1948

Of the last four teams standing in the post-season, three of them have MLB's highest payrolls. Cot's Contracts has two payroll lists, one called Year End 40-man and the other called CB Tax 40-man. In the first list it goes Mets ($341.5M), Yankees ($303.8M), and Dodgers ($288.3M). Figuring in the Competitive Balance Tax keeps the Mets ($356.2M) in the top spot with the Dodgers ($351.7M) and Yankees ($314.8M) switching places.

The three highest-spending teams in the two biggest baseball markets are in the League Championship Series. That's the semi-finals. The winners go to the World Series. The networks are guaranteed one LA-NY matchup (that starts tonight on Fox) and may get two.

The Cleveland Guardians are 21st ($106.1M) and 23rd ($139.7M) on the two payroll lists. They have not won the World Series since 1948, back when they were the Indians and had guys like Bob Feller and Larry Doby. Any discerning baseball fan who isn't rooting for the Guardians is doing the game a disservice. I'll exempt lifelong fans of the other clubs. After all, somebody must like them.

--M.C.

p.s. The moneyline (Fanduel) on winning the whole thing stands at Dodgers (+150), Yankees (+170), Mets (+410), and finally the Guardians (+550). If you bet 100 bucks on the Bums you'll clear 50 bucks if they win. They are 3-to-2 favorites. The longshot G's will make you a profit of 450 bucks if they pull off two upsets. Their odds come in at 11-to-2.

PoBO Posey

When I first heard the news I only caught the part about Farhan Zaidi being let go. I wasn't happy. I wasn't surprised, but I felt that continuity was important. And the FZ & Co. draft picks were finally coming of age and that, it seemed to me, would be a better criterion for judgment. But this is pro sports and results are what matters. And other than the 2021 NL West title this club has not produced the results during FZ's tenure.

Then I found out that they were naming franchise legend (and part owner) BUSTER POSEY to be the new President of Baseball Operations.

Now THAT is operating on an entirely new level! What's next, Brandon Crawford gets BoMel's job? Just kidding. Seriously, this is a big deal. All that talk about Buster wanting to spend more time with his family, yadda-yadda-yadda, and it turns out his competitive fires are still burning. He will get to spend more time with his family, sure. But he will be under enormous scrutiny. This is a high-profile gig, man. And the expectations will be off-the-charts. It's Buster Fucking Posey! Phenom. RoY. MVP. World Series Champion. It's quite a resume and it is all in orange-and-black.

Slick move by ownership. A+ rating for energizing the fanbase.

What say you, Giants fans?

--M.C.

p.s. this was so important I had to post even though I'm still "away from my desk"

80

SF 6  STL 5

Until this afternoon's victory the Giants were 0-4 against the Cardinals. They blew a 5-2 lead but recovered to win with the help of a throwing error by St. Louis reliever Matthew Liberatore. Two straight losses before today pushed their total to 81 so the best they can do is .500 with a win tomorrow. It's a disappointing season, that's for sure. I really felt like they had a more competitive roster this year. I do agree with Farhan Zaidi that the Giants have an excellent group of youngsters for 2025.

Matt Chapman got the obviously well-deserved Willie Mac Award. Blake Snell bailed out of today's start in favor of rookie Tristan Beck but he said lots of nice things about the Giants. I think they should sign him--it's just money, after all. What else is there to spend it on?

I'm going to be "away from my desk" for a week or so. Then we can start talking about next year. Tomorrow's finale is 12:05 and Hayden Birdsong gets the call.

Go Giants!

--M.C.

Giants power-stomp Snakes

SF 11  ARI 0

Not only did the Giants claw their way back to .500 (79-79) with last night's thumping win they also pushed their run difference into positive territory (+7). Five home runs from the lineup and six scoreless frames from Logan Webb were too much for the Diamondbacks. Arizona might be watching its Wild Card chances slip away. This game was over in the 3rd inning. Tristan Beck threw a scoreless 7th and Austin Warren got the last six outs.

The Giants have won five straight scoring thirty runs and allowing only four. Mason Black gets the start tonight.

Let's get a sweep!

--M.C.

Spoiler Alert

SF 6  ARI 3

The Giants messed things up for the Kansas City Royals and they put the same hurt on the Arizona Diamondbacks tonight in Phoenix. Who are these guys? Why didn't they play like this last month? Anyway, the Giants played another good game and backed up Hayden Birdsong (5 IP, 2 R, 6 K) and annoyed the Arizona fan base. The New York Mets are now 1/2 game ahead for the final Wild Card spot in the NL. Matt Chapman drove in half the the runs with an inside-the-park homer (he really is fast!) and a triple. The bullpen did another stellar job to nail down the victory.

Logan Webb goes tomorrow. In his last five starts he's gone a mere (by his standards) 26 innings and allowed a whopping (by his standards) 19 runs. Mason Black is listed for Wednesday. There's an off-day on Thursday and I expect Blake Snell will get a start on the weekend series against the Cardinals. It looks like they may not bring back Webb at all and finish out with another start from Birdsong and perhaps Landon Roupp. Webb needs 1-1/3 IP to reach 200 for the second season in a row.

Go Giants!

--M.C.

Road Warriors

The Giants are playing their best baseball of the season on this final road trip. It started with an emphatic 10-0 win in Baltimore on Tuesday. Blake Snell threw six shutout innings allowing one hit and whiffing twelve. Hayden Birdsong and the bullpen toughed out a 5-3 win the next day behind homers from Mike Yastrzemski and Michael Conforto. Logan Webb started the finale but the Orioles edged out a win and the Giants had to be content with a series victory.

In Kansas City the Giants small-balled past the Royals in a nail-biting 2-1 win on Friday. Mason Black got his first "W" with five scoreless frames. Heliot Ramos had a single, a double, and a triple. He scored one of the runs and drove in the other. Camilo Doval got a pulse-pounding save. On Saturday the Giants put on a show much like the one in Baltimore, thumping the Royals 9-0. Both Matt Chapman and LaMonte Wade, Jr. hit two homers. Landen Roupp threw five scoreless and Spencer Bivens and Tristan Beck added two scoreless innings apiece.

In the finale today the Giants got their sweep behind Blake Snell's six scoreless (two hits, nine strikeouts). Sean Hjelle, Tyler Rogers, and Ryan Walker were unscored upon in the final three innings and the Giants had a tidy 2-0 victory. That Snell guy is pretty good and I think the Giants should give him a bazillion dollars.

It's too bad we didn't see this version of the team a few months ago. Nonetheless there is something to play for--a .500 finish. They are 77-79 with six games left. There are three in Arizona the next three nights (6:40 PT start times). Thursday is the last off-day and then there is the weekend series at home against the Cardinals. They have to go 4-2 and that seems very doable.

Go Giants!

--M.C.

17-hit attack subdues Brewers

SF 13  MIL 2

The tally included seven doubles and three homers. The Giants had an 8-0 lead after two innings. The most runs they've scored this season was 14, that was in a 14-4 win over the Rockies in May. Last night's margin of victory--11 runs--was the year's biggest. They did lose 17-1 to the Diamondbacks (a Snell start) in April, and 14-3 to the Phillies in May.

Jerar Encarnacion hit an opposite-field home to RF. That's pretty rare for a right-hander in San Francisco. Everyone in the linuep had a hit except Heliot Ramos, but he did walk and score. Austin Warren was recalled from the minors and pitched in relief.

Hayden Birdsong tonight (6:45 PT).

Go Giants!

--M.C.