It feels like a lifetime, but it was only six years ago that the San Francisco Giants won a World Series title and four years since their last MLB playoffs appearance.
A team once considered a dynasty for winning three World Series titles from 2010 to 2014, marked its fourth consecutive losing season after finishing the shortened 2020 MLB season with a 29-31 record.
The Giants almost snuck into the playoffs but they fell short after a one-run loss to the San Diego Padres in the final game of the season. While this season may have been a step in the right direction, San Francisco still has a lot of work to do.
The downfall of the Giants can be attributed to their lack of young prospects, inconsistent batting and weak pitching.
In 2019, the Giants suffered from short-sighted goals resulting in having the oldest roster in the league. The average age for the team was more than 30 years old according to a 2019 ESPN article. While the roster has gotten younger since then, this season the Giants were ranked No. 8 in average age according to Statista, a online business data platform. This makes the team still one of the oldest in the league.
Part of this problem is nostalgia from those championship teams.
On opening day this season, the Giants had six members that were part of at least one of the three World Series-winning teams or part of the 2016 playoff run. This seems like a small number, but the lack of production from those players was glaring.
Consequently, by the end of the season the Giants released two pillars of those championship teams: Pablo Sandoval and Hunter Pence. Sandoval batted an average of .220 and Pence batted .096, far from their all-star numbers.
Other older players on the team include Brandon Belt and Brandon Crawford who had just 9 and 8 home runs respectively, not even cracking the MLB top 40 for homeruns. Pitchers Johnny Cueto and Jeff Samardzija also underperformed by having a combined ERA of 7.56 in 16 starts. An ERA is the number of earned runs a pitcher gives up per 9 innings pitched, so in short they gave up so many runs they cost the Giants several games.
Sentimentality for legacy not only cost the Giants on the field, but it also led the team to bring up only one of their top 10 prospects this year in Joey Bart who batted an average of .233 in 103 at bats.
The Giants also struggled with inconsistent batting.
According to Baseball Reference.com, in 2018, they were second to last in home runs with 133 and second to last in runs. In 2019, they were fifth to last with 167 home runs and third to last in runs.
This season they made a significant jump, ranking No. 13 in home runs and No. 8 in runs. However, this season was only 60 games, compared to the usual 162.
The Giants hoped that acquiring third baseman Evan Longoria back in 2017 would put them back on track and according to a 2017 ESPN article, the trade for Longoria was expected to pay off immediately.
According to a 2017 MLB.com article, “Longoria was owed $81 million through ’22 with a $13 million team option for ’23, and he will receive a $2 million bonus for being traded.”
Before becoming a Giant, Longoria was a decorated and established player for the Tampa Bay Rays. He was a rookie of the year, a three-time all star, a three-time golden glove winner, a defensive player of the year and a home run derby participant.
However, with the Giants, Longoria has yet to bat over an average of .254 and his 20 home runs in 2019 didn’t even put him in the top 100 of home run leaders.
Pitching is also not what it used to be. The days of a back-to-back Cy Young winner and strike-out leader like Tim Lincecum are long gone and the Giants have yet to acquire any resemblance of such talent.
2014 World Series MVP Madison Bumgarner signed with the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2019 and led to the Giants’ weak pitching rotation. San Francisco finished the 2020 season with a team ERA of 4.64 and ranked No. 18 in
the league.
Bumgarner also had the lowest ERA on the team for three out of four years since 2016.
Since making the playoffs in 2016, the Giants have yet to solve their pitching struggles by not breaking through the MLB’s top 10 in team ERA in any of those years.
The Giants have been in limbo for some time now, trying to find an identity and direction. While recent seasons have been bleak, hopefully Giants fans won’t have to wait another 56 years to win the World Series again
