The Giants reached the postseason for the third time in Bumgarner's career, this time as a wild card team. In the NL Wild Card Game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, Bumgarner pitched a four-hit shutout, his first career postseason complete-game shutout, allowing the Giants to advance to the NLDS against the Washington Nationals. He joins Sandy Koufax from the 1965 World Series and Justin Verlander from the 2012 ALDS as the only pitchers to pitch a shutout and strike out ten or more batters in a winner-take-all game. Used in Game 3 of the NLDS, he gave up three runs (two earned) in seven innings but suffered the loss in a 4–1 defeat. The loss was the only one for the Giants in the series, as they defeated the Nationals in Game 4 to advance to the NLCS against the Cardinals. Bumgarner threw shutout innings in Game 1 of the NLCS, setting a major league postseason record with consecutive postseason scoreless innings on the road, breaking the ninety-year-old record held by fellow Giant, Art Nehf. In Game 5, he limited the Cardinals to three runs in eight innings but left with the game tied. However, Travis Ishikawa hit a walk-off home run in the ninth to win the game 6–3 and clinch the Giants' five-game victory over the Cardinals. Bumgarner was named the NLCS MVP.