With four games remaining and their last three against the Los Angeles Dodgers, tonight’s game against Colorado will be a huge factor in determining if the San Francisco Giants make the playoffs.
The Giants currently sit in second place in the NL wild card, leading the St. Louis Cardinals by a single game. Broadcaster Duane Kuiper joined the Murph & Mac show this morning and said that tonight is probably a must win if the Giants are to sneak into the postseason.
“For those that think they’ll win the next four, I don’t think that’ll happen,” Kuiper said. “I think they’ll go 3-1 or 2-2. 3-1 you might get in, 2-2 might not. If you go 3-1 then you have to win tonight, cause I don’t think you can sweep the Dodgers.”
Part of the reason sweeping Dodgers will be unlikely is the trio of pitchers slated to face the Giants in the weekend series, with Rich Hill (ERA 2.05), Clayton Kershaw (ERA 1.65) and Kenta Maeda (ERA 3.28) scheduled to close out the season.
The only question that remains is how much the Dodgers will exert themselves in the final series, with a playoff berth already clinched. To the Giants’ benefit, Kuiper says that while Los Angeles would love nothing more than to spoil San Francisco’s season, they probably aren’t going to go all out to do so.
“It’s possible the Dodgers don’t want to see the Giants celebrate anything,” Kuiper said. “They’ll go out them hard, but I don’t think that’s their number one priority.”
Johnny Cueto returns to the hill tonight for San Francisco, facing off against Colorado’s Jon Grey (ERA 4.54). First pitch is at 7:15 pm on KNBR 680.
