By Jack Loder
What do you want out of the final 40 games of the 2026 Giants season? The answer might vary depending on which battered Giants fan you ask. It’s hard to believe this is where the club is at. 70 wins before 50 losses would have been a laughable notion had it been theorized during the theatrics of the Netflix pregame show on March 25. It would have received skeptical eye rolls even a month later, after a brutal April had the Giants behind the eight ball immediately.
Only in June would the now very real potential of a 100 loss season become realistic. When a team is closing in on clinching a layoff berth, its destiny is counted by using a magic number, a figure calculated by adding the number of wins and adversarial losses it will take to qualify. The Giants new magic number is much simpler. 14. Win 14 games and you avoid the first 100 loss season since 1985. If you’re into that sort of thing, then 14 more wins is probably the only thing you still want out of this season.
Most fans, however, at this point value wins and losses essentially at zero. At this point it’s all about development, young players seizing opportunities to prove themselves, and veterans staying healthy. Tony Vitello, whose job is very likely safe despite the horrors of his first campaign, gave a quizzical answer to the Baseball Mensch Marty Lurie’s postgame question following Monday night’s loss. Given the aforementioned context, the Giants should not be solely trying to win ballgames.
REPORTER: Why take Blade Tidwell out (with two outs in the 6th inning)? It seemed like a good learning point for him to work his way out of trouble.
— KNBR (@KNBR) August 11, 2026
VITELLO: "We're kinda out of room for learning points... we're trying to win ballgames." pic.twitter.com/PRI8td0KiE
Obviously, the Giants should be trying to win every time they take the field. But in situations like this one, why not let Blade Tidwell work his way out of a jam and complete six innings? Or fail and learn from it? It’s small potatoes in the grand scheme of things, but Vitello saying the reason he was pulled is “because we’re trying to win ballgames’ understandably rubbed fans the wrong way.
Giants fans should really only be focused on three things the rest of the way. Enjoying the yard, the development of young promising players, and cherishing every last word that Mike Krukow says on the mic.
