These are the best seasons in Giants history

The Giants like to point out that they were never the favorites when they reeled off three World Series wins in five years last decade, proving that regular-season results don’t always translate to success in the postseason. Case in point: The Giants have had five teams finish the regular season with at least 103 wins, but only one came away with a World Series title.

Here’s a look at those five clubs and how they fared in the postseason:

1. 1904
106-47

The 1904 Giants had a franchise-record 106 wins, yet they have no World Series title to show for it after the Fall Classic was canceled when the Giants refused to play the American League champion Boston Americans. According to Baseball Reference, as the 1904 season culminated, Giants brass didn’t welcome the idea of playing their crosstown rivals, the New York Highlanders, who were in the thick of the AL pennant race until the final days of the season. By the time Boston supplanted the Highlanders, the Giants refused to play any club from the AL, which they viewed as a minor league. The 1904 season remained the first break in postseason play until the strike-shortened 1994 campaign.

2. 1905
105-48

Led by three future Hall of Famers -- right-handers Christy Mathewson and Joe McGinnity and catcher Roger Bresnahan -- the 1905 Giants won their second consecutive NL pennant before defeating the Philadelphia Athletics in the World Series. Mathewson delivered a legendary postseason performance to carry the Giants to their first Fall Classic title, tossing three shutouts in three starts over the five-game series.

3. 1912
103-48

The 1912 Giants won the second of three consecutive NL pennants for the franchise, but they came up short in the World Series, where they lost in eight games to the Red Sox. The deciding game featured an infamous 10th-inning “muff” from center fielder Fred Snodgrass, who dropped a fly ball that opened the door for a two-run rally for Boston that gave the Red Sox the title.

“Hardly a day in my life, hardly an hour, that in some manner or other the dropping of that fly doesn’t come up, even after 30 years,” Snodgrass said in a 1940 interview. “On the street, in my store, at my home ... it’s all the same. They might choke up before they ask me and they hesitate -- but they always ask.”

4. 1962
103-62

Arguably the best team in the San Francisco era, the 1962 Giants featured five future Hall of Famers -- Willie Mays, Orlando Cepeda, Willie McCovey, Juan Marichal and Gaylord Perry -- on their supremely talented roster. They finished the regular season tied with the Dodgers for first place in the NL, necessitating a three-game playoff to determine the pennant winner.

After splitting the first two games, the Giants found themselves trailing, 4-2, in the top of the ninth in Game 3. Third baseman Jim Davenport drew a bases-loaded walk to cap a four-run rally that gave San Francisco a 6-4 victory in the decisive game at Dodger Stadium.

The Giants advanced to face the Yankees in the World Series, but they ended up losing in seven games in one of the most tightly contested Fall Classics ever. The series was known for its dramatic conclusion, as McCovey lined out to Yankees second baseman Bobby Richardson with men on second and third to end Game 7 and preserve a one-run victory for New York.

5. 1993
103-59

The Giants lost 90 games in 1992, but they made a huge splash in free agency that winter that ended up altering the course of the franchise. Under new ownership, the Giants signed superstar Barry Bonds to a six-year, $43.75 million deal, then the richest contract in baseball. Bonds’ arrival sparked one of the greatest turnarounds in franchise history, but the 1993 Giants amazingly didn’t make the playoffs after finishing behind the 104-win Braves in the Last Great Pennant Race.

The Giants entered the final game of the regular season tied with Atlanta in the NL West, but they lost, 12-1, to the rival Dodgers to become the only 100-win NL team to miss the playoffs in the divisional play era. The following year, Major League Baseball realigned with three divisions and a Wild Card.