The San Francisco Giants have not played their best baseball to this point in the season. The Giants are in fourth place in the National League West, 9 games behind the first-place Los Angeles Dodgers as they get set to resume competition following the All-Star break.
In addition to trailing the Dodgers, the Giants are trying to chase down the defending National League champion Arizona Diamondbacks and the San Diego Padres in the division. Both of those teams are two games ahead of the Giants.
Neither the Diamondbacks nor the Padres are currently in the National League playoff structure, but both are close. Those two teams are 1 game behind the Mets for the No. 3 Wild Card pot in the senior circuit.
The playoff race in the National League is likely to be a wide-open duel until the end of the season. The Atlanta Braves and St. Louis Cardinals are in the top two spots in the Wild Card race, but the current teams in the structure are being pursued by the Pittsburgh Pirates, Giants, Cincinnati Reds and the Chicago Cubs.
There is a belief in the Giants locker room that things are going to get quite a bit better in the final portion of the season.
Pitching could assert itself for Giants
One of the reasons the Giants feel a change for the better could be coming as they approach the most critical point in the season is the strength of their pitching staff.
This group appears to be healthy and strong at this point, and lefthander Blake Snell is expecting the starters to assert themselves.
“Everyone’s expectations are the same. We’re very excited. We can’t wait. That makes us a lot scarier and more dangerous and gives the bullpen a rest for all the work they did in the first half. It just puts us in a really good position to have the chance to get to the playoffs.”
Snell spent most of the first half of the season fighting injuries, but he has been excellent in his last two starts. He allowed two hits, no runs and struck out 11 batters in 12 innings. He says he is feeling well and is expecting to dominate in the second half of the season.
Third baseman Matt Chapman also sees the Giants pitching staff as one that is improving quite a bit at this point in the season.
“As we get some of these pitchers coming back, we can really get it rolling,” Chapman said. “ I’ve been on teams that have gotten hot a little bit too early — so maybe we’re going to get hot right at the right time.
“A team that does that in August and September can carry that right into the playoffs.”
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