I was glad that TFA didn't start grousing about how, for the last 10 or 15 years or whatever, World Champions have been neglecting their fundamentals. Most teams that win do pretty well at that stuff; in fact, if you watch a lot of random games involving Seattle or Kansas City or whoever in the regular season, you can notice how much better a good playoff team is at basics, especially on defense, even at the ML level. The Giants definitely won by playing sharp baseball; most champions do, and they are no exception.

Most teams that win do pretty well at that stuff; in fact, if you watch a lot of random games involving Seattle or Kansas City or whoever in the regular season, you can notice how much better a good playoff team is at basics, especially on defense, even at the ML level.

Which is what irritates me when fans or broadcasters think that a bad team can become good at fundamentals if they just work at it. Fundamentals are a skill just like hitting or pitching, and you don't necessarily get good at it just by practicing, at least not at this level. If you're a crappy baseball player, you probably suck at fundamentals too.

Perfect practice makes perfect.

Look, these guys write the story beforehand, and leave the name of the winner blank. Then after the series, the put the name in. The column encompasses all outcomes

The cameras that the Giants put on light towers to monitor and quantify defense don't exist!

in fact, if you watch a lot of random games involving Seattle or Kansas City or whoever in the regular season, you can notice how much better a good playoff team is at basics, especially on defense, even at the ML level.

But also, if you look at Seattle or Kansas City only during their annual hot streak, they'll look like a pretty darn good team. Generally you don't win 7 in a row while playing bad baseball, no matter what team you are. As #4 points out, this article would have been a wee bit more impressive if it had been written a week ago.