Baseball, more than any other sport, is all about the ebbs and flows. Over a gruelling 162-game season, it’s important you don’t overreact to the wins and losses. There’s always another game to prepare for, a chance to right your wrongs, one more shot at redemption.
Until there isn’t. There are no more opportunities for San Francisco in 2025. There will be no October baseball played at Oracle Park – the Giants’ campaign is over.
They finished with an 81-81 record, perfectly balanced mediocrity. Will the 2025 season be considered one of the most disappointing in Giants history?
What did I just say about overreacting? It’s a valid question, however, that has to be asked. With expectations in the city higher than they’ve been for a long time, I think it’s safe to say 2025 is right up there in terms of winning the Biggest Letdown Award. And yet, at the same time, there are positives to take away. Progress was made, if you look closely enough.
After a good start to the year, led largely by the Giants’ excellent pitching staff, the stakes were raised considerably with the June addition of slugger Rafael Devers. The Giants lineup had struggled to scratch out a handful of runs each night before the mighty Dominican joined his new teammates. Surely adding the mighty Boston bomber would propel the Giants to the promised land, a spot in October?
Instead of glory, the damned wheels fell off.
San Francisco went into a slump to rival the mother of all slumps. They quickly morphed into the worst team in baseball for a long stretch of the summer, putting them in a hole they couldn’t climb out of. They sold their bullpen and bid farewell to good Giants like Mike Yastrzemski. Poor Justin Verlander couldn’t buy a win; he was forced to wait until 23 July before picking up his first victory in a Giants uniform (after going 0-8 up to that point).
Things looked really bleak. The Giants weren’t just bad, they were boring.
Then, for a few weeks in late August and early September, everything clicked – the team looked unbeatable. Those lofty expectations were being met and for a brief moment, the Giants were sublime. They were fun. A wild card berth actually looked achievable and with the Mets in the midst of a historic meltdown, San Francisco were primed to book their spot in the postseason.
Of course, it didn’t last. Consecutive series defeats to the Dodgers and Diamondbacks swiftly put an end to any dreams of the playoffs. Normal service was resumed and the Giants were back to hovering around the .500 mark, their permanent residence for half a decade.
We should probably count our blessings as Giants fans. Imagine following the Rockies or the White Sox, or the poor A’s, cruelly torn away from their Oakland home. You don’t have to look far to see things could be a lot worse than finishing 81-81. In fact, there’s a great deal to be proud of.
Logan Webb, our always-reliable and loveable ace, put together another superb season in the seventh year of his brilliant career. Webb became the first Giants pitcher since World War Two to lead the National League in both strikeouts and innings pitched (his 207 IP actually led the entire league). The right-handed veteran’s transformation from groundball specialist to strikeout sensation was not on my bingo card this year. Webb finished with a 15-11 record over a career-high 34 starts, with a 3.22 ERA and 224 strikeouts. He will shortly turn 29-years-old and the Giants owe it to Webb to give him an opportunity to shine on the postseason stage.
The team’s star addition in the offseason was shortstop Willy Adames and expectations were sky high after he signed the largest contract in team history. Adames got off to a rough start as he acclimatised to his new surroundings but he grew into his role as one of the squad’s most important leaders. Adames deservedly took home the Willie Mac Award and on the final day of the season found himself just one homer shy of ending one of the most unwanted and unlikely droughts in recent Giants history.
San Francisco hadn’t had a player hit 30 home runs since Barry Bonds launched 45 big ones in 2004. It’s actually crazy to think about, with three World Series titles in that span, not one guy clubbed 30 homers in the past two decades. It fell to Adames to snap the streak in Sunday’s season finale, and he delivered in style, taking the first pitch he saw over the wall in centre field, sparking the Giants to a 4-0 victory. Altogether, Adames enjoyed an impressive first year with his new ballclub, leading all Giants in homers (30), RBI (87), walks (52) and stolen bases (12).
With Webb and Adames setting the tone, there are obvious building blocks for future success across the roster, but let’s not sugar-coat the Giants’ position – there is most definitely room for improvement.
Manager Bob Melvin will be feeling the heat after two seasons of falling short. Despite the club exercising Melvin’s option to return as skipper in 2026 (a decision made in the midst of the mega slump), there’s no guarantee he’ll be back in San Francisco next year. Giants President Buster Posey will be as frustrated as anyone with how things played out this year and I have no doubt he’ll replace Melvin if he feels the veteran manager has lost the clubhouse. Time will tell if the club will make the bold decision to bring in new leadership or give Melvin one more chance.*
*Update: a few hours after this post was published, news broke that Melvin had been fired. Posey didn’t wait long after all!
Despite the season having just finished, there will be little rest for the Giants’ front office; Posey and his staff will already be hard at work looking for ways to upgrade the team. Webb will need more help in the rotation, the bullpen requires attention, and the outfield would look much better with Kyle Tucker out there.
Hey, it’s just an idea for Buster to ponder.
Whilst we patiently wait to see what moves the club will make, Giants fans are forced to watch from afar as the playoffs begin. We’re the smelly kid at school who wasn’t invited to the popular kid’s birthday party, on the outside looking in. We sit back now and hope the Dodgers are eliminated in embarrassing fashion, and start counting down the days until Spring Training rolls around once again.
Let’s hope the autumnal days and wintery weeks ahead pass quickly. As always, go Giants.
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This marks my final post for Bat Flips and Nerds. I’ve enjoyed my five years here immensely and want to thank Gav and the guys for giving me this platform to share my baseball musings. I’ve met some truly lovely people through the Bat Flips family and been given opportunities in the game I didn’t think possible. Finally, thank you to anyone reading this – please keep supporting and reading about the game we love so much.
Ash Day is the San Francisco Giants writer for Bat Flips and Nerds. Read more from him here and follow him on Instagram at @SayHey_UK
Photo credit for featured image by Suzanna Mitchell/San Francisco Giants/Getty Images.
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