San Francisco Giants: Who Wins the Wild Card Race?
By Kelsey Ross
The San Francisco Giants are going into the final week of the season in a dizzying race for one of two wildcard spots.
This is it, the final push to keep the even year dream alive. With the Los Angeles Dodgers officially clinching the NL West division over the weekend, the San Francisco Giants are now hoping for a wild card spot.
But they aren’t the only team that has it all on the line and will be going all out in this last week. The New York Mets are a game and a half up on the Giants and the St. Louis Cardinals are only a half game back. This week will decide whose World Series dreams are kept alive, so here is a look at what’s to come.
First, the Mets. They have the top spot in the wild card race, and they don’t seem to be slowing down. Out of all three teams, the Mets have the only winning record in September at 13-9 — and since August have one of the best records in the league at 22-11.
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Amazingly, the Mets have done all this with an injured and increasingly sparse pitching rotation that could have sunk the ship. Matt Harvey and Jacob deGrom are both out for the season with injuries, Steven Matz is out with an injury, and Noah Syndergaard is out with strep throat.
Even dealing with all of that, they still managed an incredible September. Needless to say, the ship is sailing just fine, if not picking up steam. And it may be safe to say they will secure one of those spots.
Coming up, the Mets will face the Miami Marlins and the Philadelphia Phillies — both teams they have a 10-6 record against.
It looks like the real race will be between the Cardinals and Giants. On paper, it appears the Cardinals have an easier week ahead, facing the Cincinnati Reds and the Pittsburgh Pirates at home. The Reds are dead last in the NL Central and have won only one series against the Cards in years.
Should be a slam dunk right? Not so fast. Home field should have its advantages, but the Cardinals have been pretty abysmal at home this year. They are just 33-41 at Busch stadium. Yikes. This year they are 8-7 against the Reds and 7-9 versus the Pirates. But only 2-5 vs the Pirates at home.
However odd, it may just be a break for the Giants that the Cardinals are at home this week.
This brings us to the Giants. They hold the key to their survival in the last few games of the season. The last few months have been rough on San Francisco. Since the All-Star break they are 25-41. Not really great, to put it nicely. But thanks to a phenomenal first half, the Giants still have a chance to come out of this historic slump.
They go into the last week with two home stands against the Colorado Rockies and those dreaded Dodgers. The Giants have fared better at home this season with a 40-35 record. And they play both teams relatively well at home.
San Francisco has an 8-8 record with both teams, but has a home record of 4-3 with the Rockies and 5-2 with the Dodgers. Home field has certainly been favorable to the Giants.
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Another plus — shortstop Brandon Crawford is back and reports are that pitcher Johnny Cueto will be in the rotation later this week.
Unfortunately, that good news comes with some bad. Third baseman Eduardo Nunez suffered a hamstring injury trying to steal a base in Sunday’s game. Nunez is a man you want on the field. He is a great base runner and plays all out on defense. Fingers crossed that he is back in the lineup soon.
The Giants will need every last man on that roster just to secure a wild card spot. And you better believe that the Dodgers are just itching at the chance to knock the Giants out of the race for good.
The baseball gods couldn’t have come up with a more thrilling last week of regular season baseball if they’d tried. Three teams, two wild card spots, and one week left. Let the madness begin.