It’s hard to imagine a more satisfying conclusion to a Giants home series.
Batters hit a franchise-record 10 doubles in the San Francisco era in Sunday’s 10-4 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers. Right-hander Spencer Bivens, a 30-year-old rookie, amplified his tremendous story, delivered a desert-like five-inning spring in a spot start and sent a ripple of energy through the waterfront stadium by striking out Shohei Ohtani. The Giants won a home series against their archrivals for the first time in more than two years.
For once, the infiltration of Dodgers fans into the stands was not much to cheer about. And oddly enough, those fans won’t be back until 2025.
The Dodgers will not visit San Francisco again this season. It is the first time in the history of the West Coast rivalry that the Giants will play their final home game against the Dodgers before July 1. Such is life with the balanced schedule in which the Giants play their National League West rivals 12 times instead of the previously prescribed 19 meetings. Major League Baseball adopted the reconfigured schedule last season, while expanding interleague play and guaranteeing that all 30 teams would play each other every year.
Balancing the schedule had another important and desired impact: creating greater equity among the contending teams in an expanded postseason that includes a third wild card. It wasn’t fair for teams like the New York Mets and Cincinnati Reds to compete with the Giants for the same playoff spot when they played very different schedules.
Another change made necessary by the expanded postseason was that the compressed playoff schedule left no time to break ties on the field. If two wild-card contenders finish with identical records, the season series will determine which of them advances.
So, as satisfying as it was for the Giants to win two of three games against their archrivals, for all practical purposes, it will be even more important for them to win series against the other eight NL teams that are all evenly matched at .500 and still harbor wild-card aspirations. The simplest analysis is that the Giants should win as many games as possible. Beyond that, it will be in their best interest to finish the season with as many playoff series as possible.
Here’s a look at where the Giants stand with a little more than half the season in the books:
So far, so good
The National League playoff picture makes Guernica look like an 8×10. If you take out the Dodgers, Philadelphia Phillies and Milwaukee Brewers, all of whom have created some separation at the top of their divisions, nine of the 11 remaining NL clubs have a realistic shot at a wild-card berth. Only the Miami Marlins and Colorado Rockies are all but finished.
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The good news for the Giants is that they have completed the season series with three of their fellow wild-card contenders and won all three. They will have potential tiebreakers against the Mets (4-2), Cubs (4-3) and Pirates (4-2).
Much to decide
The Giants are halfway through their season series with the Padres, Diamondbacks, Cardinals, Nationals and Reds. Almost all of them are uncertain.
They are 4-3 against the Padres with six games remaining: three in San Diego from Sept. 6-8 and three in San Francisco from Sept. 13-15.
They are 3-4 against the Diamondbacks with six games remaining: three in San Francisco from Sept. 3-5 and three in Arizona from Sept. 23-25.
They are 2-1 against the Reds and have three games remaining in Cincinnati from Aug. 2-4.
They are 1-2 against the Nationals and have four games remaining in Washington from Aug. 5-8.
(Yes, that early August road trip to Cincinnati and Washington will be potentially critical.)
It’s probably not too early for Giants fans to turn on the Cardinals. That’s because the Giants have a 0-3 record against them after losing the game at Rickwood Field on June 20, followed by both games in St. Louis. The Cardinals don’t visit San Francisco until the final weekend of the regular season, Sept. 27-29. It would be a daunting task if the Giants go into that series trailing by one game against the Cardinals for the final wild card, but they must essentially sweep them to avoid being outscored in the tiebreaker.
The Giants are confident their rotation will come together and play their best baseball in the second half. With a number of tiebreakers still to be decided, they better be.
Just win, baby
The Braves are the only NL wild-card hopeful that the Giants haven’t played so far this season. That will change this week when the Giants open a three-game series Tuesday at Truist Park.
As easy as it is to assume the Braves will cruise into the wild-card spot, this isn’t the same roster that opened the season. Reigning NL MVP Ronald Acuña Jr. is out for the year with a torn knee ligament, right-hander Spencer Strider underwent Tommy John surgery, and the Braves haven’t gotten the production they hoped for from Matt Olson and Austin Riley at the infield corners. So there’s no guarantee the Braves will break away from the pack.
Even if the Giants are swept in Atlanta, they would still have a chance to win the season series, as the Braves will play four games in San Francisco from Aug. 12-15.
Of course, none of these tiebreakers will matter if the Giants can’t start stringing together wins in the series regardless of the opponent. They haven’t had more than three .500 games in any calendar month this season. Any momentum they’ve managed to generate has been fleeting. It’s a miracle they’ve overcome their extreme rotation issues to stay within striking distance of .500. But they’ll need their Voltron rotation of Logan Webb, Robbie Ray, Blake Snell and Kyle Harrison to come together in the second half.
At some point, the Giants must go from surviving to thriving. Even in a slow NL wild-card race, finishing with one of the three spots will require a final kick.
(Photo of Michael Conforto against the Padres earlier this season: Orlando Ramirez/USA Today)
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