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Can the Giants Recover From Their Rocky Start to the Season?

The Giants dismal start to this year’s season was one that no fan enjoyed. After winning the World Series three even years in a row, last year’s disappointing season put an end to that streak.

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The Giants dismal start to this year’s season was one that no fan enjoyed. After winning the World Series three even years in a row, last year’s disappointing season put an end to that streak. Coming into this year, many fans were confident that the team would turn it around and were hoping for a playoff berth. These dreams are being confirmed as only dreams thus far, as the team has started this year abysmally, with their record being well below the .500 mark and at points the worst in baseball.

With two bad seasons in a row on the cards, the magic that has seemed to surround the club for the last decade was seemingly wearing off.  While the season started off well with pitcher Madison Bumgarner starring both at the plate and on the mound, the success diminished quickly. The Giants suffered many injuries around the diamond, with the most notable being Bumgarner, who injured his shoulder in a dirt bike accident. The team’s pitching staff, which is always one of their bright spots, was severely underperforming. The one bright spot of the season was Chris Arroyo. The young prospect got called up from Triple-A, and has impressed ever since.

This said, the Giants season has taken a turn for the better in the last ten days. They have won seven of their last ten games, and are creeping closer to a .500 record. While they currently post a record of 19 wins and 26 losses, the season is still early enough that they have time to turn everything around. One of the key factors that has led to this better form is an improvement in the starting pitching. The pitching staff has been able to maintain a streak of quality starts, which has allowed the Giants offense to win games. The offense has also improved recently. While they were playing well and getting on base in the first couple weeks of the season, the Giants never scored very many runs. Recently, the Giants have had an uptick in timely hitting, with clutch hits seeming to come every night.  

Rough patches haven’t been unusual for the Giants in the past, with multiple coming even in seasons that they won the World Series. What has separated the seasons they won it all from the ones in which they didn’t even make the playoffs, has been whether or not they were able to make adjustments and turn their fortunes around. It is rare that the season has started with a rough patch, but it happening so early in the season means they have time to turn it around. The Giants recent form has shown that the team do have the potential this year that fans hoped for, and if the form is sustained, then the dreams of playoff baseball coming to AT&T Park in 2017 may not be left as dreams.