Former SF Giants ace Madison Bumgarner offers services to Rangers, Bruce Bochy

Former SF Giants ace, and playoff legend, Madison Bumgarner reached out to Texas Rangers manager Bruce Bochy before Game 7 of the ALCS.

Former SF Giants manager Bruce Bochy has taken the Texas Rangers to Game 7 of the American League Championship Series. According to Buster Olney of ESPN, he got an offer from his old ace Madison Bumgarner.

In the hours before another Game 7 for Bruce Bochy today, he got a text from Madison Bumgarner, offering to pitch.

— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) October 23, 2023

Madison Bumgarner enjoyed one of the greatest postseason pitching careers in baseball history under Bochy, going 4-0 in the World Series along with a five-inning save in Game 7 in 2014. Oh, and he did it two days after throwing a complete-game shutout two days earlier.

Not only was Bumgarner clutch in the Fall Classic, giving up a single run in his 36 World Series innings, but he was money in clinching games. In both of the Giants' Wild Card games in 2014 and 2016, Bumgarner threw complete-game four-hit shutouts. In the Game 5 of the 2014 NLCS, Bumgarner pitched eight innings against the St. Louis Cardinals before Travis Ishikawa's walk-off homer sent the Giants to the World Series.

While Bumgarner isn't technically eligible to pitch in the playoffs, since he didn't sign anywhere after he was designed for assignment by the Arizona Diamondbacks earlier this year, Bochy may appreciate the sentiment. Especially since this year's Texas Rangers team bears some similarities to the 2014 Giants. Namely, a shortage of reliable starting pitchers.

While Jordan Montomgery (2-0, 2.43 ERA) and Nathan Eovaldi (4-0, 2.42 ERA) have been excellent for the Rangers, former Cy Young winner Max Scherzer was tagged for five runs in four innings in his Game 3 start, and regular-season starters Andrew Heaney and Dane Dunning combined to give up six runs in 4.1 innings in Game 4.

In 2014, every SF Giants starter besides Bumgarner got rocked. Tim Hudson, Jake Peavy, and Ryan Vogelsong combined to throw 17.1 innings in four starts, and give up 18 runs, 17 more than Bumgarner did.

Scherzer has a much better playoff pedigree than Peavy or Hudson, but he's coming back from an arm injury that was initially thought to be season-ending. If Bochy's previous playoff career is any indication, Scherzer will have a short leash in Game 7, just like when he pulled Tim Hudson with two outs in the second inning of Game 7 in 2014.

It wouldn't be a surprise if Bumgarner decided to join Bochy next season in Arlington, after getting months off to rest his arm. After all, the Diamondbacks are still paying him eight figures next year, and Texas is very friendly to horses and pickup trucks. (No dirt biking, though!)

As for now, Madison Bumgarner can only help the Texas Rangers with moral support. But Jordan Montgomery should keep his arm loose. Bruce Bochy has no hesitation using a tall lefty who started Game 5 out of the bullpen in a huge Game 7.