The longer it goes on, the worse it gets. San Francisco stands one game from the World Series and we're still seeing headlines like, "More torture for Giants after they missed golden chance to win NLCS." Please. Hearing them go on about "torture" is like hearing Brad Pitt complain about having to sleep with Angelina Jolie again. This is whiny entitlement at its very worst.
Giants Baseball: It’s Not ‘Torture,’ And Please Stop Calling It That
You want torture? Just about every set of fans in the NL West has a better claim. Arizona supporters endured 97 losses - a number not found by the bay for a quarter-century. Down the coast, LA fans could only watch as the McCourt divorce proceedings tore apart the club; and in San Diego, they saw their team suffer one of the worst collapses in baseball history. The “tortured” Giants only won the division. Poor things!
It isn't even as if there is any historical pain involved here. The Giants last reached the World Series all the way back in... 2002. Two-thirds of MLB teams haven't reached it in the meantime, yet SF stands on the verge of going back. Ask a Pirates fan about "torture", after 18 straight losing seasons; or a Kansas City fan, who saw the Royals miss the playoffs for the 25th consecutive year.
There's the argument it's "torture" because Giants' games are close nail-biters, where every pitch counts. Fact-check, aisle three... 30% of all baseball games are decided by one run, and the Giants had hardly any more (32%) than the average. San Francisco actually played in less of them than every division winner, bar the Phillies. Let's compare their season against the team they would face in the World Series.
| Giants | Rangers | |
| 1-run games | 52 | 53 |
| 1-run wins | 28 | 30 |
| Blowout wins | 22 | 22 |
| Run differential | +114 | +100 |
Really, which set of fans has had to endure "torture" this season? If it was anyone, I'd say it was those supporting the team that had never won a playoff series in franchise history. Not the one trying to reach the World Series for the second time in eight years, like Pablo Sandoval elbowing his way to the front of the all-you-can-eat buffet line.
Admittedly, San Francisco won on the last day, and as noted, mostly because the Padres imploded. But any talk of torture should have stopped that second, for the regular season has absolutely no bearing on the playoffs. Right now, at least 27 teams would swap places with San Francisco in a heartbeat. Any fans with the slightest complaint about the Giants' situation are bratty teenagers, complaining because Daddy bought them a used Corvette.
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