Monday BP: Will the Giants make it to .500?

Sep 26, 2022 - 12:02 PM

This San Francisco Giants season has been made up of waves. They started the year looking really good, and while you knew they wouldn’t repeat 107 wins, you thought they would once again be competing for a championship.

Then they fell off, and they kept falling off, and they fell further off, and you had to adjust your expectations all along the way.

Then you hoped they’d stay in the playoff picture and they did. Then you hoped they’d stay in the playoff picture and they didn’t.

And now there’s not much left to hope for, but there is one thing: .500.

Practically speaking, .500 means nothing. These final games mean nothing. Farhan Zaidi’s evaluation of the roster heading into the offseason doesn’t change from 79-83 to 80-82 to 81-81. What’s done is done.

But symbolically, there’s something nice about finishing at .500 (and it’s here where I remind you that last year was the first time the Giants finished at or above .500 since 2016 ... just because this is an awful year relative to 2021, doesn’t mean it’s not a step forward relative to where they recently were). If you finish .500, you feel like you’re not far from being good.

A .500 team is Aaron Judge and a good first baseman away from being a contender. A .500 team is Aaron Judge and a good infield defense away from being a contender. A .500 team is Aaron Judge and a revamped bullpen away from being a contender. A .500 team is Aaron Judge and a bounceback season from Brandon Crawford away from being a contender.

You get the drift.

So, will the Giants get there?

They’re three games below .500 now, which doesn’t bode well. But, thanks to a 3-2 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Sunday, the Giants are winners of six of their last seven games. They’ve got momentum, and they’ve got a relatively light schedule to close things out, with three home games against the Colorado Rockies (a bad team), three home games against the Diamondbacks (a bad team), and three road games against the San Diego Padres (a good team that may rest players for the final game or two depending on how the standings shake out).

9-0, 8-1, or 7-2 gives the Giants consecutive winning seasons for the first time since 2015-16. 6-3 makes them .500. 5-4, 4-5, 3-6, 2-7, 1-8, or 0-9 makes you shrug.

What’ll it be?

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What time do the Giants play today?

The Giants have their final off day of the season today.