The 2020 San Francisco Giants are legitimately in playoff contention.
That is a sentence I didn't think I'd write except maybe as a joke on Opening Day. But in this two thousand and twentieth year, where it feels like the apocalypse is nigh, an asteroid is signaling the end of an election cycle, and sports have returned to bring some normalcy 'round these parts, the San Francisco Giants are not only in the playoff hunt, if the season ended today, they'd be IN the playoffs as a wildcard team.
Granted, COVID-19 caused MLB to create all sorts of crazy rules in baseball this year, none more impactful than bumping the playoff field from 10 teams to a whopping 16. No team is more than 6 games out of a playoff spot, not even the truly awful Pittsburgh Pirates, but the truth of the matter is... the Giants are in position to play in October for real! The record isn't impressive in the sense that they're midway through this truncated 60 day season and stand at 14-16, two games under .500. However, if I told you they had a truly awful 4-game stretch where the bullpen (ok, Trevor Gott) blew three games and got absolutely shellacked in another and that the bullpen as a whole had an ERA in the billions (seemingly) and the Giants STILL led the wildcard you'd sign up for that, right? Heck yeah! And that's where the Giants are which is somewhere only the rosiest of optimists among us Giants fans could possibly foresee.
This team has been entertaining in all the ways. They can hit. I mean, they can hit! They're averaging 6 runs per game at Oracle Park! The stadium that used to make our mediocre-at-best offense look ten times worse has somehow become a refuge. The Giants crush it at Oracle Park. They don't even score the way the scrappiest teams of the championship era did, like with timely hitting and seeing-eye singles, and infield hits. No! They are CRUSHING the ball. We're seeing multiple run homers, like, every game! When was the last time the Giants could say that?? This team the past several seasons had issues hitting homers, but when they did it almost always felt like it was a solo shot. This season? Here's a two-run homer here, a few three-run homers there. It's ridiculous! Also, raise your hand if you thought Mikey Yaz and Donny Barrels would be the new version of Bonds and Kent. Put your hand down, you did not!
The starting pitching came full of question marks when the season began. Could Cueto look like the Cueto of old coming back from Tommy John surgery? Would Jeff Samardzija have another solid year following a surprisingly effective 2019 campaign? Was Logan Webb ready for a full time starter's role? Were Kevin Gausman and Drew Smyly good fliers to take as potential trade chips? Could Tyler Anderson get healthy and produce? Well, usually when you have so many question marks, one or two will pan out nicely while others will flounder. The starting pitching has become a strength. The only weak link was Jeff Samardija and he hit the injured list before he could put the team in any more holes. Since then, the starting pitching has been stretched out for longer and longer outings and mostly have performed beyond expectations. Drew Smyly got hurt, which is what Drew Smyly does, but before he did he looked like the Giant best starter. Then Kevin Gausman turned into Jason Schmidt. Cueto has shaken off the rust and looks to be at worse an average starting pitcher. Tyler Anderson has been healthy and effective and owns the team's only 9 inning complete game since 2018. Heck, even professional journeyman Trevor Cahill has looked good in his few starts.
Ok, so the offense is crushing the ball and the starting pitching has settled in really nicely. So how are these Giants under .500 regardless?
Oh boy, that bullpen and defense though. To the coaches credit and to the players, they've tightened up that defense a tad the past week or two. What once was an embarrassing daily display of truly bad defensive baseball has finally come around to, "oh darn, an error" vs "gosh dang it, another frickin' error this inning!?". In other words, the Giants are playing better defensively. However, the one Achilles' heel on the club is the bullpen. Tony Watson and Trevor Gott are really the only true veterans in the bullpen and it shows. Everyone else is auditioning for future spots on the team. The result hasn't been pretty. No one is really standing up and screaming "I want to be here in 2021!". Presumed future closer Shaun Anderson has walked as many batters as innings he's pitched, including maybe/maybe not throwing at the best player in the game and getting flak for it. Sam Coonrod got hurt after his (non) political statement caused blowback. The Giants have double the amount of lefties in their pen than righties and that is just odd. And they've blown a good amount of games in spectacular, heartbreaking fashion. It's ridiculous to think this Giants team could not only be better, but should be better. This team, had they not blown some games they quite frankly shouldn't have blown, could be one of the best teams in the National League. You didn't read that sentence wrong. If the Giants hadn't blown the three Gott games, they'd be 17-13. That doesn't even take into account some of the games some Giants fans (this guy) thinks manager Gabe Kapler bungled to a loss. Yet, here they are, at 14-16, in prime wildcard position. Who woulda thunk?
The first half schedule was much more difficult on paper than the 2nd half schedule. The 2nd half begins tonight with a 3 game set vs, who else, the first-place Dodgers. The Dodgers have the best record in baseball to the surprise of no one. They are 22-8. However, out of the Dodgers 8 losses, the Giants are responsible for 3 of them. The team that had no talent vs the team with all the talent has hung tough with LA, going 3-4 against them thus far. After this series, the Giants will not see the Dodgers again. Until October, obviously. Which is what all of us thought for sure would happen in this crazy 2020 season, no?
Oh, and the trade deadline is less than a week away. And the Giants don't know if they are sellers or buyers. What a crazy crazy year.
As always, BEAT LA!
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