It probably helps to have Madison Bumgarner emerge as your outright, no doubt about it ace - but it's kind of amazing the San Francisco Giants won the World Series last year despite Cain being injured and Tim Lincecum being up-and-down.
They were the Giants' one-two pitching duo for a long time, but both Cain and Lincecum have a lot to prove - looking to find the success that defined their careers as Giants.
Even when the Giants crashed in 2013, their front office has proven they can make some savvy moves with the money to make up for any mistakes in signing particular free agents that go bust - so they'll probably retool the pitching staff and try to contend with the Los Angeles Dodgers and Arizona Diamondbacks in 2014.
Starting pitcher Tim Lincecum was re-signed and has extended his stay in San Francisco - but may never get back into the superstar form that made him 'The Freak' and his numbers as he turns 30 maybe 'as is.'
Lincecum overpowered hitters in his prime - now it's about battling himself, battling his control and trying to keep things in check on a start by start basis.
The seemingly metronomic Matt Cain had an off year - though his numbers besides his wins/losses and overall ERA seem to indicate he didn't have such a terrible season, especially in the second half.
Out of some of the pitching woes the Giants suffered, soft spoken Madison Bumgarner emerged as their ace this past season - putting together a fine year with just over 200 innings pitched, with just about the same number of batters struck out while allowing only 146 hits.
After having tried two Walmart blasters, I decided to impulsively get a Target one - just to see what a red bordered parallel would look like [as if there is a difference when these Heritage parallels are basically the same cards].
Pack one
#7 Buster Posey / Andrew McCutchen / Ryan Braun / Yadier Molina - 2012 Topps NL Batting Leaders
#190 Derek Jeter
#157 Charlie Manuel
#200 Clayton Kershaw
#76 Ron Washington
#181 Jose Valverde
#499 Jesus Montero - SP
#221 J.J. Hardy
#264 Vernon Wells
Pack two
#284 Yasmani Grandal
#215 Francisco Liriano
#289 Lonnie Chisenhall
#270 Trevor Plouffe
#278 Shaun Marcum
#271 Matt Dominguez
#350 Matt Cain - Target red border variation
#59 Adam Wainwright
#369 Greg Holland
Pack three
#61 Kirk Nieuwenhuis
#357 Ryan Hanigan
#225 Jason Kubel
#236 Jim Johnson
#67 Davey Johnson
#240 Allen Craig
#HC14 Martin Prado - Chrome parallel serial #'d 970/999
#208 Juan Pierre
#140 Carlos Pena
Pack four
#112 Jarrod Saltalamacchia
#224 Jamey Carroll
#375 Austin Kearns
#342 Homer Bailey
#377 John Axford
#113 Johan Santana
#NF-MLK Martin Luther King Jr. - News Flashback insert
#353 Chris Heisey
#394 Brandon Inge
Pack five
#301 Ernesto Frieri
#217 Alex Gordon
#122 Hisashi Iwakuma
#302 Neil Walker
#48 Peter Bourjos
#304 Paul Goldschmidt
#491 Wei-Yin Chen - SP
#219 Stephen Strasburg / Gio Gonzalez - Young Aces subset
#417 Juan Francisco
Pack six
#143 Clint Hurdle
#189 Freddie Freeman
#283 Wily Peralta
#338 Tommy Hunter
#125 Yu Darvish
#17 Nick Markakis
#NAP-SC Starlin Castro - New Age Performers insert
#196 Chris Carter
#82 Pablo Sandoval
Pack seven
#286 Tom Wilhelmsen
#259 Miguel Montero
#390 Brandon Belt
#328 Patrick Corbin
#104 Jonathan Papelbon
#385 Glen Perkins
#490 Buster Posey - SP
#410 John Lackey
#114 Cody Ross
Pack eight
#54 Ron Gardenhire
#178 Everth Cabrera
#43 Brandon Morrow
#248 Jim Leyland
#169 Elvis Andrus
#50 Curtis Granderson
#BF-FR Frank Robinson - Baseball Flashback insert
#241 Geovany Soto
#354 Sean Marshall
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#267 Marco Estrada
#159 Desmond Jennings
#233 Jeremy Hellickson
#389 Frank Francisco
#175 Alfonso Soriano
#80 Jay Bruce
#BF-SS Shea Stadium - Baseball Flashbacks insert
#106 Mike Leake
#364 Russell Martin
#26 Angel Pagan - not quite a star but after bouncing around early in his MLB career, he helped the San Francisco Giants win the 2012 World Series and has established himself as a borderline All-Star talent. 
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