Let's predict the 2026 Giants
Welcome to the best day of the year
We made it to the best day of the year. Let it sink in. For better or worse, Giants baseball is in your life for the next six-plus months. Let’s get to some previews and predictions.
How does this season end?
In a small step forward. The Giants will stay in the race to the final day of the season but fall just short of the playoffs. Tony Vitello might be the right leader, but he doesn’t have the right pitchers to navigate 1,500 innings of a full season.
What will the story of the season be?
How big is the pit in your stomach when Vitello takes the starting pitcher out of a game? Relievers are part of every game, and the Giants’ group is largely unproven. Every team needs a little time for their bullpen to take shape. Unfortunately it usually takes losing leads—and games—for that to happen. The real test will be whether the Giants can withstand those stress tests. I’m skeptical.
Biggest outstanding question: How hard will Buster Posey push to make the playoffs?
I’ve been uneasy about the Posey hire since day one, but no one wants the Giants to win more than him. I think it killed him to waive the white flag at last year’s trade deadline, and if this year’s team is in the exact same spot, I don’t think he’ll do it again. The Giants have a few heralded young prospects and Posey won’t be afraid to use them in trades to end the club’s five-year playoff drought.
What’s the 2021 case for the Giants?
What if everything goes right? What if the Giants have not one but three 30 home run hitters? (Rafael Devers, Matt Chapman, and Willy Adames.) What if Bryce Eldridge is an All-Star? What if Logan Webb and Robbie Ray are in the running for Cy Young? What if Vitello presses the right buttons, Posey swings a monster trade for Tarik Skubal, and the Giants take down the NL West?
Well, I’d tell you this is all beyond far fetched. But so was 2021. A more likely best-case scenario for this team is good health and individual performances that match the back of everyone’s baseball card. Maybe a couple career years mixed in. That’s how you win 90-plus and coast into the postseason.
Quick hits:
Final record: 84-78
Home run leader: Chapman (32)
Logan Webb wins: 16
World Series: Mariners over Dodgers
Over/unders, via the GP Sportsbook 😉
Bryce Eldridge home runs: 10.5 (Under)
Tony Vitello ejections: 4.5 (Under)
Luis Arraez hits: 179.5 (Over)
Let’s enjoy the ride.