David Schoenfield’s final report card for the 2026 season was brutal on the SF Giants, and the grade tells the story as plainly as the record does: an F.
ESPN’s baseball writer handed out final grades to all 30 teams earlier this week, and only three clubs landed in the bottom bucket. The Giants were one of them, joining the Los Angeles Angels and Seattle Mariners in the F club. Given how the AL West played out, Schoenfield even made the case that the whole division could have worn the same mark.
The top of that division was hardly imposing. The Houston Astros and Texas Rangers were tied for first at 79-80, which says plenty about the level of baseball being played there. If one of those teams reaches the postseason, Schoenfield suggested, it will be among the weaker playoff teams in recent memory.
For the Giants, though, the conversation has been a long way from October for most of the year. Their season started badly when they were shut out by Max Fried of the New York Yankees, and things never really turned around after that. The early playoff buzz disappeared fast, and the rest of the year mostly felt like damage control.
They did at least avoid 100 losses, but that’s a small consolation in what will be remembered as one of the franchise’s worst seasons. The real surprise is that this was a team that entered the year with playoff expectations. Those hopes were wiped out almost immediately, leaving the organization to sort through what went wrong.
Schoenfield didn’t spare the front office, either. He put the pressure squarely on Buster Posey and the people around him, writing:
"It's fair to say the first year of the Tony Vitello managerial era played out with all the fervor of fireworks on a rain-drenched Fourth of July. Did he get the most out of this team?
No. Is the team's second 90-loss season since 2008 his fault?
Also no. President of baseball operations Buster Posey has voiced his support, so Vitello will likely return for 2027, which puts the pressure on Posey to figure this out."
Schoenfield also pointed to several contracts that didn’t deliver enough value, naming Matt Chapman, Willy Adames, Jung Hoo Lee and Rafael Devers. Devers stands apart from the rest, though.
His deal runs through 2033, but his season followed a different arc: a slow start, then a huge finish before he landed on the injured list. After a rough April, he was one of the best hitters in baseball.
That’s why there’s room to push back on lumping Devers into the same category as the other underperformers. The Giants’ overall grade may be deserved, but his season doesn’t fit neatly into that criticism.
Schoenfield ended on a more encouraging note, pointing to the future. Bryce Eldridge’s strong rookie season and a much improved farm system give the organization something to build on. The task now is obvious: the front office has to turn that promise into better results, and a better grade, next year.
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