For the last time of 2022, the Oracle Park crowd got to cheer for the players wearing Giants jerseys as they took their positions for the first inning.
Scott Alexander, a reliever signed to a minor-league deal in May, jogged to the mound as an opener. He’s hardly a fan-favorite, but Brandon Crawford, LaMonte Wade Jr., Wilmer Flores and Mike Yastrzemski — Willie Mac Award winners — stood behind him. So did All-Star Joc Pederson, veteran Evan Longoria and speedster Thairo Estrada.
The Giants purposely fielded a competitive lineup for the home finale, demonstrating that despite their official elimination from the playoffs, they still take the last four games seriously.
Three-and-a-half hours after the first-inning ovation, fans rose to their feet as the Giants loaded the bases in the bottom of the 10th inning. They erupted as rookie David Villar split a gap with a line drive, scoring Yastrzemski and Flores.
Like they did in the first game of the season, the Giants walked off with an extra-innings win. The winning knock came off the bat of Villar, one of San Francisco’s promising young players and best stories of the second half. To cap the last home game of the season, the Giants mobbed Villar — after his first career walk-off — on the infield before tossing balls into the crowd.
San Francisco (80-79) finished the season 44-37 at home. The 4-3 extra-innings win served as possibly the last time fans will see some of their favorite players in-person, but also provided a hopeful glimpse into the future.
“I know it wasn’t that easy, we had a lot of challenges, but we vow to come back stronger than ever next year and make you proud,” manager Gabe Kapler said into the microphone by the pitcher’s mound.
Even though the Giants’ season will end without the playoffs, it still contained memorable moments — particularly at home. Sunday was no different.
At Oracle Park this season, there was the infamous unwritten rules game against San Diego. Austin Slater’s walk-off in the season-opener. Flores’ walk-off homer to sweep the Phillies. The impossible ninth-inning rally against Josh Hader.
“This year, with this team, I’ve had a lot of fun,” Flores said postgame. “We didn’t have a winning season, but just like last year, the teammates I had this year were awesome.”
But there were also plenty of head-scratching defensive miscues, bullpen implosions and quiet hitting games. The Giants platooned their way to 107 wins in 2021, but a lack of star power in the lineup clouded a disappointing year.
One fan on the right-field arcade held a sign with a simple, block-lettered message: WE WANT AARON JUDGE. Another’s wish list included signing the 6-foot-7 slugger away from the Bronx and cutting immobile infielder Tommy La Stella.
The Giants attracted an average of 30,650 fans per home game — lower than any pre-pandemic year in Oracle Park history. Mid-week night games had more seagulls circling than bodies in the upper bowl. The attendance ranked eighth in the National League.
“Terrible!” one of 34,824 fans screamed after Estrada popped up on a bunt to strand the bases loaded in the first inning.
But they rejoiced later as Flores rounded third and slid feet-first into home. Kapler called third-base coach Mark Hallberg’s decision to send the infielder home “very aggressive.”
Villar’s hit — 77.1 mph off the bat — became the Giants’ first finale walk-off since 2017. He went after the first pitch of the at-bat and drove it just enough.
“It’s just utter happiness,” Villar, who combined to hit 34 homers with the Giants and River Cats, said postgame.
Alexander started the game in place of Logan Webb, who got shut down for the year to manage his work load. Webb broke out in 2021 and was even better in his encore this year, posting career-high numbers in most major statistical categories. His and Carlos Rodón’s turns in the rotation were electrifying. Otherwise, fans didn’t have much to grasp onto.
Rodón, the MLB leader in FIP and strikeouts per nine innings, will either leave in free agency or break the front office’s philosophy against long-term contracts for starting pitchers.
President of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi has repeatedly tabbed the Giants’ upcoming offseason as “big.” Four years and one postseason trip into his tenure, that’s probably underselling it. Nothing about Rodón and “the guy who hits in the Bronx” — chairman Greg Johnson’s term — is small.
There’s a market starving for star power, a picturesque ballpark emptying, a beast of a division and a middling season to avenge. The next time fans see the Giants at Oracle Park, there should be a pack of new faces for them to get acquainted with. If not, the organization would risk further doldrums.
One face that will return: Villar, whom Kapler has often called an important piece of San Francisco’s future.
“There are very few rookies who get to the big leagues and tear the cover off the ball immediately,” Kapler said. “Villar has very much held his own. He has hit for some power. He has come up big in important spots, and he’s improved. He’s added second base to his arsenal, he can play third, he can play second…I think he certainly validated our internal evaluations.”