Did the SF Giants' 2014 World Series victory curse the 49ers?
In 2014, the SF Giants won an improbable World Series title against the Kansas City Royals. Since then, Kansas City has been a thorn in the sides of the San Francisco 49ers.
Look, there's no evidence of sports karma, lucky charms, football gods, or cosmic justice of any kind when it comes to professional sports. But it's undeniable that the Chiefs have broken the hearts of the 49ers faithful in two Super Bowls, both when the Niners had double-digit leads and chances to put the game away.
Leading up to 2014, the Bay Area had exploited the long-suffering sports fans of Kansas City. Sure, the 49ers sent a number of quarterbacks to the Chiefs, including Joe Montana, Steve Bono, Alex Smith, and the immortal Elvis Grbac, accidentally named "Sexiest Athlete Alive" in 1998. But it was always discarded QBs that they no longer had use for.
Meanwhile the Oakland A's were using the Royals as a farm system, poaching Johnny Damon and Jermaine Dye in 2001, and then completing their pillaging of the Royals outfield by brokering the trade that sent Carlos Beltran to the Houston Astros three years later.
Even before the World Series heartbreak, the Giants had exploited the Royals in trades. They got longtime reliever Greg Minton for catcher Fran Healy, acquired future All-Star Atlee Hammaker for an aging Vida Blue, got an amazing, steroid-fueled half-season from Melky Cabrera for Jonathan Sanchez (12 starts, 1-6, 7.76 ERA for Kansas City), and future KNBR stalwart Bill Laskey for Jerry Martin. Not to mention one of the team's great utility infielders, Ramon Martinez, for Jamie Brewington, who never played for the Royals.
Then the Giants broke the hearts of the Royals, who rode an extra-innings wild-card win over the A's, featuring multiple comebacks, to a 9-0 postseason leading into the World Series. As you probably know already, the Giants took a close Game 7 behind a dramatic relief performance from Madison Bumgarner.
Even though the Royals rebounded to win a championship in 2015, the Giants immediately poached Johnny Cueto, who notched a one-run complete game victory for the Royals in that series.
The universe finally swung Kansas City's way in 2020, thanks in part to the 49ers passing on Patrick Mahomes in the 2017 draft in favor of Solomon Thomas, known in some circles as the Jamie Brewington of defensive ends.
In Super Bowl LIV, the 49ers had a ten-point lead and the ball with just under 12 minutes remaining in the game, after Tarvarius Moore picked off Patrick Mahomes. With seven minutes left, they had a 95% win probability.
That's probably similar to how it felt for the Kansas City Royals in Game 7 of the 2014 World Series, after the chased the Giants' starter in the second inning, and tied the game at 2-2. They had three lights-out relievers, while the Giants had a tepid offense, but it didn't matter because of their star's big arm.
In 2014, Madison Bumgarner sacrificed his left arm to the baseball gods by throwing a staggering 291 pitches across three games and 21 innings of work. But Patrick Mahomes has worked his right arm nearly as intensely in his two Super Bowl victories over the Niners, throwing 88 passes.
He completed 69.8% of those passes, which is very close to MadBum's strike percentage of 70.4% during that series.
There's more similarities. In the 2014 Series, the Giants had a famous musician sitting behind home plate and cheering them on. Fox didn't exactly cut away to show rapper E-40, but he was on screen for every pitch. And yet still got less camera time than Taylor Swift did sitting in a luxury suite during the Super Bowl.
Even the trades finally started going Kansas City's way. The 49ers traded a second-round pick to get disappointing defensive end Dee Ford, who logged a single tackle in the Super Bowl against his old team. Meanwhile the Chiefs drafted Willie Gay with the pick, who helped shut down the Niners in this Super Bowl.
How can the city reverse this slide? The "mayors' bets" with Dungeness crab heading to the Midwest won't do it, especially with London Breed's limp jokes. ("We’re going to bet the Golden Gate Bridge. But not the real one of course, we’re going to send you a replica.")
Here's a suggestion. The SF Giants need to send Joey Bart to Kansas City as a peace offering. He's out of options, he's third at best on their depth chart, and the 49ers have a limited window to exploit Brock Purdy's low salary. In return, maybe Jed York will agree to attend a Marjorie Taylor Greene rally or whatever Charles Johnson wants in return.
But the city needs to do something. Hey, do you think Kansas City would be interested in some self-driving taxis?
