The San Francisco Giants won World Series titles in 2010 and 2012 before missing out on the postseason a year ago. On Wednesday they returned in a big way with an 8-0 road win against the Pittsburgh Pirates for the National League wild card. The Pirates were playing in back-to-back postseasons after a 21-year playoff drought, but this time they barely put up a fight.

Madison Bumgarner was dominant on the mound, pitching a complete game with 10 strikeouts. Brandon Crawford took the home crowd out of the game early when he hit a grand slam in the top of the fourth. The Giants outhit the Pirates 11-4 and looked every bit ready for baseball in October.

[mlbvideo id=”36721651″ width=”400″ height=”224″ /]

The Giants open the National League Division Series on the road against the Washington Nationals on Friday at 3 p.m. The St. Louis Cardinals and host Los Angeles Dodgers square off in the other NLDS Friday at 6:30 p.m.

( – Click here for a full recap of the Giants-Pirates wild card game – )