Before almost every series, Gabe Kapler is forced to answer a variation of the same question: How important is this series?
Against the lowly Diamondbacks, can his team take care of business? Can it meet the match of powerhouse Brewers or Astros? How key is it to start this home stand strong?
Kapler even fielded the question on Oct. 1 with the Padres in town for the final regular season series with the NL West within grasp. The obligatory non-question question grew tiresome. The answer was always the same: every series matters.
And, much more often than not, the Giants answered with their play. The Giants (107-55) certainly did in the regular season finale, and have now won more games than any group in franchise history. Even with so many wins, players have come into the ballpark some days joking that they somehow still hadn’t won the division.
That finally changed Sunday, when the Giants routed San Diego 11-4 to clinch their first division title since 2012. SF’s franchise record 107th win ends the Dodgers’ NL West reign of eight straight seasons.
No MLB team has ever won this many games immediately one year after going below .500. The Giants’ turnaround comes after four consecutive losing years.
Baseball Prospectus’ PECOTA preseason projections pegged the Giants as a 75-win team with a 0% chance at winning the division. Vegas gave them the same preseason odds as the last-place Diamondbacks to take the NL West. SF was 100-1 to win the World Series preseason, now they’re 7-1.
Players, coaches and executives have maintained they thought in spring training they’d compete for the playoffs, but no one sane could have expected this — the best record in MLB for 124 days. No one could’ve imagined an October 3 with ramifications bringing back memories of Jonathan Sanchez and Bobby Thomson.
They’ve gotten career years out of Brandon Belt, Brandon Crawford, LaMonte Wade Jr., Kevin Gausman, Logan Webb, Tyler Rogers and others up and down the roster. They’ve helped make the Giants the most prolific home run hitting team in the National League as well as one of the two best at preventing home runs.
Selfless hitters have platooned in and out with each other en route to the most pinch-hit home runs ever, and selfless relievers have shifted roles all season to register the lowest bullpen ERA in MLB.
This collection of players has broken a 117-year long franchise record of 106 wins. The previous gold standard 1904 New York Giants led baseball with 31 home runs. These Giants have crushed 241. It’s a completely different sport.
The Giants wouldn’t have rather had anyone else on the mound on Sunday besides Webb. SF is now 22-5 in games the 24-year-old starts, and he hasn’t taken a losing decision since May 5.
As Webb (7IP, 6H, 4ER, 8K, 0BB) mowed down the Padres for seven innings, SF built a comfortable lead. SD reliever Dinelson Lamet, one of 2020’s premier pitchers, walked the bases loaded to start the fourth. Tommy La Stella, Wilmer Flores, Wade Jr., and Posey broke the game open.
And the shades of Sanchez looked particularly clear in the fifth inning, when Webb launched his first career home run into left field. He crossed home for a third time on that blast, the first three-run game by a Giants pitcher since 2002. With the universal DH likely to go in effect next year, it may be the last home run hit by a full-time pitcher ever.
The Oracle Park crowd could see an NL West title on the horizon. Webb tipped his cap to them when he exited, his name now forever etched in Giants lore even before the postseason begins.
A defining trait of this team is consistency. Every month, the Giants played at least .600 ball. Even with key injuries in September, San Francisco closed the season with its best month yet: a 21-6 (.778) tear. They’ve held off the surging Dodgers in the process.
That’s come from a collectively even-keeled mentality, coaches and players have said. The quality has allowed SF to take the season one game at a time.
They’ve also shown personality, wearing “Let the Old Guys Play,” “Dingers and Deadlifts” and Captain Belt-inspired t-shirts.
“It’s the recipe we’ve used all year,” Darin Ruf said after SF’s 3-0 win over the Padres on Friday.
The largest coaching staff in baseball has pulled strings to create favorable matchups and keep players fresh even as SF was embroiled in the winningest division race ever — no two teams have ever won over 105 games in the same division.
As much as this title is about the Dodgers as it is the Giants. Like Kapler, Giants players have often batted around the same questions all year. Do you scoreboard watch? (Yes, but we don’t let it affect the task at hand). What do you think about the Dodgers? (They’re great, we’re just as good). Does the tight race push you to play harder? (We’re just focused on ourselves and winning the baseball game every day).
“We understand the magnitude of what we’ve done to this point and having 104 wins and how hard it is to win 100-plus games in a season,” starter Alex Wood said on Sept. 29. “But one of the coolest things about our group of guys is just we’re so micro-focused — it’s just show up the next day, you’re ready to give everything you’ve got.”
If the Dodgers beat the St. Louis Cardinals in the Wild Card game, they’ll come back to Oracle Park for the NLDS on Oct. 8. A note: moments before Posey’s two-RBI single in the third inning Sunday, Dodgers star Max Muncy left the game with a left elbow injury after a collision at first base.
The two buzzsaws have the two most wins in baseball, neck-and-neck all season. They’re two of three teams to finish with 100 victories. The Dodgers have played the best second half in franchise history, but have just one game on the Giants.
A division race in a 162-game baseball season typically doesn’t come down to a play here or there, a call that goes one way or another. This year though, the teams were a Darin Ruf check swing and a Mike Tauchman robbed home run apart.
The Giants beat the Dodgers 10 out of 19 times, taking the season finale by beating Cy Young candidate Walker Buehler with a bullpen game on Sept. 5.
That stunning 6-4 win gave the Giants home field advantage in a possible Game 163 tiebreaker game to determine the division.
It took 162 games, but San Francisco didn’t let it come to that.