Kansas City Royals Fans Should Not Boo Madison Bumgarner

This week will see the San Francisco Giants returning to Kauffman Stadium to face the Kansas City Royals. It’ll be the first time the two units have met since Game 7 of the 2014 World Series. We all know how that one ended.

KC Royals fans were heartbroken when Salvador Perez popped up for the final out in the 2014 MLB season. That final out meant that the Royals had fallen 90 feet short of winning their first World Series since 1985. It was a crushing defeat.

The Giants rode on the heroics of Madison Bumgarner in order to win their third World Series title in just five years at the time, and the Royals were the victims of arguably the best pitching performance in World Series history.

Were it not for Bumgarner’s amazing pitching performances, the Royals probably would have won the 2014 World Series. They had everything going for them during that run, sweeping everyone in the playoffs to get to the fall classic. MadBum was the big roadblock that prevented them from completing the upset.

Losing in 2014 was painful, but had the Royals gone on to win it all that year, there’s a really good chance that we wouldn’t have had the 2015 season play out the way that it did.

With all of that said, however, I’m not an advocate of fans booing Madison Bumgarner when he gets ready to toe the slab on Wednesday night. First of all, Bumgarner didn’t do anything personally to the Royals. He didn’t physically injure them (Brett Lawrie) or pick a fight with any of our players (Jeff Samardzija… Who oddly enough is on the Giants team). He also didn’t call out our manager on Twitter (Jose Bautista).

What Bumgarner did was something that no other pitcher had done before. He completely owned the Kansas City Royals in that 2014 World Series, and fans should respect that. I’m not saying you have to give him a standing ovation, but just sit back and think about what he did in that series. If it were against anyone else, you’d be applauding his efforts.

During that World Series, Bumgarner started two games and appeared in three total. In that span, he gave up nine hits and only allowed one run, which came off of a Salvy homer in Game 1. That’s impressive stuff and I’m one of the biggest Royals fans out there. I was in the stands when that popup in Game 7 happened and I was close to tears.

Losing in 2014 was painful, but had the Royals gone on to win it all that year, there’s a really good chance that we wouldn’t have had the 2015 season play out the way that it did. The Royals wouldn’t have been as motivated to go back to the World Series and that would have meant a lot of lost memories from that 2015 season.

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The KC Royals flat out dominated in 2015. They won home field advantage in the American League and won their first division title in decades. They acquired big names in order to contend for a World Series. Without losing in 2014, none of that happens.

We wouldn’t have had Ben Zobrist in Kansas City and eventually naming his daughter after the organization. We wouldn’t have saw Johnny Cueto‘s complete game gem in Game 2 of the World Series. There would have been no Jonny Gomes mic drop in front of Union Station at the rally.

Game 4 of the ALDS wouldn’t have existed, meaning that the Royals coming back in crazy fashion in the eighth inning would never be a thing. Alex Gordon‘s game tying home run in Game 1 of the 2015 World Series never would have happened. There’d also be no Eric Hosmer stealing home in Game 5 of the World Series to tie the game up.

None of that would have happened if Madison Bumgarner hadn’t handed it to the Kansas City Royals in the 2014 World Series. That 2015 season would have ended up similar to how 2016 was: Lackluster due to a championship hangover.

I’m not saying you should thank MadBum, but sit back and think about everything that happened after the Royals lost in Game 7. We’d have missed out on some great memories.

Plus, I don’t think nearly as many Royals fans would have hated Bumgarner if it weren’t for Joe Buck oggling over him on the television broadcast. That’s not really Bumgarner’s fault.

While I don’t see Kansas City Royals fans feeling the same about this as I do, I hope some can sit back and look at the big picture. Also, booing people is mean, and should only be reserved for the real dirt bags in the major leagues. Madison Bumgarner is not one of those people.

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