, won a World Series in his first full season in the Majors (2010) and while he can’t match Jeter’s run of four World Series rings in his first five years, Jeter can’t match the fact that at the age of 27 Posey has won a batting title and Most Valuable Player Award in addition to Rookie of the Year.
The batting title and MVP all came in 2012, when he won his second World Series. That puts Posey above Jeter, and into company with the likes of Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle. Now Panik has a ring from his rookie season, with every expectation of another.
I don’t know if the Giants are everybody’s definition of a dynasty, but I’m willing to go with Posey. It’s the closest we’ll see in baseball for a long, long time – and there’s no reason to think the run is over yet.