Brandon Crawford helped the Giants win the World Series in 2012 and 2014.
When the recently retired franchise icon was asked to pick his favorite of the two titles, Crawford offered a humorous and heartfelt response.
“No, I’ve always said that’s like trying to pick a favorite kid,” Crawford said on KNBR’s “Murph & Markus” on Thursday. “You like them for different reasons, you love them for different reasons. And it’s hard to pick a favorite. I feel like 2012 was such a whirlwind, that was my first full season. And I just felt like we were on the brink of elimination in the LDS and the LCS.
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“And then the World Series went by so fast. So, it was like, ‘Oh wow we just won the World Series.’ But obviously, that was the first time, it was special. And then 2014, going to a Game 7, battling our way through the Wild Card and then getting to the World Series and going seven games with the tying run on third base, it was crazy.”
Both World Series runs featured plenty of drama and comeback victories, though the paths to glory were wildly different. After winning an epic seven-game NLCS over the St. Louis Cardinals, the Giants swept the Detroit Tigers to win the 2012 championship.
In 2014, the Kansas City Royals pushed San Francisco to the brink until Madison Bumgardner authored one of the iconic pitching performances in MLB history to help the Giants win Game 7.
Crawford spent the first 13 years of his MLB career with San Francisco before signing with St. Louis in 2024, though the Cardinals released him midway through the season.
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The legendary shortstop was a critical component of those two World Series titles, highlighted by an epic grand slam in the 2014 Wild Card game against the Pittsburgh Pirates and an iconic double play turned with Joe Panik against the Royals in the World Series.
Given how difficult it is to win a World Series, you can’t fault Crawford for being unable to choose a favorite.