It's Over

SD 5  SF 4

The Giants were done after that bone-crushing loss in the final inning on Friday night. Yesterday they showed some spunk but not enough to challenge for a win, and today they fought back gamely but could not conjure up the victory they needed. They had some fine individual efforts over the last two days, but they did not have the team-wide x-factor they needed to finish strong, especially against a much more talented club. I had one goal for this team: improve. But, I had a yardstick: play .500 ball. They didn’t measure up, but they certainly improved. I think FZ, Kap, and the players deserve a lot of credit for exceeding expectations and playing meaningful games until the bitter end.

And it was a bitter end. On Wednesday the Giants found themselves in an unexpected place: in charge of their post-season destiny. I didn’t write much about the team’s post-season chances because even at their highest point I considered them slim, and I viewed a seeding in the tournament as a bonus, not a goal. Alas, they really were close–they really did have a strong chance. In fact, all the other teams helped them out today–a win would have assured them a playoff spot! But that loss on Thursday set them back. Despite a great effort in the double-header on Friday they came out with another brutal defeat, a real shoulda-coulda-woulda kinda game. As I said at the top, I think that finished them.

The Giants had to play 26 games against three of the best teams in baseball this year, the A’s, the Dodgers, and the Padres. They were 7-19 against them, a .269 percentage! They were 22-12 (.647) against the rest of their opponents and finish 29-31 or a .483 mark. That’s better than 2019 (.475), 2018 (.451), and 2017 (.395) Those were full 162-game campaigns so I know it’s not an entirely fair comparison, but I’m looking for improvement.

If you want to be a good team, you have to play better against other good teams, and that’s an obvious goal for next year. But we’ll talk about next season later. This season was weird, of course, but I’m really happy we got to have a season at all. Sports without fans in the stands is bizarre, but I’ll enjoy the post-season even if I won’t follow it too closely. I’ll certainly watch the World Series.

I suspect lots of things will be different about baseball going forward. I suspect we’ll have lots to talk about in the coming months. As always,

GO GIANTS!

–M.C.