Unless you’re very young — much too young to be reading this newsletter, what with my occasional swear words and Chumbawumba references — you remember multiple shitty Giants teams that were actually good Giants teams.
The 2009 team could not hit at all. They had a solid top two in their rotation, and Jonathan Sanchez really came into his own in the second half of the season, but the offense was a chore. 2011, after Buster Posey got injured, was a similar story. In both 2014 and 2016, the Giants spent two solid months being the worst team in baseball. Two months! A third of the season!
Every one of those teams won between 86 and 88 games. Two of them made the playoffs. All of them would have made the playoffs under the current format. One of them, you may recall, won the World Series. They were all, in their way, predictably and definitively unpleasant to watch for long stretches of time.
They were shitty. They were also good. The premise of this post is: TIME FOR THE 2023 GIANTS TO JOIN THEIR COMPANY, BABY WOOOOOOOOO
Why not? Huh? Why not? Because they spent a lot of time this year being bad? Because the offense is a near-constant source of despair? Because the defense has committed the most errors in the league, and always seems to commit its next one at the worst time? Because they only have two starting pitchers they trust, and one of them they can’t really trust that much? Because they seem almost incapable of playing a solid, mistake-free game?
Well, yes. That’s why. All of that.
But to all of that, I say: Poppycock. Balderdash. Nonsense. Yes, this team has flaws, and yes, we’ve become crucially aware of them ever since the calendar flipped into July, and no, that was not a recent development. But so what? A team can snap out of it and fight. Those 2016 Giants, who from July 15 through September 15 went 21-35, went 5-1 over their last 6 games, including a sweep of the Dodgers to close out the regular season, to take the second wild card spot by one game.
That team was in a deep, spectacular funk, and they still managed to right the ship. The 2014 Giants went through something similar in June and July, going 15-29 from June 9 through July 29, before turning it around in August, and WINNING A DANG WORLD SERIES.
Playing the Selective Endpoints game with this year’s team, between July 19 and September 6, they had a record of 16-29, a half game better than the worst stretch from the 2014 team, and a winning percentage 20 points better than the worst stretch of the 2016 team. Yes, it was dire and awful and I also hated it, but this team has recovered from stretches like that before.
So why can’t they do it this year? Why can’t they hit like their normal selves with runners in scoring position or even — quelle horreur! — the bases loaded? Why can’t a few guys get hot at the right time and carry the team down the stretch? Why can’t Brandon Crawford dig deep within himself for his last ride with his childhood team, find that extra gear, and be productive until the end of the month?
They can! They all can! The main reason to doubt the team is that they’ve proven themselves eminently doubtable all season long, but the mere fact that we have spent a bunch of time watching crappy Giants baseball does not mean that they are only capable of playing crappy baseball. Right now, as this goes up, the Giants are exactly a half game back of the final wild card spot. A half game! That’s nothing! Sure, I am on record saying that that playoff spot shouldn’t exist, but it does exist, and the Giants are perfectly capable of taking it.
They can do this. They have momentum after a 5-1 homestand, they will have Michael Conforto back soonish, they have Mike Yastrzemski back and Blake Sabol hitting again and Sean Manaea maybe being a starting pitcher, and they are talented and experienced enough to go on a run and get into the playoffs. Right now, Arizona and Cincinnati both have .517 winning percentages, which put them on pace to win 84 games. If the Giants go 11-5 over their last 15 games, they’ll end with a record of 86-76, which just might do it.
And I’m going to say they can. I’m going to say they have a chance. It’s more fun that way, and we’re all here for fun. It’s more interesting this way, and God knows the Giants need all the help being interesting that they can get. It’s more exciting this way, and for the 2023 Giants, who’ve had some trouble creating excitement all season long, they need to seize that opportunity.
Obviously, this hasn’t been a smooth season. Have the Giants gotten knocked down this year? They have. Will they get back up again? You know it. And do you know why? Because YOU’RE NEVER GONNA KEEP THEM DOWN.
Atta Babe, Maestro!