Way back at the infancy of the Major League Baseball season, just 12 games into the annual marathon, this column featured a story about the San Francisco Giants. It was actually about one of the team’s better-known fans, the inspirational Bryan Stow, who survived a horrific attack in the parking lot at Dodger Stadium a decade ago and tossed the first pitch at this year’s Giants season-opener. When I wrote the piece, it included near the bottom a gently sarcastic line about how maybe the Giants – then 8-4 after a nice first couple of weeks – could (wink, wink) sustain their initial form and surprise everyone. No one actually expected it to happen. Now it has – and the team predicted by the oddsmakers as the 26th best (or 5th worst) at the beginning of the campaign, came out of the past weekend still holding the finest record in the sport. With two weeks and 12 games to go, there are all kinds of numbers to crunch. The Giants are a breathtaking 97-53 and have never lost steam. They’re almost certain to blow past 100 wins, likely to match and bypass the two 103-win seasons (1962 and 1993) the franchise has managed since moving to San Francisco and still have an outside shot at the all-time Giants mark of 106, set in 1904 by the New York Giants. But there is a lot more to the tale than stats and records. Last Monday’s victory over the San Diego Padres locked in a playoff spot and San Francisco remains a game clear of the Dodgers at the top of the National League West. This week brings another series against the Padres, starting on Tuesday (10 p.m. ET on FS1). However it ends, it has been a joyous narrative of upturning expectations. Coming in, the Giants had a lineup that didn’t look strong enough, a pitching staff that supposedly wasn’t deep enough and appeared to lack the requisite pieces to put together any kind of meaningful challenge. The NL West was shaping up as a thrilling battle, but everyone thought it would be the Dodgers and the Padres duking it out, not the 2010/2012/2014 World Series champion that had fallen on hard times. But Brandon Crawford and Buster Posey have each turned back the clock to flirt with a .300 average, LaMonte Wade Jr. has been an unexpected revelation in the lineup and side-armer Tyler Rogers has been a huge weapon out of the bullpen. Behind them and others and under the stewardship of manager Gabe Kapler, they started strongly, found this whole winning deal to be very much to their liking and just kept on doing it. There’s fun to be had in the unexpected. Last Friday, starting pitcher Kevin Gausman was pressed into extra innings pinch hitting duty because there was, quite simply, no one else. The outcome? An 11th inning sacrifice fly to sink the Atlanta Braves and send the entire Giants squad into gleeful celebration. Kapler keeps things loose and wants his players to be the same way, like when first baseman Brandon Belt jokingly anointed himself the team’s on-field captain, and Evan Longoria made things “official” by arranging a makeshift “C” on his jersey using electrical tape. “I think laughter and having fun playing this game in a pennant race is an indication of confidence,” Kapler told reporters. “That sort of playfulness and taking the game lightly and not getting too wound up is an indication the players are confident. It’s very hard to be smiling, laughing and enjoying yourself if you’re lacking confidence.” From the outside looking in at least, things are about to get serious. With just one game separating the Giants and Dodgers, there will probably be a 100-plus win team duking it out in a one-off, do-or-die wildcard elimination game when the playoffs begin. Neither squad wants it to be them, which is why both San Francisco and L.A. are giving it their all down the stretch, no resting of key arms or taking the foot off the pedal. It’s one heck of a race for the division, with a lot at stake. “When you’re the best team in baseball, September is supposed to be easy,” Dieter Kurtenbach wrote in the San Jose Mercury News. “You should be able to experiment with lineups, give players rest and set up your rotation and bullpen for October. Instead, the Giants and Dodgers will scrap to the end. “Yes, the playoffs — now via proxy — are well underway in the National League West.” And so, every game naturally counts, each one brings a heightened sense of importance. The Giants are a slight favorite (-125) to win the division, with the Dodgers at +105 with FOX Bet. It is fun and serious all at the same time for fans, who can’t quite decide whether they absolutely love this divisional scrap or whether its decidedly unfair that baseball’s second-best team will be pressed into sudden death. Yet for the Giants, it’s still just fun for now, as this joyride of a season continues to hold a magical flow. Here’s what others have said … Ben Verlander, FOX Sports: “The San Francisco Giants have been the best team in baseball all season, but unfortunately for them, the second-best team is right on their heels. Whoever loses the NL West will have a one-game, win-or-go-home playoff waiting for them, but I have no reason to believe that’ll be the Giants.” Dylan Hernandez, LA Times: “The final month of the regular season won’t mark the end in the race between the Dodgers and Giants. The competition is just starting.” Farhan Zaidi, San Francisco Giants President Of Operations: “We’ve exceeded expectations, even our own internal expectations, to this point, but we thought we were going to be competitive.” |
