Don't Count Out the Giants Just Yet

Entering Wednesday's slate of games, the National League playoff picture looks like this.



Though the Dodgers, Braves, Cubs, and Padres have had the privilege of celebrating postseason births, the 5-8 seeds remain hopelessly undecided.

In the National League Central, the Cardinals, Reds, and Brewers are all looking to clinch the 5 or 6-seed and avoid Wild Card positioning.

In the National League East, the Phillies have an uphill climb if they wish to surpass the Marlins to do the same.

And then there's the San Francisco Giants.

Projected to finish 24-36 during their 2020 campaign, the Giants have already exceeded expectations this season.

However, entering this final homestand, San Francisco hoped to catch fire and steal one of the Wild Card playoff spots.

Despite losing in embarrassing fashion on Monday, the Giants rebounded with an impressive win on Tuesday to work their way back into a tie with the Reds and Brewers.

And now, only six games remain.

Unfortunately for San Francisco, they currently find themselves out of playoff positioning due to a rather puzzling tiebreaker rule -- the Reds and Brewers hold better "intradivisional records" than the Giants.

Nonetheless, with these two squads doing battle on Wednesday evening, the Giants have a glorious opportunity to move back into (at least) 8th place with a victory over the Rockies.

From early season impressive comebacks to the ability to work their way out of an 8-16 hole, this team has demonstrated its resilience for the past two months.

And while the Giants no longer have a plethora of veterans with championship experience, they certainly have a lot of heart, and have proven their will to battle with or without analytics on their side.

If San Francisco manages to snag the 7 or 8-seed this week, their playoff endeavors would undoubtedly be an uphill climb.

Frankly, a first-round matchup with the Dodgers or Braves is an incredibly tough draw for the men in orange and black.

However, these two teams are notoriously poor postseason performers, and anything can happen during October baseball.

The Dodgers (39-16) have won eight consecutive National League West titles, yet have failed to turn their regular season success into a World Series trophy since 1988.

Meanwhile, the Braves (33-22) have lost in ten consecutive postseason rounds since defeating the Houston Astros in the 2001 NLDS.

I'm not jumping on either bandwagon until these teams prove their ability to perform in October.

Regardless of what happens in the final days of the 2020 MLB Regular Season, it has been a wild ride that baseball fans won't soon forget.


What are your thoughts on the Giants' postseason odds?

Feel free to let me know in the comments below and don't forget to "Subscribe" for future post notifications :)

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