With a little more than a month left in the season, the National League West has a new subplot nobody wanted: a battle to avoid the cellar. The Colorado Rockies and San Francisco Giants both got swept over the weekend, and now the gap between them is just two games.
San Francisco sits at 52-78 and is 27.5 games behind the division-leading Los Angeles Dodgers, the two-time defending World Series winners. Colorado dropped to 50-80 after Sunday’s loss to Cleveland, leaving the Rockies two games behind the Giants as both clubs head toward 100 losses. Even if neither team reaches triple digits in the loss column, both have been out of contention since roughly late May.
The Giants’ weekend against Boston was a rough tour through just about every bad ending possible. They spoiled Rafael Devers’ return to Beantown on Friday despite his dramatic home run, then blew a strong outing from rookie Blade Tidwell on Saturday and lost on a wild comeback in the bottom of the ninth.
On Sunday, their starter was left to battle through a difficult outing. The one disaster they avoided was getting shut out.
Saturday’s game may have said the most about where San Francisco is right now. Tidwell turned in the best start of his young MLB career, and the Giants still found a way to let it slip away in a walk-off loss. For a team trying to develop young talent, that kind of ending cuts deep.
“A heartbreaking loss," Giants first-year manager Tony Vitello said after Saturday's game, according to a report from the San Francisco Chronicle. "There's no other way to put it”
That frustration sits alongside a bigger problem: the Giants are staring at one of the most expensive disappointing seasons in the sport. With a payroll near $230 million and big-name additions like Rafael Devers and Willy Adames, San Francisco expected far more than this. Instead, those names have not delivered at the plate in 2026.
Colorado has youth and inexperience as part of its explanation. San Francisco does not have that same cover. The Giants have spent the year looking flat and uninspired, and in a city that expects October baseball every season, that has left them in a place far less forgiving than the standings alone show.
In Other News...
Giants Rotation Suddenly Has Another Problem Fans Feared
The Giants were already bracing for a rotation hit after Carson Whisenhunt was announced to need Tommy John surgery for a torn UCL, and then Adrian Houser left a game against the Reds after just 1.1 innings because of an apparent injury. It was the kind of sequence that can turn a pitching staffs margin for error into a week-to-week concern, especially for a club that has been forced to keep reshuffling arms.
San Francisco had already moved quickly by calling up Spencer Bivens to fill Whisenhunts roster spot, but Housers status now creates another question the Giants may have to answer sooner rather than later. If the injury proves serious, Tristan Beck and Matt Wilkinson look like logical names to step into the opening, even if the club would clearly prefer not to be making another rotation decision this soon. [Read more 🡒]
Giants Have Two Triple A Bats Facing A Tough Path Up
Bo Davidson and Scott Bandura have given the Giants something to think about in Triple-A, especially with the way both left-handed-hitting outfield prospects have handled themselves at the plate and on the bases. For a club that is always balancing present needs with future upside, that kind of production is the sort of thing that can quietly force its way into the conversation, even if the big league roster is already crowded.
The problem is the path above them is not exactly clear. San Francisco already has plenty of left-handed bats in the outfield mix, which can make it hard for either player to find steady playing time if a call-up comes, and a promotion may end up depending more on roster movement or an injury than on performance alone. For now, the Giants can keep letting both develop in Triple-A while waiting for the opening that makes the most sense. [Read more 🡒]
Willy Adames Just Put The Giants In A Tough Shortstop Spot
Willy Adames has given the Giants a late-season dilemma they would rather not have at shortstop. The veteran infield anchor is dealing with a moderate UCL sprain in his non-throwing arm, and because he plans to seek a second medical opinion, the club is still sorting through what comes next and how much it makes sense to push for a return.
For San Francisco, the question is no longer just about getting Adames back on the field, but whether there is enough time and enough benefit to justify it if the medical picture stays murky. If surgery ends up being the route, his first season in orange and black will close with a full workload of 121 games, leaving the Giants to weigh both his health and his place in the lineup as they look ahead. [Read more 🡒]