Like their World Series opponents, the San Francisco Giants will probably boast, in addition to a league pennant, their league's Most Valuable Player. But an MVP isn't necessarily a team's Player of the Year, as I've defined him: the player who best symbolizes his team's season. And in this case, what a season ...

In the first half of the season, the biggest story with the San Francisco Giants was Melky Cabrera. The Giants got him for Jonathan Sanchez! He was the MVP in the All-Star Game! He was going to win the batting title. And then he got suspended in the middle of August and didn't play any more.

In October, the biggest story with the San Francisco Giants was Pablo Sandoval. Well, the biggest story was the Giants winning the World Series. But the biggest story within the story was Panda hitting six home runs in the postseason, including three in one game.

The biggest story with the Giants during all of it, though? Well, that was most certainly their baby-faced catcher, Gerald D. Posey.

You know him as Buster.

Posey, as you might recall, opened the 2010 season in the minor leagues and, when he did finally join the big club in late May, played first base for a few weeks. Because someone thought Bengie Molina was better. Ultimately, sanity did prevail and Posey played a big part in the Giants winning their first World Series since moving to the City in 1958.

As you might also recall, Posey's sophomore season ended in late May when a runner went out of his way to steamroll the catcher on a play at the plate; there was just a tiny bit of collateral damage, as the catcher suffered a catastrophic leg injury.

Would Posey be all healed up in time for the 2012 campaign. Would he ever be all healed up? Had we already seen Buster's best? We didn't know.

Now we know. Buster Posey was healthy enough to play in 148 games, and start 111 behind the plate. He was healthy enough to blast 24 home runs, which was (and this is one of my favorite things) twice as many as any of his teammates. He was healthy enough to drive in 103 runs, which was (this is another good one) 40 more than anyone else on his team. And he was healthy enough to bat .336, which was -- thanks to a favorable ruling from the Commissioner's Office and the Players' Association -- good enough for the National League batting title.

Buster Posey might not always have that baby face, and he might not always hit .336, and he might win a World Series every even-numbered year. But he'll always be the symbol of the World Champion 2012 San Francisco Giants.

And that wraps up this EXCITING SERIES of articles. In case you missed any previous entries, here's the archive.