Was #EvenYear a Lie?
It’s easy to forget now, but at the midway point of the 2016 MLB season, the most dominant team and prospective World Series favorite was not the Chicago Cubs (whose incredible early- and late-season records obscure a long stretch of mediocre baseball in between) but the San Francisco Giants.
Led by its Cy Young-contending pair of aces Madison Bumgarner and Johnny Cueto, perennial MVP candidate Buster Posey, and a stifling defense headlined by underappreciated shortstop Brandon Crawford, the Giants surged to a 57-33 record at the half. Since then, the entire lineup has hit like pitchers and the team has limped to a mere 24-40 record, the worst in MLB over that span.
Once firmly in control of the NL West, the Giants now sit tied with the St. Louis Cardinals in the second wild card spot and may very well miss the postseason entirely. If that happens, the infamous #EvenYear magic, in which the Giants have won a World Series title in every even numbered year dating back to 2010, will finally be proven false.
Of course now that I’ve written this I almost definitely just jinxed it and the Giants won’t lose a single game between now and the end of the year. Better start preparing the victory parade in San Francisco come November. Goddamnit.
Yah ooooookay KD
Appearing on Bill Simmons’ HBO talk show “Any Given Wednesday,” Kevin Durant called his relationship with former teammate Russell Westbrook amicable off the court, saying that he doesn’t harbor grudges or animosity towards any players when he’s sitting at home on his couch.
Mhm. Yup. Sure. You’re going to sit there in the worst ripped jeans I’ve seen outside of the 2008-chic-middle-school-girls’ section of American Eagle and tell me that you didn’t resent Westbrook’s Robin becoming a bigger superstar than your Batman? That you’re not going to be thinking ahead of time about absolutely dismantling Russ and the Thunder next year when you play them?
Come on KD, you did enough to discredit yourself as a professional athlete with any competitive self-respect when you jumped ship to the Golden State Bandwagoners. It’s time to be the villain, to tell the rest of the league that you don’t care what they say, you’re coming straight for their neck. Seriously dude, if you’re going to drag the league to hell, at least be the devil.
