The San Francisco Giants broke records this season, with the most wins ever since the team moved to the West in 1958.
With 106 wins, the Giants became the number one team in the National League (NL), but even with a great record this season, their fate as champions is still in the air. In order to become the NL champions, they have to beat the second-best team in the league this season, the Los Angeles Dodgers, in the five-game National League Division Series (NLDS).
“We’re definitely in trouble,” Giants fanatic Joshua Gelb said. “The game always comes down to pitching, and… it’s baseball so anything can happen.”
Luckily for the Giants, pitchers Logan Webb and Camilo Doval helped them win two out of the three games they have played in the division series so far. Now, the Giants have the opportunity to close out the series tonight and secure their chances of being in the playoffs, but that does not guarantee them a spot in the World Series.
“The Dodgers are the best team in baseball besides the Giants, so since [the Giants] play them so early, there’s the potential for a let down,” Gelb explained. “I could see either team beating each other, and then going onto the next round and not having that same energy or intensity and just falling behind… There’s still a long road with two rounds after that to win.”
While the Giants have been successful in different years over the last decade, they have never performed as well as they have this season, which raises the question: what about this season is different?
“They’re using all the [roster] spots,” Gelb said. “You have 26 people on a team, but normally when a lot of teams play, they keep the same eight people in the whole game, and they maybe change the pitcher a couple of times. The Giants… routinely use all their players.”
By using all the possible players for each spot, the Giants give themselves more opportunities for success and can hopefully mediate situations where the odds don’t seem to be in their favor.
“Whenever something goes wrong or a player is not performing to their potential, they actually have someone… who can step in and take this player’s place,” lifelong Giants fan Alan Eaton said. “Before, they had stars and some key veterans, and if those players didn’t do well, it was just a disaster.”
The Giants and the Dodgers have been rival teams since 1889, when the New York Giants and the former Brooklyn Bridegrooms duked it out for the first time in a championship game, making it an exciting battle for Dodgers and Giants fans to watch.
“I love the rivalry,” Eaton said. “It’s one of my favorite things in being a Californian. I love that it came from New York to San Francisco… The Dodgers are so much fun to hate, and the world would be so empty without them that I realize in a certain way I do like them.”
The last time the Giants beat the Dodgers in a winner-take-all championship game was to win the NL title in 1951, when Bobby Thomson hit the infamous “shot heard round the world” to close out the game and secure the Giants the NL pennant. If the Giants win this division series, it would be the first time in LA Dodgers and SF Giants history that the Giants beat the Dodgers in a playoff series.
