San Francisco Giants: Divisional hopes officially about to end

The San Francisco Giants have had a rough season and have been out of the running for a playoff spot for some time. In the next couple of days, they’ll officially be eliminated from contention in the NL West.

The San Francisco Giants had their flaws coming into the season. They still didn’t have a full-time left fielder, their bullpen looked improved but was still largely unproven, their core was aging and their lackluster outfield defense didn’t get better at all.

Well a lot of those factors have come back to haunt the Giants this season. Sure, injuries have played their own role in San Francisco’s 48-74 record, but when every one of the core pieces outside of Buster Posey is having an off year, these kinds of things happen.

According to the standings page on MLB.com, the Giants have an Elimination Number of four, which works the same way as a Magic Number, only it spells doom for the team with the countdown on them. In this case that means that the Giants could be officially eliminated as a ‘contender’ for the West by the conclusion of play on Saturday, with Los Angeles having an off-day on Thursday.

More from Call to the Pen

• Philadelphia Phillies, ready for a stretch run, bomb St. Louis Cardinals
• Philadelphia Phillies: The 4 players on the franchise’s Mount Rushmore
• Boston Red Sox fans should be upset over Mookie Betts’ comment
• Analyzing the Boston Red Sox trade for Dave Henderson and Spike Owen
• 2023 MLB postseason likely to have a strange look without Yankees, Red Sox, Cardinals

The Dodgers are 51 games over the .500 mark at 85-34 and are on pace to win around 115 games. The Giants, meanwhile, haven’t won 50 games all season and their 48 wins is three less than the Dodgers have at home.

Long after the season had been unofficially lost, Brandon Belt and Joe Panik have landed on the disabled list with concussions, something that they have had crop up as an issue before. While those injuries may not mean that much for an already lost 2017 season, their return to form moving forward is certainly no guarantee either.

Even with this disappointing 2017 season, the Giants are expected to still attempt to field what they believe is a contender in 2018, with so many of their core pieces signed to lucrative long-term contracts. Without much of a farm system it looks as though this is probably the right move, but if making another run doesn’t pan out for the club and they are as dreadful next season as they have been this year, then the focus will definitely have to shift to getting younger and bringing in some top prospects to build their next run around.

That likely won’t mean trading either Posey or Bumgarner, but if Johnny Cueto is still around after his opt-out option this winter, Jeff Samardzija starts getting some lucky bounces and Panik and Belt return from their concussions in ok shape, then they’ll have some pieces to move either at the 2018 trade deadline or after the 2018 season.

Next: Who is your single-season home run king?

With 40 games left in their regular season, the Giants would have to go 14-26 to hit the 100 loss marker, which would mean they’d have to play at a .350 clip the rest of the way. They currently have a winning percentage of .393 and a four-game set against the one NL team with a worse record than them this season in the Phillies this weekend. But from then on, most of their games will be against contending clubs, including a large chunk against the Dodgers, D-Backs and Rockies. The Giants have a .380 winning percentage against the NL West this season, and with September games meaning a playoff spot, it’s no guarantee that they’ll get their 15 wins before season’s end.