The days of September are winding down, and so are my San Francisco Giants.
Every year for over 30 years, since my daughter turned four, we have attended a San Francisco Giants game together (except during the COVID-19 pandemic). Last year, while visiting my son in Kansas City, we watched the Giants play the Kansas City Royals at Kaufmann Stadium. That allowed my daughter to cross off another MLB stadium she has visited. She is up to 15.
Since my daughter’s birthday is in September, there is always the unfortunate chance that the Giants will be out of the playoff race at that juncture and that the game, apart from the fun of being at the ballpark together, will be pointless.
2025 has been a schizophrenic season for the Giants. Their new president of baseball operations, Buster Posey, signed third baseman Matt Chapman to a long-term contract and added free agent shortstop Willy Adames before the season. That gave the Giants a solid left side of the infield. Jung Hoo Lee, the Korean center fielder, returned from a 2024 campaign that was lost to injury. Posey also added 42-year-old Justin Verlander to the starting rotation.
San Francisco got off to a strong start. They were hitting, and eventually the pitching came around, as they challenged the Dodgers for first place. Then the wheels began to fall off. Adames wasn’t hitting for average or power, and Lee wasn’t producing offensively. The whole team went into a slump. At one point, Chapman, as well as his two backups, Casey Schmitt and Christian Koss, went on the injured list. Verlander pitched well at times, but got little run support.
Devers as a Giant (photo, Sports Illustrated)
In mid-June, Posey made a bold move, acquiring Rafael Devers from the Red Sox in a blockbuster trade. But Devers didn’t do much at the plate, and the team kept sliding. As the July 31 trade deadline loomed, Posey decided to sell, saying so long to popular right fielder Mike Yastrzemski and relief pitchers Tyler Rogers and Camilo Doval.
While some fans felt Posey was giving up on the season, he got some good prospects in return, especially from the Mets for Rogers. And he kept the core of the team together, so he may not have been giving up, after all.
Suddenly, in late August, the Giants started winning. They were 61-68 on August 21. By September 5, they had won 11 out of 12 games and were four games behind the Mets for the last Wild Card spot, although the Mets hold the tiebreaker.
Willy Adames (photo, San Francisco Standard)
The Giants suddenly remembered how to hit. Adames went on a home-run surge, and Devers was scorching hot. Lee was getting on base as well, and Heliot Ramos, despite playing a shaky left field, was hitting consistently in the leadoff spot. Logan Webb and Robbie Ray, the No. 1 and No. 2 starters, both on the All-Star team, have been consistently good, and Verlander recently had a couple of excellent outings. The team hit home runs in 18 consecutive games, the longest streak this season in the majors.
However, the Giants proceeded to lose seven of their next 10 games, including two of three to the Arizona Diamondbacks and three of four to their archrivals, the Dodgers. The Diamondbacks, breathing down the necks of the Giants and the Mets for that Wild Card spot, thus gained the tiebreaker over the Giants. The Cincinnati Reds also got hot and tied the Mets for that final Wild Card spot, leapfrogging over the Giants and Diamondbacks.
With our faint hopes alive, my daughter and I headed to Monday’s (September 22) home game against the Cardinals, the first of that series. There was a pretty good crowd, over 31,000, for the Monday night contest, all holding on to our team’s slender chances of making the playoffs. But the Giants reverted to their bad habits.
Justin Verlander, who had been lights out recently, looked mortal. After the Giants took a 4-2 lead into the fifth inning, he gave up a two-run homer to knot the score. St. Louis then put men on second and third with no outs. I thought manager Bob Melvin would pull Verlander at that point, but he left him in. Verlander induced a shallow flyout with no chance for the runner to advance from third. Then, with the infield in, he got the next hitter to hit a soft grounder to second baseman Schmitt, who had a clear shot at the runner heading home. But Schmitt booted it, and the Cards took a 5-4 lead.
Bob Melvin (photo by Essentially Sports)
Melvin then replaced Verlander. With runners at first and third and one out and speedy Jordan Walker at the plate, the Giants decided to play the infield back for the double play. I thought, You are not going to be able to double this guy up. Sure enough, he hit a hard grounder in the hole at short, and the Giants got the force at second, but the throw to first was late, and the runner on third scored to make it 6-4 Cardinals.
Adding to my frustration was when Heliot hit a bases-loaded two-run single in the fourth inning to put the Giants up 4-2. He rounded first too widely and, on the throw from the right fielder home, the cutoff man grabbed it and nailed Ramos trying to scramble back to first. As good a hitter as Ramos has been, he has been prone to gaffes in the field and on the bases. Later, catcher Patrick Bailey, not the speediest runner, made the inexplicable decision to try to stretch a single into a double and was an easy out. San Francisco lost, 6-5. Though not yet mathematically eliminated, there is no joy in Mudville.
Then hope turned to “Wait ’til Next Year.” Tuesday’s 9-8 loss to the Cardinals (after being up 8-3) mathematically eliminated the Giants from the Wild Card race.
