Baseball

Series Preview: The Battle for Last Place Continues

by
Scoops
July 9, 2026

Just six days ago, I mentioned that the last time the Giants were in last place in the month of July wasn’t that long ago: 2019. Of course, the situation today doesn’t resemble the situation at that time.

The 2026 Giants were expected to be good — or, at worst, in the running for “decent” — while that 2019 was expected to be borderline unwatchable as a rebuilding mess. At the All-Star Break, in Bruce Bochy’s Farewell Tour, the team’s 41-48 mark was last, sure, but also 5.5 games out of a Wild Card. The team was on a 7-3 run. Okay, okay, a -70 run differential, but still! Not nearly as disastrous as the current team; and, just two weeks later, they were 50-50 and 2.5 games out of a Wild Card. You’ll recall that Farhan Zaidi played that deadline as a mix of selling and buying.

Anyway, this isn’t to say that Farhan Zaidi was a better baseball executive than Buster Posey is, but it’s interesting to note that after the 2017 & 2018 seasons, he didn’t do much to make the 2019 better and just through planning and decision-making, he was able to coax some more success out of a roster. That feels like a big difference between the two front offices. Talent does win on the field, but in an era of helicopter executives, it feels like a light touch or hands off approach is out of step with the way things are done now.

But if you want a more recent example, take these Colorado Rockies, who didn’t do much to improve their roster in the offseason, but just through planning and decision-making, Paul DePodesta and Josh Byrnes have been able to coax some more success out of the roster. From 2022-2025, the Rockies were the worst offense in the sport, with a 81 wRC+ in 648 games. They walked 7.3% of the time and struck out 25% of the time. They were the third-worst baserunning team in the sport. This year, a 93 wRC+ that ranks them 28th, sure, but their walk rate is up (8.3% — 24th) and strikeout rate down (22.9% — 21st). They’re now just seventh-worst in baserunning (the Giants are the worst).

So, I guess this is some shade at Buster Posey and Zack Minasian, novices compared to what Colorado has in their front office this season and even what the Giants had in 2019. Having said that, the Giants — as evidenced by what happened in 2021 — did have some good talent on the roster already. But… that was the case with this year’s team, too, I suppose. Remarkably, this more talented roster is likely going to be “remembered” along with some of the worst in recent memory.

From yesterday’s Giants Post Game Show on NBC Sports Bay Area:

Anyway, the Rockies are probably headed in the right direction just given the changes to their process. I know that, for some, that’s really silly to write because just look at their pitching staff. But they’re on pace for about the same number of wins as the Giants after three consecutive 100+-loss seasons. The Giants might be headed in the right direction because of Michael Holmes and Randy Winn cooking down in the farm system. But it’s still a bit delusional to think as a Giants fan that the team is headed in the right direction. At best, they’re in the Rockies’ zone of “probably headed in the right direction,” as in “maybe, we’ll see.” Baseball is hard and nothing is guaranteed. A betting person is probably confident that the Giants’ talent will push the team ahead of the Rockies in the standings by year’s end. With the trade deadline looming maybe the talent won’t be quite the same?

Colorado is 6-33 at Oracle Park since the start of the 2021 season, so, there’s that.

But also, if the comments in the piece of I wrote about the Giants never having four consecutive non-winning seasons are any indication, then maybe Giants fans don’t care if the team finishes in last place?

Series Overview

Who: San Francisco Giants (38-54) vs. Colorado Rockies (38-56)
Where: Oracle Park | San Francisco, California
When: Thursday at 6:45pm PT, Friday at 7:15pm PT, Saturday & Sunday at 1:05pm PT
National broadcasts: None

Projected starters
Thursday: Carson Whisenhunt? (LHP 1-0, 3.60 ERA) vs. Ryan Feltner (RHP 3-2, 4.27 ERA)
Friday: TBD vs. Tanner Gordon (RHP 0-2, 6.95 ERA)
Saturday: TBD vs. Kyle Freeland (LHP 2-7, 7.46 ERA)
Sunday: TBD vs. Michael Lorenzen (RHP 3-9, 6.46 ERA)

Players to watch

Rockies

Jake McCarthy: It doesn’t matter where he plays them, Jake McCarthy simply obliterates the Giants. He’s got a career .856 OPS (52 G, 177 PA) on an impressive triple slash of .321/.356/.500. A 5:1 strikeouts to walk means he just gets a lot of pitches to hit and doesn’t miss. At Oracle Park (29 G, 92 PA), it’s .345/.378/.476 (.854). Giants fans might be tired of this guy, but he clearly loves to face them. He’s also having a career year in his age-28 season (.302/.343/.513 with 9 HR and 51 RBI).

Kyle Freeland: The former “ace” of the squad is just 2-7 with a 7.46 ERA (4.95 FIP) this season. He’s a career 8-9, 4.71 ERA against the Giants (28 starts, 147 IP) and at Oracle Park it’s 2-5 with a 3.63 ERA. Last season, he made 2 starts (12 IP total) and was 0-1 with a 4.50 ERA and 1.08 WHIP.

Ezequiel Tovar: He’s having the worst season of his career, but he’s just 24 years old so it’s not the end of the world, even if the Rockies have him under contract through 2030. The shortstop has a career .876 OPS against the Giants (39 G, 164 PA), but in Oracle Park (18 G, 76 PA), it’s just .682. He has just 4 hits this month and 2 of them are homers.

Giants

Carson Whisenhunt: He’s most likely making the start in game one of the series. On June 17th, he gave up just 2 runs in 5 innings to Atlanta and the Giants went on to win that game 7-5. He didn’t get any swing and misses on his fastball in that start, I should mention.

The catching position: Since June 1st, Giants catchers have slashed .197/.259/.290 in 334 PA. That 55 wRC+ is 27th in MLB ahead of the Phillies, White Sox, and Yankees. Defensively, they’ve been 11th in Defensive Runs Above Average.

Heliot Ramos: He’s 11-for-30 since returning from the IL — keep it up!