Watching Giants baseball over the last 10 days has been… wonderful? Splendid? Pleasurable?? All the above. For whatever reason, the Giants have flipped a switch in the short term. The team that got off the plane in Milwaukee 11 days ago has resembled the one we enjoyed in April much more than the one we loathed in July and August. Suddenly, an offensive onslaught.
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That rocket was followed up by a red hot Drew Gilbert launching a two run homer in the third inning. Here’s what it sounded like on KNBR from Joe Ritzo.
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To say Rafael Devers is heating up would be a massive understatement. He finally looks like what Giants fans had dreamed he’d be when the team acquired him in June. Better late than never.
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He was named National League co-player of the week for his efforts. Does a .1500 OPS not get one the outright honor anymore? Not when Philadelphia’s Kyle Schwarber hit four bombs in a game.
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Willy Adames is rapidly closing in on what would be a huge Giants milestone. He’s four homers away from the elusive 30 homer mark, a relatively modest mark by league standards that somehow no Giant has reached since Barry Bonds. His recovery this season following a brutal April and May has been extraordinary.
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Another feel good moment from the stellar homestand was Dominic Smith’s Friday night splash hit. Smith has been a significant positive for the Giants this year, offering veteran presence and more than enough production to hold together what was a flailing club at times. He deposited a bomb into the bay during Friday’s 15 run blitz.
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He reflected on the accomplishment after the win. It’s something that every left handed Giants hitter wishes to check off his baseball bucket list.
Just when we think we’re out… They pull us back in. As we stand before play on Tuesday, September 2, the Giants are breathing. They might be on life support, but they’re still with us. Their shot at a National league Wild Card berth seemed to be all but absolutely gone as recently as two weeks ago, but an inexplicable red hot 12 game stretch has firmly kept them in the “in the hunt” category.
Hold your horses, optimistic Giants fans. It’s still a huge long shot. FanGraphs currently has the Giants at a 2.1% chance to make the playoffs. Its Wild Card race counterparts, the Mets, Reds, and Diamondbacks, sit at 94.3%, 4.9%, and 0.4%. The Padres and Cubs have essentially clinched the top two WIld Card slots, while the Mets are firmly in the driver’s seat to take the third. FanGraphs doesn’t project any drama this September, drama that the Giants would need badly. If SF is to punch its ticket to the dance, it needs to play its best baseball of the year in September, and hope for mediocrity at the very best from the Mets. The Giants would also need the Reds to not match their hot September.
The 2025 Giants can be described in a multitude of ways. More of those descriptions would be negative, but it’s impossible to deny this team’s tantalizing ability to get hot. They’re moody. Streaky, to put it nicely. Downright schizophrenic would work too. The reality of the situation is it’s far too late to salvage the putrid mess this team created for itself this summer. A hot finish to August and even a hot September won’t be enough to make up for what was a shockingly bad and often embarrassing July and much of August. Consistency is still king in baseball. And the 2025 Giants have been the antithesis of consistency.
