Hudson’s World Series drought to come to an end with Game 3 start

SAN FRANCISCO – Despite playing most of his career with perennial playoff contenders in Oakland and Atlanta, Giants righthander Tim Hudson will finally appear in a World Series.

Hudson, 39, has the made most starts – 457 – among active pitchers without a World Series appearance. He’ll end that wait Friday night at AT&T Park when he starts Game 3 against the Royals.

“Early on it wasn’t quite as frustrating because I thought that I’d be there every year,” Hudson said. “I thought I’d have an opportunity every year to get to the playoffs and have a chance to win. But as you start playing with some teams and you have that playoff drought of a few years in a row, you start realizing how hard it is to get here every year and how hard it is to compete against a lot of teams in baseball.

“There is a lot of parity in this game right now. The same teams don’t always win like they used to. So that’s when it started becoming a little bit more – a little frustrating. One day you see this window starting to gradually shrink throughout your career. Sixteen years without getting to the World Series was a long time. I played with a lot of guys throughout my career that had not only gotten to the World Series but have won rings, and I’m really happy for those guys, but at the same time I’m really jealous.”

Once Hudson starts, Bartolo Colon will move atop the list of active pitchers with the most regular season starts without appearing in a World Series. Colon has started 436 games.