US Soccer v Mexico since 2000

Pre-2000 History:

The first ever US-Mexico meeting was on May 24, 1932 in a WC Qualifier in Rome, won by the US 4-2.  In the next 23 games from 1937 to 1979, the US didn't win a single game against them, losing 20 matches and drawing the other 3.  In the 1980s, the US only played them 3 times, losing twice, but did finally break through with a 2-1 win on Nov 23, 1980 in a WC Qualifier.

The rivalry then truly began in the 1990s, when the two countries met 15 times.  In this decade, the US was finally respectable, winning 4, drawing 5, and losing 6.  However, they were win-less in the last 7 match-ups leading up to 2000.

With all that as context, here are the games since 2000:


On US Soil:

June 11, 2000
US 3 - Mexico 0
US Goalscorers: Brian McBride, Frankie Hejduk, Ante Razov
US Cup, East Rutherford, NJ

October 25, 2000
US 2 - Mexico 0
US Goalscorers: Landon Donovan, Josh Wolff
Friendly, Los Angeles, CA

February 28, 2001
US 2 - Mexico 0
US Goalscorers: Josh Wolff, Earnie Stewart
WC Qualifier, Columbus, OH

April 3, 2002
US 1 - Mexico 0
US Goalscorer: Clint Mathis
Friendly, Denver, CO

May 8, 2003
US 0 - Mexico 0
Friendly, Houston, TX

April 28, 2004
US 1 - Mexico 0
US Goalscorer: Eddie Pope
Friendly, Dallas, TX

September 3, 2005
US 2 - Mexico 0
US Goalscorers: Steve Ralston, DaMarcus Beasley
WC Qualifier, Columbus, OH

February 7, 2007
US 2 - Mexico 0
US Goalscorers: Jimmy Conrad, Landon Donovan
Friendly, Glendale, AZ

June 24, 2007
US 2 - Mexico 1
US Goalscorers: Landon Donovan, Benny Feilhaber
Gold Cup Final, Chicago, IL

February 6, 2008
US 2 - Mexico 2
US Goalscorers: Oguchi Onyewu, Jozy Altidore
Friendly, Houston, TX

February 11, 2009
US 2 - Mexico 0
US Goalscorer: Michael Bradley (x2)
WC Qualifier, Columbus, OH

July 26, 2009
US 0 - Mexico 5
Gold Cup Final, East Rutherford, NJ

June 25, 2011
US 2 - Mexico 4
US Goalscorers: Michael Bradley, Landon Donovan
Gold Cup Final, Pasadena, CA

August 10, 2011
US 1 - Mexico 1
US Goalscorer: Robbie Rogers
Friendly, Philadelphia, PA

September 10, 2013
US 2 - Mexico 0
US Goalscorers: Eddie Johnson, Landon Donovan
WC Qualifier, Columbus, OH

April 2, 2014
US 2 - Mexico 2
US Goalscorers: Michael Bradley, Chris Wondolowski
Friendly, Glendale, AZ

April 15, 2015
US 2 - Mexico 0
US Goalscorers: Jordan Morris, Juan Agudelo
Friendly, San Antonio, TX

October 10, 2015
US 2 - Mexico 3
US Goalscorers: Geoff Cameron, Bobby Wood
Concacaf Cup, Pasadena, CA
 

In Mexico (all games at Azteca Stadium, Mexico City):

July 1, 2001
US 0 - Mexico 1
WC Qualifier

March 27, 2005
US 1 - Mexico 2
US Goalscorer: Eddie Lewis
WC Qualifier

August 12, 2009
US 1 - Mexico 2
US Goalscorer: Charlie Davies
WC Qualifier

August 15, 2012
US 1 - Mexico 0
US Goalscorer: Michael Orozco
Friendly

March 26, 2013
US 0 - Mexico 0
WC Qualifier


At the World Cup:

June 17, 2002
US 2 - Mexico 0
US Goalscorers: Brian McBride, Landon Donovan
WC Quarterfinal, Daejon, South Korea


So, our overall record since 2000:

US soil: 11 wins, 4 draws, 3 losses
Azteca: 1 win, 1 draw, 3 losses
World Cup: 1 win

(World Cup Qualifiers: 4 wins, 1 draw, 3 losses)

Overall: 13 wins, 5 draws, 6 losses


Observations:


- Donovan is our leading scoring vs Mexico since 2000 with 6 goals.  Bradley has scored 4.  Oddly, Dempsey is the 2nd leading scorer in our history but he has never scored against Mexico.

- Outside of McBride and Donovan's World Cup goals, the biggest goal may be Benny Feilhaber's game-winning wonderstrike in the 2007 Gold Cup Final, which secured our 2009 Confed Cup spot.

- Our victory in the 2012 game made history, because it was the first win the US has had on Mexico soil in 25 tries.  We subsequently had a draw there a year later for only the 2nd time in history.

- Our 3 losses on US soil since 2000 are the Gold Cup finals of 2009 and 2011 and the Confederations Cup Playoff 2015.  The 2009 loss is accompanied with an asterisk - we sent our C team because our A team just got finished beating Spain and pushing Brazil to the brink in the Confederations Cup.  Our 2011 loss started off promising - a 2-0 lead - that fizzled with 4 straight unanswered Mexico goals (no thanks to BORNSTEIN!) and ended Bob Bradley's tenure as US coach.  The 2015 loss was the most crushing of all, because we sent our A-team, still played defense nearly the entire 120 minutes, and showed little progress since Klinsmann took over after our 2011 loss.

- Klinsmann's record vs Mexico is 3 wins, 3 draws, and 1 loss, including Mexico's first ever loss to us at Azteca.

- Of our 13 wins since 2000, we have beat Mexico by the scoreline of dos a cero (2-0) 8 times ( in 2000, 2001, 2002 at the WC, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2013, 2015).  (In our history, we've only beat Mexico 2-0 one other time: July 5, 1991 in a Gold Cup semi).  In the 2013 WC qualifier, Dempsey actually shanked a PK in stoppage time on purpose to preserve the dos a cero!

2018 Russia WC US Roster Prediction #2

1 year into this cycle and fresh off the disappointing Gold Cup, Klinsmann's depth chart has become a bit clearer.  See prediction #1 from last summer to see how things have changed.

Goalkeepers:

Brad Guzan, William Yarbrough, Bill Hamid
(In the mix: Tim Howard, Cody Cropper, Zach Steffen)

Even with Howard coming back into the fold in September, I'm guessing Guzan will be entrenched as the #1 for this cycle.  Since Howard will be 39 years old come Russia '18, I think he will miss out as Klinsmann opts for younger backup options.  Yarbrough emerged this year and Hamid is probably the best MLS offering.  Cody Cropper and Zach Steffan are the new young guns for future cycles with outside chances to make the plane.


Center Backs:
John Brooks, Ventura Alvarado, Omar Gonzalez, Cameron Carter-Vickers
(In the mix: Michael Orozco, Tim Ream, Matt Besler, Will Packwood, Shane O'Neill, Matt Miazga)

It seems that Brooks, Alvarado and Omar are pretty good bets to make the 2018 team.  17 year old Tottenham prospect, Carter-Vickers, looks to be the stud of the future and has a chance in 2018 if Klins chooses to go young.  Ream's player of the year performances at Bolton have finally captured Klinsmann's attention but can Ream hold it for 3 more years?  Juergen has always favored Orozco as well and Besler might just be temporarily in the doghouse for being out of shape in January camp.  O'Neill, Packwood and Miazga were all part of U-20 or U-23 competitions this summer.


Outside Backs:
Timothy Chandler, Fabian Johnson, Brek Shea, Greg Garza
(In the mix: Kellyn Acosta, Oscar Sorto)

This is thinnest group we have in terms of depth right now.  I just threw in Acosta and Sorto's names to fill in the blanks.  Klinsmann would love to use Fabian and Yedlin in the midfield more, but will need at least one of them to fill the holes in the back.  Brek can be used in the midfield as well, which is where I prefer him.


Central Midfielders:
Michael Bradley, Mix Diskerud, Gedion Zelalem, Danny Williams
(In the mix: Joe Corona, Alfredo Morales, Luis Gil, Emerson Hyndman, Geoff Cameron, Will Trapp, Perry Kitchen)

Bradley will be captain and play every minute of the 2018 WC.  Danny or Mix will be in contention for that 2nd central spot behind Bradley.  Corona and Morales are the last two out, although who knows how Klinsmann might use Geoff Cameron then (CB? RB? Dmid?).  Zelalem matures just enough for Klinsmann to take a flier on the budding star.  Hyndman is also a future US starter that might be a squad player in 3 years.


Outside Midfielders:
Alejandro Bedoya, Gyasi Zardes, DeAndre Yedlin, Julian Green
(In the mix: Miguel Ibarra, Joe Gyau, Paul Arriola)

Bedoya will be the veteran of this bunch.  Zardes is really a striker, but Klinsmann needs him outside for now.  Yedlin's career in England is still out for deliberation but the natural RB is too fast to ignore.  For all the hype and letdown so far about Green, I'm betting he turns it around in time for 2018.  If Green doesn't, Gyau is in.


Forwards:
Jozy Altidore, Aron Johannsson, Jordan Morris, Bobby Wood
(In the mix: Juan Agudelo, Terrence Boyd, Clint Dempsey, Rubio Rubin)

Jozy will be there, unless his departure after the GC group stage is an omen of things to come.  Johannsson will look to make an impact after last WC's injury-hampered showing.  Who knows if Morris and Wood will capitalize on their good performances this year?  Dempsey will be 35 and may be the all-time US goal-scorer by 2018, but Klinsmann has shown ruthlessness when cutting aging veterans off the team (see Bocanegra, Donovan).


2018 Starting Lineup:
-------------Jozy--Aron----------
Zardes-------Bradley------Yedlin
-------------Diskerud------------
Johnson-Omar-Brooks-Chandler
-------------Guzan--------------

Landon Donovan, the Greatest US Soccer Player Ever

Regardless of how anyone (including Klinsmann) feels about Landon's approach or attitude, he retires as the greatest player in MLS and US Soccer history.

Landon stands alone as the only player to ever win 6 MLS Championships.

He holds the MLS record for most goals all-time with 144.  (32 were scored with the San Jose Earthquakes from 2001-04, and the other 112 were scored with the LA Galaxy, from 2005-2014.)  The next leading scorer is the retired Jeff Cunningham with 134.  The current player with the most is De Rosario with only 104, so it will be awhile before Donovan's scoring record is broken.

He holds the MLS record for most assists all-time with 136 as well.  The retired Steve Ralston has 135 and the current player with the most is Brad Davis with 112.

Including all club competitions with the Earthquakes, Galaxy and his 5 European stints (Bayern Leverkusen II, Bayern Leverkusen, Bayern Munich, Everton twice), Landon's scored a whopping 182 goals in 458 games.

As for US duty which stretched from 2000-14, Landon is the career leader in US goals all-time with 57.  Dempsey has the 2nd most with 39 and will likely need to keep playing through the 2018 World Cup to score another 18 goals.  To give you context, if you add the 3rd and 4th highest US scorers' goals together (Brian McBride and Eric Wynalda), you would only have 64, just 7 more than Landon's mark.

Even Jozy, who has 25 goals in 76 appearances, will need to keep up that pace for the 2nd half of his international career just to have a shot at the record.

As for assists, Landon has 58 all-time US assists.  The next highest is Cobi Jones with 22.  In fact, if you added the assists numbers of the 2nd, 3rd and 4th leading assists players (Cobi 22, Reyna 19, Lewis 16), you'd have 57, one less than Landon's total.  The active player with the most is DeMarcus Beasley with 13.  Bradley and Dempsey are next tied at 12.

Cobi Jones is the leader with a remarkable 164 caps, but Landon is 2nd with 157 caps.  Beasley has 121 while Dempsey has 110.

Of course, our only regret is that Landon wasn't in the game vs Belgium, where he would have finished off the pass from Jermaine's head for his 58th goal in stoppage time.

Brett Hundley leads UCLA to 3 straight wins over sc

Brett Hundley has led UCLA to its first 3 game winning streak over the trojans since Cade McNown beat sc 4 straight in 1995-'98.

2012
UCLA 38 - usc 28

Hundley stats: 22 for 30, 234 yards,1 passing TD, 2 rushing TDs

Game notes:  UCLA was ranked #17, sc was #21.  At the Rose Bowl, UCLA jumped out to 24-0 lead.  usc pulled within 3 points (31-28) with just over 7 minutes left, but Bruins marched down 83 yards to seal the victory.  Johnathan Franklin rushed 29 times for 171 yards and 2 TDs.


2013
UCLA 35 - usc 14

Hundley stats: 18 for 27, 208 yards.  80 yards rushing, 2 TDs

Game notes: UCLA was ranked #22, sc was #23.  UCLA scored the first 2 and the last 2 TDs of the game.  First win at sc since 1997.


2014
UCLA 38 - usc 20

Hundley stats: 22 for 31, 326 yards, 3 TDs, 1 rushing TD

Game notes: UCLA was ranked #9, sc was #19.  Hundley's 1st pass was a pick six.  After sc tied the game 14-14 early in the 2nd quarter, UCLA scored 24 straight to put the game away.  Eric Kendricks' sideline INT turned the momentum of the game permanently.

SF Giants 3 World Series Championship Rosters

Here are all the 2010, 2012 and 2014 World Series Giants players that played in the WS for that year.  While some bench players may have got a start here or there, I listed starters that played the majority of the time.

2014

C Buster Posey

1B Brandon Belt

2B Joe Panik

SS Brandon Crawford

3B Pablo Sandoval

LF Travis Ishikawa

CF Gregor Blanco

RF Hunter Pence

DH Mike Morse

Bench:

Juan Perez (PH, LF)

Andrew Susac (PH, C)

Joaquin Arias (PH, SS)

Matt Duffy (PH, SS)

Mike Morse

SP

Madison Bumgarner (MVP)

Jake Peavy

Tim Hudson

Ryan Vogelsong

RP

Javier Lopez

Hunter Strickland

Jean Machi

Jeremy Affeldt

Tim Lincecum

Santiago Casilla

Sergio Romo

Yusmeiro Petit

2012 

C Buster Posey

1B Brandon Belt

2B Marco Scutaro

SS Brandon Crawford

3B Pablo Sandoval (MVP)

LF Gregor Blanco

CF Angel Pagan

RF Hunter Pence

DH Ryan Theriot / Hector Sanchez

Bench:

Ryan Theriot (PH)

Joaquin Arias (3B)

Aubrey Huff (PH)

Hector Sanchez (C)

SP

Matt Cain

Madison Bumgarner

Ryan Vogelsong

Barry Zito

RP

Tim Lincecum

Jose Mijares

George Kontos

Jeremy Affeldt

Santiago Casilla

Sergio Romo (C) 

2010 

C Buster Posey

1B Aubrey Huff

2B Freddy Sanchez

SS Edgar Renteria (MVP)

3B Juan Uribe

LF Pat Burrell

CF Andres Torres

RF Cody Ross

DH Pablo Sandoval / Aubrey Huff / Pat Burrell

Bench:

Pablo Sandoval (PH)

Nate Schierholtz (RF)

Travis Ishikawa (PH, 1B)

Mike Fontenot (PH)

Aaron Rowand (PH, CF)

SP

Tim Lincecum

Matt Cain

Jonathan Sanchez

Madison Bumgarner

RP

Santiago Casilla

Sergio Romo

Javier Lopez

Ramon Ramirez

Jeremy Affeldt

Brian Wilson (C)

Guillermo Mota

The seven players who have played in all three Series':

Buster Posey

Madison Bumgarner 

Pablo Sandoval 

Tim Lincecum 

Jeremy Affeldt

Sergio Romo

Santiago Casilla

- Affeldt, Romo and Casilla were relievers for all 3 Series'.  (Note: Javier Lopez was on the 2012 roster, but did not play).

- Lincecum was the starting pitcher (the ace) in 2010, but sadly has regressed as a reliever in the other 2 Series'.

- Sandoval was a DH in 2010 for 1 game, but did not start at 3B in that Series.  Obviously he was the MVP in 2012 and has set a record for hits in a postseason this year.
- Buster is the player to appear in all 16 Giants' WS games, and is the only non-pitcher to play a critical role in all 3 World Series'.

- Madison's career World Series ERA is down to 0.25 (1 run in 36 innings pitched), the lowest in history, minimum 25 innings.

2-time World Series participants:

Brandon Belt ('12, '14)

Brandon Crawford ('12, '14)

Gregor Blanco ('12, '14)

Hunter Pence ('12, '14)

Joaquin Arias ('12, '14)

Ryan Vogelsong ('12, '14)

Travis Ishikawa ('10, '14) 

Javier Lopez ('10, '14)
Aubrey Huff ('10, '12) 
Matt Cain ('10, '12)

Posey, Bumgarner, Sandoval, Lincecum, Affeldt, Romo, Santiago - all 3 Series'

 

- So 13 players played in both '12 and '14 Series'.

- 6 of the 8 field positions were returnees from 2 years ago: Buster, Belt, Crawford, Sandoval, Blanco and Pence.

- Bumgarner and Vogelsong were the 2 returning starting pitchers for those 2 runs.

- Angel Pagan was injured late this year, otherwise he would have been our starter again (instead of Ishikawa).

- In contrast, only 9 played in both '10 and '12 Series'.

- In addition to the seven 3-time participants, Matt Cain and Aubrey Huff played in those two championships.
- Cain would have played this year had it not been for injury.  It probably would have made this championship a bit easier.
- Aubrey Huff started at 1B in '10 and as a pinch hitter in '12.

- Brian Wilson would have likely been our closer still in '12 but suffered a season-ending injury early on.

- In terms of field positions, only Posey was a fulltime player in both, while Sandoval came off the bench in '10.  That means that Brian Sabean basically built a championship winning lineup then completely did it again within two years for a 2nd championship.  Amazing.

- Travis Ishikawa was a bench guy in '10 (1B) and part-time starter in '14 as he got pushed in the left-field role late in this season.

- Javier Lopez also didn't play the '12 Series but he was on the roster.  Giants only played 4 games, and it just happened that he wasn't needed.

Giants win 3rd World Series in 5 years!

Game 1: Giants 7 - Royals 1

Coming into the game, the Royals were undefeated through all 8 of their postseason games and had the home field advantage, thanks to that utterly ridiculous allstar-winner-gets-home-field-in-WS rule.  At stake: merely that in the last 17 WS', the winner of game 1 went on to win the WS 15 times.  (Historically, of the 108 WS', game 1 winners win the Series 63% of the time).

Key moment of the game:
1st inning - Royals pitcher, James Shields, allowed a Blanco single, a Posey single, a Sandoval double and a Pence HR.  It was 3-0 before Bumgarner even took the mound.

It was game over when:
Well, pretty much when Madison Bumgarner took the mound with that 3-0 lead.  However in the 3rd inning, Royals threatened with runners on 2nd and 3rd and no outs.  Bumgarner strikes out the next two Royals swinging and gets a groundout to end the threat.  Royals were never in it after that, scoring just 1 run (7th inning HR) and lost 7-1.  Bumgarner pitched 7 innings, had 5 strikeouts and allowed just 3 hits, 1 walk and the 1 run. 

Other facts:
- This was the Giants' 7th straight WS win, starting back in 2010 WS Game 4.
- Giants outhit the Royals 11-4 and even left 9 men on base.
- Pablo Sandoval lead all Giants hitters with 3 hits and 2 RBIs and extended his postseason on-base streak to 24 games (streak ended in game 3 at 25 games).
- Hunter Pence got on base 4 times (2 hits including the HR, 2 walks) and also had 2 RBIs.
- Bumgarner has now won a game in 3 different World Series, joining only Schilling, Clemens, Glavine and Pettite to do so in the last 3 decades.
- Bumgarner's shutout streak in the WS ended at 21 innings, tied for the 7th longest in WS history.  The last pitcher to reach 21 shutout innings was Koufax back in '66.


Game 4: Giants 11 - Royals 4

The Royals won Game 2 (7-2) with a 5-run 6th inning, then held on to win Game 3 in SF (3-2)  with great bullpen pitching.  Momentum had clearly swung in KC's favor: with the WS tied 1-1, teams that have won game 3 on the road have gone on to win the WS 22 of 29 times, which is nearly 76% of the time.  And of course, the Royals were now 10-1 in this postseason and needed to win just 2 of the last 4 games.  Lose game 4, and SF will have to win the last 3 games, including 2 at KC.  Bochy decides to stick with Vogelsong instead of Bumgarner on short-rest in this near must-win situation.

Key moment of the game:
Sandoval's 6th inning 2-run hit broke a 4-4 tie and the Royals never recovered.  Leading up to that moment: Vogelsong was forced from the game in the 3rd inning, after giving up 4 runs on 5 hits and 1 walk in the 3rd inning.  Being down 3 runs, the Giants clawed their way back with a 1-run 3rd inning, a 2-run 5th inning, a 3-run 6th inning.  Entering the 7th, it was 7-4 with 9 KC outs left.

It was game over when:
The Giants continued their upward hitting trend with a 4-run 7th inning to extend the lead to 11-4.

Other facts:
- The Giants had 11 runs, tied for the 3rd most in WS history.
- The Giants had 16 hits, tied for 2nd most in WS history.
- 11 different Giants had hits, tying for the most in WS history.
- Hunter Pence led the way with 3 hits and 3 RBIs.
- Buster Posey's 3rd inning RBI tied him with Barry Bonds for a team record 21 postseason RBIs.
- Yusmeiro Petit pitched 3 shutout innings to earn the win and also contributed with a hit, becoming the first Giants reliever to do so in the WS since 1936.
- Bruce Bochy became only the 5th manager to win 40 postseason games, joining Torre, LaRussa, Cox and Leland. 


Game 5: Giants 5 - Royals 0

The winner of game 5 wins the WS 66% of the time (27-41).  Because this was the Giants' last home game, it was still a virtual must-win game so that SF wouldn't have to win 2 games on the road.  In the 6 previous SF World Series when it was tied 2-2, they went on to lose the title.  Cause for mild concern: Bumgarner was 1-3 with a 4.67 ERA in 6 games at home in the postseason entering Game 5.

Key moment of the game:
Madison Bumgarner takes the mound.  Complete game shutout, 117 pitches (and 84 for strikes), 4 hits, 8 strikeouts, no walks.  Never allowed a runner past 2nd base.

It was game over when:
Well, when Madison Bumgarner took the mound.  Also, when the Giants took a 2-run lead into the 8th, Sandoval and Pence both singled and Juan Perez crushed a ball that hit inches from the top of the wall, scoring both runners.  It was 4-0, insurmountable on this night.

Other facts:
- Going back to the 4th inning of Game 4, the Giants had scored 15 unanswered runs.
- UCLA alum Brandon Crawford actually led the Giants with 3 RBIs on 3 at-bats.
- Sandoval and Pence both had 2 hits, and were each batted in by Crawford once, as well as Perez's double. 
- Bumgarner pitched the first WS shutout since 2003 and is the first Giant to do so in 52 years.
- This was Bumgarner's 2nd complete game this postseason.  No other pitcher in baseball even had one.
- He's the first pitcher in 56 years to win the first four WS starts of his career.
- In those 4 WS starts/wins spanning 31 innings, he's allowed just 12 hits, thrown 27 strikeouts and gave up only 1 RUN.  Career WS ERA: 0.29, best in history (with at least 25 innings pitched).


Game 7: Giants 3 - Royals 2

After a game 6 Royals shellacking (10-0) including a 7-run 2nd inning that put the game away, the Giants were facing some pretty long odds.  The last nine game 7's of the World Series had all been won by the home team.  You'd have to go back 35 years to find the last road team who prevailed in the winner-take-all 7th game.

Key moment of the game:
Bottom of the 5th inning, Bumgarner steps out of the bullpen on 2 days rest with a 3-2 lead and pitches 5 shutout innings for the save.

It was game over when:
Sandoval squeezes the foul ball to end the Series.  Situation: score was 3-2, bottom of the 9th inning, 2 outs, Royals runner on 3rd base.  Salvador Perez is the only Royal to get a run off Bumgarner in this series and he's up.  Bumgarner uses Perez's aggressiveness against him and gives him high fastballs until he pops out to Sandoval.

Other facts:
- In the 2 innings that the Giants scored, both Sandoval and Pence led off and got on base each time.  To be in position for Morse's game-winning hit, Sandoval memorably tagged up on 2nd and sprinted to 3rd on Belt's sacrifice fly to left field.
- Bumgarner threw 68 pitches on this final night and had 5 shutout innings, again on 2 days rest.
- Against 17 hitters, Bumgarner never went to a 3-ball count, the only appearance without a 3-ball count this entire season.
- His 5-inning save was the longest in World Series history, by 4 outs.


Other Bumgarner Postseason facts:

- Bumgarner's pitched 21 innings this World Series, finishing with a ridiculous 0.43 ERA.
- He pitched over a 1/3 of the Giants' World Series innings (and more postseason innings than the rest of the starters combined).
- His career World Series ERA went down to 0.25 which is the lowest of all time (minimum 25 innings).
- In 36 career WS innings, he only allowed 1 run and just 14 hits.
- He pitched 52 2/3 postseason innings this year, which bested Curt Schilling's 2001 record of 48 1/3.
- His ERA this postseason is 1.01, the best of all time (minimum 40 or more innings in a single postseason)
- His ERA is 3.06 in the regular season, but drops to 2.14 in the postseason.


Other Giants' Facts:

- Sandoval's career World Series batting average is .426 (20-47), which is 3rd best ever (minimum 40 WS at-bats)
- Sandoval had the most hits in a single postseason of all time with 27.
- Pence was an incredible 7-14 with 2 strikes, and finished .444 (12-27) in this World Series.
- Jeremy Affeldt saved the Giants in Game 7 (no team since 1947 had won Game 7 when its starter failed to reach the 3rd inning) and raised his consecutive scoreless postseason outing mark to 22 games (2nd longest of all time).  His postseason career ERA is 0.86 in 33 games.
- Bruce Bochy is only the 10th manager in history to win at least 3 World Series'.
- The 8 players to be on all 3 of the recent WS' rosters are: Bumgarner, Affeldt, Casilla, Lincecum, Javier Lopez, Posey, Romo and Sandoval.  Only Bumgarner and Posey were started in the same positions in all 3 runs.
- The Giants have won 10 straight postseason matchups and have gone 13-2 in 1-run games.
- The Giants are the 5th franchise to win 3 World Series titles in a 5 season span.
- They are the 1st National League team in nearly 70 years to win 3 in 5 years.

Peyton Manning All-Time Passing TD Leader

Peyton threw his 509th TD in his 246th game last night to break the NFL record for career passing TDs.  I'd argue that he is the greatest regular season QB of all time.  (Greatest postseason QB of all time?  Joe Montana, of course).  Favre had previously set the record in 2010, although he bested Marino's 420 mark back in 2007.  I figured we should take a closer look at their numbers.

Peyton Manning 

Games: 246

TD: 510

INT: 222

Yards: 66,812

Completions: 5,681 (Attempts: 8,669) 

Completion Pct: 65.5%

Per game: 2.07 TDs, 0.90 INTs, 272 yards

Brett Favre

Games: 302

TD: 508

INT: 336

Yards: 71,838

Completions: 6,300 (Attempts:10,169) 

Completion Pct: 62.0%

Per game: 1.68 TDs, 1.11 INTs, 238 yards

So it took Peyton 56 less games than Favre to reach the 508 TD mark.  Along the way, he's thrown 114 less interceptions (and 2 more TDs), at a much higher completion percentage rate (65.5% to Favre's 62%) while averaging 34 more yards per game (272 to 238).  Sorry, no comparison.

So what would Peyton's numbers look like if he played the same number of games as Favre (302)?  At Peyton's career average rate, he'd have 626 TDs, 272 INTs and 82,021 yards, which would destroy Favre in every way.

Favre still leads only Peyton in career completions and yards.  At Peyton's career rate, it would take him another 27 games to break the completion record and another 18.5 games to break the yardage mark.

However, Peyton's numbers in his 2.5 seasons at Denver are even more incredible.

38 games, 111 TDs, 24 INTs, 999 completions, 11984 yards
Per game: 2.92 TDs, 0.63 INTs, 26.3 completions per game, 315.4 yards per game

At this rate, he'd beat Favre's completion record in 23.5 games and would only need 16 more games to set the yardage record.

Peyton v Active QBs

So how does Peyton compare to his contemporaries?  Let's look at other great current QBs, Brady, Brees and Rodgers and what their stats would be at their 246th game (Peyton's current) mark.  Brees (374) and Brady (372) are 4th and 5th on the all-time TD list, behind Marino's 420 TDs.  Rodgers might have an outside shot at Peyton's TD record (although he lost 3 years on Favre's bench). 

Drew Brees

Games: 193

TD: 374

INT: 184

Yards: 52,997
Completions: 4,659 (Attempts: 7,062)

Completion Pct: 66.0%

Per game: 1.94 TDs, 0.95 INTs, 275 yards

So Brees needs 53 more games and based on his career rate, he'd have 477 TDs, 234 INTs, 67,551.  He'd be 33 TD short of Peyton while throwing 12 INTs more, but have 739 more yards.

To reach 508 TDs, 35 year old Brees needs to play another 69 games at his career rate, which is another 4.3 seasons. 

Tom Brady

Games: 200

TD: 372

INT: 136

Yards: 50,854

Completions: 4,329 (Attempts: 6,832)

Completion Pct: 63.4%

Per game: 1.86 TDs, 0.68 INTs, 254 yards

Brady needs 46 more games and based on his career rate, he'd have 458 TDs, 167 INTs, 62,550.  Brady's far behind Peyton in TDs and yardage but far ahead in INTs.

To reach 508 TDs, 37 year old Brady needs to play another 73 games at his career rate, which is another 4.5 seasons. 

Aaron Rodgers

Games: 101

TD: 206

INT: 53

Yards: 25,871

Completions: 2,086 (Attempts: 3,166)

Completion Pct: 65.9%

Per game: 2.04 TDs, 0.52 INTs, 256 yards

Rodgers needs 145 more games and would end up with 502 TDs, only 128 INTs, and 63,013 yards.  So if Rodgers plays another 148 games (9.25 seasons) at his current rate, he could reach 508 TDs at the age of 40.

I'd guess Peyton plays at least another season beyond this, knowing what a football junkie he is.  Having thrown 55 touchdowns last season, he's on track this year (19 TDs in 6 games) to reach the 50 TD mark.  If he reaches that and let's be conservative and say he only throws 30 TDs next year, he'd finish with 571 TDs.  Brees, Brady or Rodgers would have to sustain a high level of play into their 40s to even have a realistic chance.  Unless Andrew Luck or another young gun develops a Manning-like passing obsession, I think Peyton holds onto the career TD record for a few decades.