The 2021 Giants Won 107 Games. It Still Makes No Sense. 

The '21 Giants is the exclamation point on Buster Posey's HOF worthy career. While not his crowning achievement, and not a strictly personal achievement, he was undoubtedly the leader of that club. He had the ability to significantly help bring out the best in pitchers. His game calling, leadership, pitch framing and defense were extremely valuable. Pitchers just succeeded with Buster catching. He was a huge piece in the winningest season in Giants history. In a shortened career , he was the embodiment of professionalism and excellence. His swan song season was nothing short of amazing. Posey=HOF

As a Dodgers fan I can say that 2021 was maybe the most fun season in recent memory its always better when the Giants are competitive imo although im still always rooting against them

To put it into perspective 2021 Giants were 1 win behind the 2018 Red Sox, 1975 "Big Red Machine" Reds, and 1970 Dynasty Orioles. They won as many games as the 2019 Astros and more than any Dodgers team until 2022. 107 wins is a truly special, Top 0.1% achievement.

As a diehard giants fan, it really cannot be stated how integral posey’s return was for us that season. Every single guy on the roster that year knew it was poseys last year, and went all in. That aspect coupled with incredible clutch moments by lamonte and yaz nearly every night was electric to watch. Also, respect tyler rogers, dude is an absolute dawg

Every time I look at the 21 Giants bbref page I'm just mystified. They led the NL in home runs despite their individual leader only having 29. Truly a case study in how baseball is a team sport & how a deep roster is super important

Brandon belt over 2020-21 was such a monster. Third highest wrc+ in the entire sport behind only Harper and Soto for that span

As a giants fan, this was the most fun summer ever! This team was insane.

This season was so bizarre. Darin Ruf being a feared clean up hitter on a MLB team, Anthony Desclafani leading the top of the rotation with Gausman, every single vet having crazy good years.... Hear me out, the Giants win the 2021 world series if Brandon Belt isn't injured in the playoffs. The NLDS came down to the final innings and could have drastically changed with Belt. Belt was a top 5 hitter in baseball with 29 homeruns (any barry bonds curse enjoyers?) at the time of his injury. Dodger fans like to say Muncy being injured was comparable, but look at their numbers towards the end of 2021... Belt was a difference maker and the best hitter on the team for most of the year...

As a Giants fan watching this season unfold I always had a feeling of too good to be true. I was enjoying the season but always mentally goal posting them 😅

The pandemic shortened season did wonders for the Giants older veterans, those dudes fully healed and came back rejuvenated in ‘21

It’s also worth mentioning the hitting coach Donny Ecker. I think he is the unsung reason for that teams offensive explosion. He has since left for the Texas Rangers with Bochy 👀

I liked how this was so close, I remember a division game back in 2021 where Albert pujols nearly hit a walkoff homerun and was robbed, that robbery would have won the dodgers the division but that game ended in a loss

That 2021 NL West division race between LA and SF was as close as I have ever seen since I started watching baseball. The Sunday Night game where Buehler was gassed, I knew at that moment, LA would have to settle for the WC. LaMonte Wade Jr was really their unsung hero. Every time I saw him come up to hit in the 9th inning, I said oh no. True, it made no sense how the Giants were THAT good that year. But it made for must watch every night. I hate the Giants, but I can't deny how fun it was watching every LA vs SF game be THAT significant.

2021 was by far the most fun season I've watched in my 20 years of living, watched almost every game

That Giants team played so far over their head it was insane. Like it's astounding watching them the last two years because even those squads feel like overachievers.

I’ll never understand how the giants pulled this off, everyone maxed out there potential and ceiling at once great vid jolly

this season totally revitalized my love for the giants. stats are obviously much easier to quantify and translate into why this team was so successful, but their chemistry was also off the charts. they really looked like they enjoyed playing with and for each other. so so many guys who were easy to root for when you knew their story. also, brandon crawford should’ve won mvp this season and the fact that he wasn’t even a finalist is lunacy. praying we can get back to something close to this team this year!! 🧡🖤

The 2021 season is what made me love baseball again, that giants squad was special. I loved that it was led by the old boys giving it one last hurrah before either retiring or just coming back down to earth. I think if they had made it past the Dodgers there was a good chance of them winning it all, though I did like seeing Freddie win with the Braves. Crazy how this happened just two and a half years ago but already feels like it has been ages. I'm really hoping the Giants get it together soon here, past two seasons were extremely disappointing, but I have hope that Jung Hoo Lee can spark some excitement here.

It'll be really interesting to see a retrospective on the Arizona Diamondbacks run to the World Series in 2023. Much like this Giants team, this most recent Snakes team felt so flukey and lucky that it still is weird to me that they won the NL Pennant.

The pitching likely had a lot to do with Buster calling them. Really a once in a lifetime kinda player. Sad you didnt mention how Wade got his 'Late Night Lamonte' nickname

The 2013 Red Sox kind of had this feel to them as well. They had a bunch of free agent signings that all went amazingly well and won the World Series. Sure, they still had Big Papi and Pedroia, but it was Gomes, Victorino, and Napoli who played huge roles the whole season. I forget how many games they won, but the duo of Lester and Lackey in the rotation stunned the Tigers in the ALCS.

I started watching the Giants in 2021. I was dating someone at the time who took me to my first game. There was something utterly magical about being at that game-especially after such a long period of isolation during the height of the pandemic. The camaraderie was natural and beautiful among all of us strangers at the game that day, and I’m sure I’m not the only person who felt that way. The relationship ended, but I’ll always be grateful to him for introducing me to the Giants. I’ve been to several games since. I realize I was spoiled by the 2021 season, but I still keep watching. I’ve loved getting to know these players and this organization-even though their decisions have sometimes been questionable. There’s just such a rich history there. I can’t wait until the season starts again. I can’t wait to see what’s next.

As a dodger fan that year was wild. Also jolly you should make a video about yasiel puig dominated the league and then disappeared

As a Giants fan, i really enjoyed 2021 not just cuz of their success, but because it finally spiced up the LA/SF rivalry. It had been kinda one sided since the Giants sucked but in 2021, LA and SF were the 2 best teams in baseball record wise and it finally felt like the rivarly that its supposed to be. It was fitting that the division race came to the final game and they would meet in the postseason. Miss these times.

Truly some of the best baseball content on RU-vid.

12:07 Kevin Gausman makes Shohei look absolutely silly. Love it.

Thanks for making this video! This is a mythical season to us giants fans. What an anomaly.

Loved the video! There’s a lot to cover in a 15-minute video and it’s impossible to touch on everything, but I just want to shout out the contributions of a few others that didn’t get much time in the video. Brandon Belt was a force, putting up the best numbers of his career. He missed a good chunk of time and would have broken the Giants 30-HR drought if he hadn’t been hit in the hand. Evan Longoria was quite good in his 80 or so games, which helped lighten the 3B load for guys like Wilmer Flores and Kris Bryant. Johnny Cueto wasn’t spectacular, but he provided some quality innings after several lost injury-plagued seasons. Nice way to rebound at the end of his hefty contract. Austin Slater has quietly been one of the best punch hitters in decades, and he particularly shined in 2021. LaMonte Wade Jr got some love, but his solid numbers don’t express how clutch he was. They call him Late Night LaMonte for a reason. Darin Ruf is handsome. That is all. And I’ll stop with Buster Posey. This whole video could have been about him, and it still would have understated his importance to the Giants. His clubhouse presence was foundational to winning Giants baseball, his ability to work with pitchers made the fancy coaching decisions easier to implement, and it was a joy to see him hit the fountain of youth with the bat one last time. I wonder if the 2022 teams and beyond could have maintained some of that 2021 magic if Posey hadn’t retired.

People might say it was a “fluke” but it was amazing to watch and especially battling the west with LA.

To me it shows what can happen when you have a team of guys that play the game right and have good baseball instincts. It shows that if you have good pitching and you can get guys that out the ball in play. They did a good job.

They definitely had a fluke season. Nearly all their players either had resurgence or career years at the same time. That just isn't normal. And they narrowly won the division race by a Mike Tauchman homerun Robbery of Albert Pujols. Mind u Mike was picked up off waivers from the Yankees.

9:45 I really feel like you dropped the ball by not mentioning he also earned 1of the greatest all time nicknames that year, *"LATE NIGHT LAMONTE"* 😂😂because of his clutch hitting

An incredibly fun season. With a lot of fun surprises. And a fun division race. I can honestly say that was one of my favorite years as a fan of the Giants to witness.

2021 Giants were so much fun to watch, they had that dawg in them!

Glad you highlighted that 107 wins is too much to be purely luck. Pessimistic Giants fans love to dismiss 2021 as a fluke, but it’s impossible for a team to be that consistently dominant over a full season because of luck alone.

Arizona had their worst season ever that year and was just feeding wins to LA and SF all season. it was really painful year to watch those guys play.

Hey Jolly, great video but you forgot one key moment in the season that robbed fans out of the last and potentially the BEST game 163 in baseball history. On July 22 a blown check swing call that went the way of Darin Ruf on a pitch thrown by Kenley Jansen provided the black magic Giants the opportunity for yet another comeback win in such a clutch season. Obviously, many other games were played and this 1 game should have not mattered... But it did. It adds another layer to the check swing in game 5. Sucks to know that check swing calls robbed 1 more head to head match on this historic season and at least 1 more pitch in one of the best NLDS in history.

Wish you showed the blown call against Jansen.

As a Dodger fan I was happy to see Buster go out with a solid season and wins. His leadership was absolutely one of the reasons the team succeeded. Bochy molded a HOF catcher. I hope they spend more money and become competitive again. Dodgers vs Giants and Yankees vs Redsox is great for baseball. Make these teams strong,

The giants dodgers rivalry peaked this year and idk if it ever be topped, better than New York days imo, as a giants

When you look at a random player's baseball reference page and they have one of their best seasons randomly at age 33 or something like that, in a way that defies logic except for the fact that it shows there is natural variance from year to year... the 2021 Giants was that happening to every player on the roster all at the same time.

That season for me, as a Dodger fan, was incredible. Every single night you had to look at the scoreboard to see if they lost and we can take the lead. That Giants team was playing out of their minds. Everything went perfect to them and everyone player played their best season. It was lightning in a bottle. It can never happen again

That nlds was maybe the best series in post season history

Love it! Great insight as always jolly. hope the running is going well

I've always love your videos and im so stoked to see you almost hit 100k!!!

I can confidently say it was this team in this year that rekindled my love for baseball from sport I liked but had awful personal history with to something I that will stay with me for the rest of my life. Thank you for reminding me of that joyous year, although Brandon Crawford learning to double jump in the Divisional Series is a moment that shouldnt be overshadowed by the blown call

my favourite piece of 2021 giants trivia is that logan webb was the last non-unicorn pitcher to hit a regular season home run, which was on the last day of the season

As a Diamondbacks fan, I can tell you that the NL West is a Group of Death sometimes. It's wierd.....

Always find your videos super interesting, informative and well made. Keep up the good stuff

@6:40 the way you resumed the clip to lineup the tank shot with the highlighting of Home Runs and you starting your next sentence was very satisfying, very well done

They relied on platooning which is basically luck based. They ended getting lucky and the veterans really stepped up. This was a fluke year and is the worst thing to happen to this franchise since it set us back by extending Farhan and Gabe. Instead of going after the newer shortstops in FA, we decided to run it back. This franchise is sad with no direction. And I’m a giants fan… Huge shoutout to Posey tho, he not only was one of the best players but he basically led the team and kept the clubhouse together.

Great video Jolly , only thing I wish you touched on more was the epicness of game 1 of the nlds , Logan Webb was amazing in his first ever playoff start and then he was almost just as good in game 5.

Man, thanks for showing the 2021 team some love. It’s probably recency bias but I enjoyed that squad as much as I did the World Series teams. Completely different approaches to winning, of course, but it was still a magical year.

Outstanding video. I like your style too, great production. I'm a new follower!

As a lifelong dodgers fan. It was a great division race. Also the first ever playoff series with them was entertaining. Also the dodgers won the series in 5 grueling games. It was fun to watch.

As a dodger fan, I gotta say that blown call in the postseason was for the blown call against the dodgers in the regular season which helped the giants win the division. Hate to see how it ended like that but I mean it’s baseball! 2021 was a crazy year

Great video jolly. Was a crazy run

I’m a dodgers fan, and this was the most fun season I’ve had watching the team in a while. Having competition in the division was so much fun, and being able to bring the rivalry back was so cool.

This miracle season was amazing. I wish it led to success in 22 and 23 😔. Crawfords career season was wild.

I love how you keep saying that luck was involved, but you said it yourself the giants put quality players in the best position possible for them to win every game. Also #WilmerDidntGo

I'm a rare SF Giants fan in New England. I really appreciate this post - it was thorough and excellent. Thanks.

1:22 LMAO as soon as I heard "you should know who Alex Wood is," I knew a Passan diss was coming 🤣🤣

When my mom and I were looking to go to Busch Stadium that summer, I chose the series against the Giants because I figured they weren't going to be very good. It was a surprise to see how they were playing, even in mid July. Nobody expected them to perform as well as they did, bucking the "even-year magic, odd-year tragic" trope of their 2010s along the way too.

The 2021 Giants are the definition of everything going right. They got the best version of Brandon Crawford, a last hurrah out of Buster Posey, breakout years from Kevin Gausman and Lamonte Wade Jr, Logan Webb made his presence known, and Brandon Belt hit 29 home runs in under 100 games, despite never eclpsing 20 in a full season. I genuinely cannot think of something that went wrong for this team.

2021 was just magical, and for me personally, I took my kids to their first Giants game that year. They both got Mike Yastrzemski's autograph and then watched the Giants beat the Dodgers in a very close game that ended with an error by Justin Turner. A night they will never forget!

Thanks for doing another video on my squad. Sucks that they couldn't put a bow on it, but it definitely was an incredible season.

2021 Giants = the epitome of overperformance/good luck/players exceeeding their normal levels They were two, maybe even three standard deviations above the norm Anomaly would be understatement

They played perfect... that's what happened... perfection of analytics. They were truly crazy with the platoons but that's platoons working to perfection the last 2 seasons r platoons not working to that capacity. Although they still manage hot starts typically.

This was my favorite season in recent memory

They played the splits really well and held leads just enough, aside from their player development innovations, I’d say they had a pretty good projection model to that was implemented by the coaching staff in real time.

2021 was a weird year, and I’m a Braves fan. Crazy how my team has won 100+ games so many times in my life but the year they win 88 games was the year they decided to finally win when it matters. I feel for the Giants in 2021 but don’t feel too bad for them cause they have 3 rings in the last decade or so.

It was such a joy to watch this team. They were never out and had so much heart

Loves this video!! I would love to see 2021 Braves since I'm a Braves fan

LAMONTE WADE JR MENTIONEDDDDD 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

As a Dodgers fan- 1. That season was insane and as much as I can’t stand them, it is good for the rivalry when then Giants are also competitive. 2. It’s almost poetic (and umpire griping inducing) that once can seriously argue that both teams’ seasons (and arguably, Houston and Atlanta’s as well) were impacted as much as they were by a wrongful no swing call in July and a wrongful swing call in October between LA and San Francisco.

2021 Giants were so magical. Thanks for making this so we can relive the good times

Your breakdowns are awesome. Would love to see how you breakdown the end of the 2011 season that ended in every division (except the AL West) lead changing in game 162.

keep bringing up a little bit of luck. i don’t think you can rely on luck but one time my dad told me. “the smarter you play the luckier you get.” and i think about that a lot

it was a legendary season. I had good times all year, thanks for the memory

Posey controlled the pitching staff and guys had really good offensive years. I think it's more a testament to Posey than it is as a team even though the team had an above average year offensively

This is why I love baseball

Love the haircut jolly, had to cut the flow too but it's a sick haircut 🤌🏼

Not even in baseball, this is probably the most baffling sports season in general to me of all time. The roster was not that different from the average years before and after this, but it all came together in a perfect storm for one year in 2021 for them to win 107 games of all things. Crazy.

I loved how from like mida May to the end of the September, there were so many "not sustainable" or "How is this sustainable?" posts. Loved it.

2021 tommy lastella was crazy i wish he stayed that good after that year

I dont think what happened that year was so surprising at all. Baseball clubs like the 2021 San Francisco Giants who have a roster containing a healthy combination of old school grit- with sabermetrics -are often VERY good. Just look at the legendary 2004 Boston Red Sox.

Haircut looks good Jolly💪

Haircut lookin good as hell, Jack!

Quietest 107-win season I’ve ever seen in my lifetime. And like those 116-win Mariners in Ichiro’s first season, it ended just as everyone suspected it would: w/o even an appearance in the World Series, much less winning it.

2021 Red Sox were also a major surprise

Another banger jolly 😤

So glad someone’s talking about this. I was baffled at the time and I’m still baffled now. I have never seen a team over-perform more than that. Perhaps the 2013 Boston Red Sox, team built on good vibes and beards, since they went all the way

I love giants content jolly you’re the best

Crawford career year Posey - great year Belt - career year Slater - 4 pinch hit HRs Soilano - great year different hero every day

I was at that Diamondbacks @ Giants game starting at 6:15 and it was the BEST game I've ever been to

Don’t make me cry. That season was beautiful

As a Giants fan, this season was magical. No matter what despite the heartbreaking NLDS loss to LA. The last two seasons since have been so mid and uninteresting tho. Starting out well but fizzling out come September. With the new players in JHL, Jorge Soler, Matt Chapman along with a new manager in Bob Melvin, I'm once again really excited for Giants baseball. I doubt will touch 107 wins again but a postseason birth would be real nice 🤞

They really balled out of nowhere

Loved the vid, I think Kevin Gausman’s walk off pop fly against the Braves should be remembered

When you said blown call, I started getting flashbacks of that day and moment also to give context I am a Giants fan.