Jeremy Affeldt’s postseason résumé with the SF Giants is the kind that can hide in plain sight until you look closely and realize just how rare it really is.
Most fans remember the headline moments from those championship runs: the timely hits, the starting pitching that steadied everything, and the bullpen that slammed the door. But Affeldt carved out a place in playoff history that goes deeper than the usual October memory bank.
His 0.86 ERA in the postseason ranks third all time among pitchers with at least 30 innings, behind only Mariano Rivera of the New York Yankees at 0.70 and Harry Brecheen of the St. Louis Cardinals at 0.83.
Rivera did it over 141 innings, which makes the number even more staggering.
Affeldt’s calling card, though, was getting almost impossible to reach. In 31.1 playoff innings, he allowed just 14 hits and eight walks, which is why he stands as the postseason leader in WHIP and hits per nine innings. That’s the kind of line that tells you he didn’t just survive October - he controlled it.
A lot of that work came in a Giants uniform, though Affeldt also logged 5.1 postseason innings for the Colorado Rockies in 2007, when they fell to the Boston Red Sox in the World Series.
With San Francisco, he became part of the Core Four - Affeldt, Sergio Romo, Santiago Casilla, and Javier López - a bullpen group that helped the Giants win three World Series titles in five years by keeping leads from slipping away. When the Giants were ahead, the game often felt close to over.
His biggest October moment came in his final postseason appearance, Game 7 of the 2014 World Series against the Kansas City Royals. Bruce Bochy was working with Tim Hudson not as a full-start workload, but as a pitcher he knew he’d be counting outs from. Hudson recorded only five outs before Affeldt took over.
From there, the plan was clear: hold the line, protect the lead, and hand it to Madison Bumgarner. Affeldt delivered 2.1 scoreless innings, allowing one hit and no walks. The Giants added their third and final run while he was on the mound, and Bumgarner entered with a 3-2 lead.
Bumgarner finished the job and got the spotlight, as he should have. But Affeldt picked up the win, and that outing ended up being the final postseason chapter of his career. It also pushed him past the 30-inning mark, locking him into the record books where his playoff numbers now sit among the best ever.
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