If the SF Giants are going to dodge a place in franchise-infamy, the math is simple and brutal: they need 12 more wins.
At 51-74, San Francisco is already staring at the ugly edge of a season that could end up as the worst since the club moved to San Francisco in 1958. That’s the number that matters now.
One more win total like 1985’s 62-100, and the Giants would have to avoid that mark by getting to 63 victories. Anything less, and they’re headed for the bottom of a very unwanted list.
That’s a grim place to be, especially when the season opened with playoff hopes attached. Instead of thinking about the postseason for the first time since 2021, the conversation has shifted to whether this team can keep from becoming the franchise’s worst 162-game group.
The Giants have had some rough years in San Francisco, and 2017 is the one many fans remember first. That club finished 64-98, which was bad enough to linger.
But it still wasn’t the low point. That belonged to 1985, when the Giants lost 100 games and finished 62-100.
The schedule doesn’t offer much relief. San Francisco is in Cleveland right now against a Guardians team still fighting for playoff life, and Boston is next on the slate, another club squarely in the hunt. Neither opponent is likely to hand the Giants anything.
The stretch after that is a mixed bag, but not a soft one. The Giants will see the Cincinnati Reds, who are out of it, then the Arizona Diamondbacks, who still have a shot, and they also have a makeup game against the Atlanta Braves, a playoff team.
September is only slightly kinder. The Giants will play the New York Mets and the Pittsburgh Pirates, both of whom are out of contention, but the rest of the month is loaded with teams either locked into the playoffs or still chasing a spot.
There are 12 series left on the schedule, counting the one in Cleveland and not including the makeup game in Atlanta. So the simplest way to think about the rest of the year is this: win at least one game in every series, and the Giants finish 63-99. That would leave them somewhere between 1985 and 2017, but safely clear of the franchise’s worst record.
It’s not exactly the kind of September drama anyone in San Francisco wanted, but that’s where this season has landed: a race not for October, but for survival in the record book.
In Other News...
Dodgers Off-Field Trouble Could Finally Change The NL West Fight
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The alleged moves under scrutiny, including claims that Walter sold the Lakers to raise capital and tried to cash out the Dodgers' TV deal, only deepen the questions about how the organization is positioned going forward. For the Giants, and for everyone else trying to close the gap, the immediate baseball impact is still unclear, but any crack in the Dodgers' financial armor is worth watching closely in a race that has long been shaped by resources as much as results. [Read more 🡒]
Marcelo Mayer Could Force A Giants Infield Decision Soon
Marcelo Mayer appears headed for the big leagues soon, and the timing could make the Giants infield picture even more interesting. The former Red Sox prospect, now in San Francisco after the trade that sent him west, has been working mostly at second base during his rehab assignment with Sacramento, a sign the club is already thinking about where he fits once he arrives.
The Giants current infield mix has been thinned by injuries and reshaped by recent trades, leaving room for Mayer to carve out a role right away. He has spent most of his minor league time at shortstop, but the club may ask him to handle second or third base, and that decision could come into focus quickly with a series against Boston on deck. [Read more 🡒]
Giants Are Stuck With A Growing Willy Adames Problem
Willy Adames has given the Giants exactly the sort of durability and everyday presence they wanted when they handed him a major deal, but the defensive side has become harder to ignore as the season has gone on. His back injury has clearly factored into the picture, and the results have shown up in the field, where his error total has climbed into the leagues upper reaches and turned shortstop into one of the teams most uncomfortable storylines.
For San Francisco, the real problem is that the path out is not obvious. The club does not have a clear alternative waiting to take over at short, which leaves it in the uneasy position of weighing Adames overall value against the mistakes piling up behind him. With the contract already on the books and the roster options thin, the Giants may have no choice but to keep riding it out and hope the defense settles down. [Read more 🡒]