W L GB
Los Angeles 100 62 Another 100 win season… Series?
San Diego 91 71 9 Host wild-card rematch with Cubs
Arizona 86 76 14 Late season surge not enough
GIANTS 65 97 35 "Just like… starting over"
Colorado 58 104 42 5th straight last place finish
The Giants used a major-league record 71 players this season, and it seemed as though half of them joined the club over the last two months. Not a single one of the club's four "main men" at season's start-- Rafael Devers, Willy Adames, Matt Chapman, and Jung-Hoo Lee-- were around in September. Instead, we got plenty of Bryce Eldridge, Jonah Cox, Drew Gilbert, Drew Cavanaugh, and an exciting look at Bo Davidson. Likewise, Robbie Ray and Tyler Mahle were gone at midseason and even Logan Webb was sat down over the final two weeks, as young pitchers like Yunior Marte, Anthony Molina, Blade Tidwell, and the wonderfully-named Tugboat Wilkinson got a chance to show their stuff.
If you're going to lose 90-plus games, you had best find out who can play and who can't, and who's going to make up this ballclub going forward. That's what Buster Posey and Tony Vitello have been doing since August, without apology, and that's fine with us. For now. We welcome this huge influx of young players, we hope some of them can make a real contribution in 2027 (assuming there is a 2027 season) and beyond, and as for the offseason, we can be sure it will be busy. The Giants haven't pulled an overhaul like this since 2008, and we all know how that ended up.
Will we see an offload of expensive veterans, and at what cost? One guy who must stay is, without question, Rafael Devers. Over the second half of the season he was in full beast mode, once again one of the most feared sluggers in the game; his 37 homers are the most by any Giant since Barry Bonds. His season-ending surgery was routine and done as soon as possible to ready him for next year. Devers and Eldridge, a two-headed left-handed slugging monster, is a legitimate fear point for every pitcher in the league, and this team's strong point going forward. The other veteran keeper is Casey Schmitt; he was the team's best player in 2026 up until the injury and he's 27. We also like Lee for his speed and his good contact (.276 with 57 K and only 6 GIDP), and he just turned 28. Oh, Lord, there's plenty of work to be done replacing the entire bullpen and filling out the rotation, we're not sure this team has a legitimate starting catcher, and we've no idea what will happen with the other fat-contract guys. So we watch and wait and try not to speculate.
The Giants were 26th in runs scored this year, and 22nd in runs allowed. Only the Cincinnati Reds (27th and 28th) were lower in both categories. San Francisco was 9-13 this season in blowouts, and 16-30 in one-run games. They fared better in pitchers' duels (15-19), and, as you might expect, slugfests were rare with this bunch. There were only four, and the Giants split 'em. Their season high was 19 runs at Coors Field on May 31; they also scored 18 a week later at Wrigley Field. Robbie Ray, who's now in the playoffs with San Diego, was the beneficiary both times. On the downside, they were shut out 13 times, and blanked the opposition ten times. And one day after scoring their season-high of 19, they gave up their season-high of 16 at Milwaukee, who were the best team in baseball this year.
Devers, as we noted, was 9th in home runs in MLB, 10th in RBI, and fifth in doubles. His .865 OPS was tied with Bryce Harper and Randy Arozarena for 12th. No other Giant approached the batting leaderboard. The team was 22nd in stolen bases, but Lee (12 of 13), Cox (16 of 20), and Schmitt (9 of 10) were excellent at it. If Lee would just learn to take a walk (29 in 537 AB), he'd score a lot more than 65 runs. Schmitt, though we love him, is far worse-- 11 walks in 387. He needs to quadruple that. Bryce Eldridge drew 59 in the same number of AB, which is why his OPS is .825 while Schmitt's is .784 even though Schmitt outhomered him and matched him in runs and RBI.
Missing at least half a dozen starts, Logan Webb is for once nowhere near the MLB lead in innings pitched (160). And since no Giant pitched more innings than Webb, none of them qualify for any of the league leader statistics such as ERA and WHIP. Webb's 1.17 WHIP would tie for 22nd if he'd pitched just one more game, but otherwise his numbers were pedestrian, for him (4.31 ERA, 7.5 K/IP). Webb and Landon Roupp did put up 17 quality starts each, out of 27 and 29 total, and out of 160 total starts (two games were '"openers"), the Giants as a team had 85 quality starts. Seeing Roupp go through an entire season without injury was a major highlight for this otherwise-mediocre rotation. Of the young guys, Molina and Tidwell combined for 8 quality starts out of 14; we are praying that Tidwell's surgery will not disable him for all of 2027.
Until MLB starts keeping track of inherited runners and how many scored, it will be more or less impossible to evaluate most relievers. What we do know is that the Giants' bullpen surrendered an unconscionable number of late-inning leads, by far the team's greatest weakness, and nobody in that group has any reason to feel secure in his job. Trent Harris, 27, who posted a 10.4 K/IP and walked only 2.7 per 9 IP, with a 2.31 ERA and 1.16 WHIP and two saves in two opportunities, may be a keeper, though 23 innings is a small sample size indeed. Brubaker, Killian, Winn, Smith, Hentges, Seymour, and Walker combined to blow 23 saves, and heaven only knows how many other late leads that didn't qualify, in 310 forgettable innings.
Webb's one-hit shutout of the NL East champion Atlanta Braves, two weeks before the All-Star Game, probably got him the invite. It was the best start by any Giants pitcher in 2026: Game Score 79. Webb also had a 78 and a total of five over 70; Roupp had four (75, 74, 73, 72) and Trevor (Get Well Soon) McDonald had two, out of 14 total starts that covered the entire good/bad spectrum. He also had a 2, but Webb set the low bar with a score of 1 on September 1 at Pittsburgh (2 IP, 9H, 9 ER). Tyler Glasnow of the Dodgers, back on April 23 when we still had hope, and Dylan Cease of Toronto, on July 8 when we didn't, both posted season-best Game Scores of 88 against the Giants. Our old friend Zack Littell, now with the Washington Nationals, had the worst start, with an 11 on April 17 in D.C. (Yes, the Giants won the game.)
Cheap Wins and Tough Losses are almost nonexistent these days, as most starters are pulled before the game is decided. The Giants got 3 Cheap Wins in 2026 (Molina, Webb, Whisenhunt). The cheapest win was Webb's on the above April 17 game in Washington; Game Score 46. As for Tough Losses, as we might expect, they're a little more common with this team. Webb and Ray each had 2, Molina, Wilkinson, Roupp and Tidwell each had one, for a total of 8. Webb, naturally, also took the toughest loss, a 2-1 decision against the Marlins in Miami on June 21, losing with a Game Score of 68.
Roll the Statistical Parade
In 2026, good pitching correponds much more closely with winning than does good hitting. Eight of the ten top teams in ERA are in the playoffs, including all the 90+-game winners. Meanwhile, half the top run-scoring teams in the game are not in the playoffs; the Padres, Phillies, and Cleveland are in the bottom half.
The Yankees lead all teams in ERA with a 3.24, a third of a run better than the Brewers, Red Sox, and Dodgers. The Yankees also lead all teams in most unearned runs scored, with 82; that's almost 15 percent of their total. By contrast the Dodgers, who might yet meet them in the World Series, have allowed only 34. The Yanks crushed Boston last night at the Stadium in the first game of their wild-card series; they played error-free ball in the 9-0 win. Whether or not this strange outlier has any effect on their postseason success remains to be seen.
The Tampa Bay Rays walked fewer batters than any team in the major leagues, and their WHIP is the lowest among all teams. By contrast the Houston Astros, who barely sneaked into the postseason by winning their division with a .500 record, walked 650, over 200 more. Astros batters drew 130 fewer walks than their pitchers allowed; we've been admirers of this team since they turned it around in 2015, and they've been the team of the past decade, but the 2026 version simply doesn't look like a playoff team from this vantage point. We expect a quick exit at the hands of the amazing White Sox, the first team to go from consecutive 100-loss seasons to a playoff berth in a two-year span. (If you will recall, the first team to go from one 100-loss season to a division title in two years were our own Giants, the Roger Craig-Al Rosen version, in 1987.)
As long as we are obsessing on walks, we note the 2026 Giants are dead last in that category. This must change!
And as long as we're talking Houston Astros, Yordan Alvarez, who just a few years ago was famous for hitting 30 home runs while batting about .190, leads the American League in batting average, OBP (.432), and walks, is second in hits, home runs, and RBI, and is third in runs scored. Pete Crow-Armstrong of the Cubs leads the NL in OPS, slugging, runs scored, and homers; he's third in RBI. Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber of the Phillies are 1-2 in walks and have hit 74 homers and driven in 212 runs between them. Mike Trout played in 142 games this year, 109 of them in center field; he no longer puts up MVP numbers, but an .803 OPS with 22 homers and 86 runs scored moves him closer to 500 career homers, and we're just glad he's healthy and playing. He should reach 2000 hits next year; 3000 is probably out of reach now, thanks to four years of less than 100 games each at what should have been his peak. He is 35 now. Jose Ramirez is 34, and has suffered through his first really poor season-- .688 OPS, no MVP votes for the first time in 7 years, no All-Star invite. Wouldn't it be cool to see him have a monster postseason?
Cam Schittler of the Yankees tied with Dylan Cease of Toronto with 239 strikeouts, best in the A.L.; his 1.95 ERA (!) and .92 WHIP are also league-best. Sonny Gray, to whom we never paid much attention before, won 18 games for Boston to lead the A.L., along with a fine 2.72 ERA. He did not start last night's blowout loss in Game 1, though we note our old friend Erik Miller was lit up by the Yankee bats in a mercifully brief relief appearance. Gray is scheduled to go tonight against last year's Yankee ace Max Fried. The Rays' Drew Rasmussen and Nick Martinez combined for a 31-11 mark; they'll be ready to face whoever wins the Chicago-Houston series. On the N.L. side, Cristopher Sanchez of Philadelphia also won 18 games. The National League's answer to Schittler is Milwaukee's Jacob Misiorowski (16-5, 1.80, .80 WHIP). Given that the Yankees' Pythagorean expected won-lost record was several games ahead of Tampa Bay's, a matchup between Misiorowski and Schittler in the World Series would be extra special... but then again, a Tampa-Milwaukee Series would be both wonderful and unusual.
Outliers, a dying breed these days... let's see, Ivan Herrera of the Cardinals was hit by the pitch 31 times, more than twice as often as anyone else. That's more like it! Shohei Ohtani drew 16 intentional walks, Juan Soto 15 (in 400 AB!). Nobody else was close. Hunter Goodman, catcher for the Rockies, hit 41 homers in 518 at-bats, one homer every 12.6 at-bats to lead the majors. Is he the new Cal Raleigh? (Let's see Bryce Eldridge beat that homer/AB mark in 2027!). Bucking the trend: Gerald Perdomo, shortstop for the Diamondbacks, walked 96 times while striking out only 86 times. (As near as we can tell, he is not related to the Giants' rookie lefthander Cesar Perdomo). Juan Soto, though limited to 111 games, was at 78-65.
Sadly, there just aren't any hilarious pitching outliers this time, nobody slinging 40 wild pitches to the backstop, hitting batters at a record rate, or inducing a prodigious number of double plays. With innings pitched per pitcher dropping like a stone, there aren't sufficient opportunities for a maverick moundsman to titillate us with such frivolities. More's the pity.
When the postseason ends, we'll be updating the all-time records and grading the most recent trades and free-agent signings, and updating the pages listed on the right. Until then-- go Niners!
