Bruce Bochy's Game 7 Guts Cement Hall of Fame Managerial Legacy

"In Bochy we trust." If that's not already emblazoned above the entrance to the San Francisco Giants clubhouse, it should be.

For the third time in five seasons, the manager's unflappable acumen and uncanny knack for pulling the right levers led his team to the promised land. The Giants are world champions again, and Bruce Bochy is the common denominator.

Make that future Hall of Famer Bruce Bochy.

If there were any doubt Bochy deserved a bust in Cooperstown, it was erased Wednesday night. It began with his decision to start Juan Perez in left field over Travis Ishikawa, a move that favored defense over offense. Right on cue, Perez made an exemplary running catch on a sinking liner off the bat of Nori Aoki, a ball Ishikawa almost certainly wouldn't have gotten to.

David J. Phillip/Associated Press

Bochy also nailed the game's only replay challenge, a bang-bang double play that started with an incredible stop by second baseman Joe Panik and ended with a reversed safe call at first base. It turned a one-on, one-out situation into a no-on, two-out situation.

Then there were Bochy's bullpen machinations. After starter Tim Hudson wobbled in the second, allowing the Royals to tie the score 2-2, Bochy was quick with the hook.

First, he summoned lefty reliever Jeremy Affeldt, normally a late-inning option. After Affeldt tossed 2.1 shutout frames, Bochy turned to his ace, Madison Bumgarner. Just two days removed from a complete-game shutout in Game 5, it was an open question how much gas Bumgarner had left sloshing in his tank.

Turns out, quite a bit. The 25-year-old southpaw wound up throwing five scoreless innings and recording the final out, a pop-up by Royals catcher Salvador Perez that third baseman Pablo Sandoval squeezed in foul territory before allowing his knees to buckle in ecstasy.

Orlin Wagner/Associated Press

And so San Francisco stormed the field in front of a stunned Kauffman Stadium crowd, leaping, slapping, shouting. Nearly lost amid the din was Bochy, the even-keel, low-profile backbone of this improbable dynasty.

Bumgarner was the obvious hero and unequivocal World Series MVP. His Fall Classic ERA now stands at a ludicrous 0.25 in 36 innings. And others—including Sandoval and catcher Buster Posey—have played key roles in each of the Giants' even-year runs.

But there is no connecting thread stronger than Bochy, other than perhaps general manager Brian Sabean. He's the captain, the admiral, pick your ham-fisted metaphor. These players believe in him, quietly but absolutely.

Like any great manager, Bochy deflects the credit to his troops. "I'm amazed at these guys," he told MLB.com's Hal Bodley before the World Series, adding, "You do sometimes look and go, 'Hey, we're pretty blessed to have a group of guys that just seemed determined to get here.'"

It wasn't easy. After a hot start, the Giants went into a protracted second-half tailspin and barely snuck into October as the National League's second wild card. Along the way they lost second baseman and No. 2 hitter Marco Scutaro and center fielder and leadoff man Angel Pagan to back injuries, plus former ace Matt Cain to elbow surgery.

Name	Wins	Losses	Winning %	Championships
Bruce Bochy	1,618	1,604	.502	3
Joe Torre	2,326	1,997	.538	4
Bobby Cox	2,504	2,001	.556	1

Still, in characteristic fashion, San Francisco found ways to claw back. The Giants beat the Pittsburgh Pirates on the road in the NL Wild Card Game, upset the favored Washington Nationals in the National League Division Series and took the National League Championship Series from the St. Louis Cardinals in five games.

That set up their meeting with the Royals, who had opened the postseason 8-0 and looked every bit the team of destiny. In a hard-fought seven-game series, the Giants retained that title. They worked their magic one more time.

So what about Cooperstown? The champagne's not even dry in the visitors' locker room, but it's worth noting that only nine previous managers have won three World Series titles, and all of them are in the Hall. Bochy also won an NL pennant in 1998 with the San Diego Padres, and he leads all active managers with 1,618 career wins.

Or how's this for elite company, per ESPN Stats & Info:

He doesn't get as much press as some of his peers—Bobby Cox, Joe Torre—but his resume stacks up with the all-time greats.

Still, as Daniel Brown of the San Jose Mercury News notes: "Don't expect Bochy to engage in such reflection. Asked this week if he was comfortable having his name lumped among the great postseason managers, he replied, 'Not really, to be honest—I'm not.'" 

As the 59-year-old former catcher gets fitted for a third ring, that won't fly anymore. Unassuming only goes so far; at a certain point you can't hide your big brass...guts.

Charlie Neibergall/Associated Press

"It takes a lot of courage to make a lot of the decisions because you're going to answer to everything you do through hindsight, which isn't always necessarily fair," right fielder Hunter Pence told Bodley. "As a team, playing behind him, his guts and his heart and his determination leaks into us."

There will be time to talk about legacies, to dissect this incredible run and look ahead to next season, or at least 2016 (even year, baby!). For now, let's pause to marvel at the aw-shucks skipper and his merry band of champions.

In Bochy they trust.

All statistics courtesy of Baseball-Reference except where noted.