If you were just looking at an ERA leaderboard and saw the 2.68 ERA next to Madison Bumgarner’s name, you would say, “Yep, just another good season from ole Madbum.” But if you’ve been watching Bumgarner’s starts, you would notice that something seems different. Maybe even a little off. Even as he threw seven shutout innings against the Diamondbacks on Tuesday night, it never felt like the guy blowing snotrockets on the mound was the same Bumgarner who carried the Giants through the 2014 postseason.
The fielding independent stats aren’t as convinced that Bumgarner is the same guy.