San Francisco Giants: More Even Year Magic?

By Jason Burke |

Jun 17, 2016; St. Petersburg, FL, USA; San Francisco Giants left fielder Gregor Blanco (7) and teammates congratulate each other after they beat the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field. San Francisco Giants defeated the Tampa Bay Rays 5-1. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

The San Francisco Giants have won their past eight games, which is unsurprising given that it’s an even year. But they can’t really win their fourth straight even-yeared title, can they? Well…

As things sit at this moment, there are two, maybe three teams in the National League that can potentially challenge the Chicago Cubs in the playoffs with the Giants, Washington Nationals and the team that knocked them out a year ago, the New York Mets in contention. The Mets have tons of pitching and a sputtering offense, the Nationals are built well on paper but tend to choke when games start to matter, and the Giants, well, they took two of three from the Cubbies earlier in the year.

Granted, that series was at home, but the Cubs threw out Jake Arrieta, who was in the midst of his scoreless streak, backup ace Jon Lester, and Kyle Hendricks, whose 5-6 record doesn’t quite match his 2.94 ERA. The Giants countered with their fourth and fifth starters in Jake Peavy and Matt Cain, followed by their ace Madison Bumgarner for Sunday Night Baseball.

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Peavy left that game with an 8.21 ERA on the season after going just 1.2 innings, and Cain entered with a 5.87 ERA for his matchup with Lester. Cain collected his first (and only) win of the season in that game. The point here is that the Cubs threw out two of their best pitchers in the series while the Giants countered two of their worst, and San Francisco took two of three.

The trio of Bumgarner, Johnny Cueto and Jeff Samardzija have combined to go 26-7 on the year with a cumulative 2.38 ERA. By comparison, the Cubs big three (by ERA) of Arritea, Lester and Jason Hammel are 27-6 with a 2.01 ERA. The Cubs have the upper hand, but it’s not a slam dunk by any means.

Both bullpens are seeking upgrades to solidify what are already pretty decent relief corps. Chicago has a bullpen ERA of 3.51, good for 10th in baseball, while San Francisco is right behind them at 13th with a 3.79. The Cubs have the farm system to make any deal they wish come true, while the Giants, if outbid for the player they covet, may go bargain bin shopping on the trade market.

If the Giants decide to stay away from the trade route, there are a couple of players in the minor leagues that could be intriguing names to keep an eye on in the coming months. Tyler Rogers, currently the closer for the team’s Double-A affiliate, has pitched in 32 innings and has yet to allow an earned run. The sidewinder with shades of Chad Bradford should see a promotion to Triple-A Sacramento soon with the run that he’s on, and from there all bets are off.

The other player is starter Adalberto Mejia, who just made his first start with the River Cats and went seven shutout innings, allowed four hits and struck out eight. In 65 innings with Richmond, the Giants number ten prospect (per Baseball America) held a 1.94 ERA. The promotion signals that he could factor into the team’s plans moving forward if Matt Cain remains on the disabled list longer than expected, or has lingering complications throughout the rest of the season.

Next: Giants Trade Deadline Overview

The Giants have also been doing a lot of their winning this season without one of their key offensive cogs in Hunter Pence, who could return some time in August.

As I type this today, in the latter part of June, a Giants-Cubs NLCS matchup would likely be one for the ages. Of course we’ll have to see how injuries play out over the rest of the season and see which additions each team makes to fortify their rosters, but the San Francisco Giants could end up being all that stands in front of the Cubs and their date with destiny.

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