Madison Bumgarner sat next to teammate Jake Peavy during Game 7 of the World Series, predicting that he would be the man to close out the San Francisco Giants' third championship in five years.
Bumgarner would do just that with an electric relief performance that was likely what it put him over the top in the Associated Press' eyes when they named him Male Athlete of the Year on Monday.
"I was sitting in the outfield with Madison and he was asking me how I thought this game was going to play out," Peavy said earlier this month, via an Associated Press report. "I said to him: 'Madison, when you get the ball, you're not coming out of the game. You're the best guy we've got.' ... He said, 'Man, that's exactly what I hoped you would say' and exactly what he wanted. He just needed some confirmation, somebody to believe in him as well. I said, 'Fight for that ball, man,' and what he did will go down in the ages as the best ever."
Bumgarner's brush with history in 2014 included 270 total innings of work, along two wins and a save in one of the more entertaining seven-game World Series matchups in history against the Kansas City Royals.
Not a bad year's work for a man whose 'Madbum' nickname became ubiquitous for the duration of his stellar playoff run.
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