The San Francisco Giants were on their way to the worst second half collapse in baseball history.
They had the league’s best record through 90 games, then the worst for the next 10 weeks. Their playoff odds had plummeted from 96 percent on July 12 to 66 percent on September 14. Nobody scored fewer runs during that time or blew as many saves. They were the only team without a ninth inning comeback.
It was as if, as Bruce Bochy said, the 2016 Giants were two different teams.
Brandon Belt certainly wasn’t thinking about any of that as the champagne sprayed wildly in the Giants clubhouse on Sunday afternoon, when San Francisco clinched a wild-card berth on the heels of their third consecutive beatdown of the rival Los Angeles Dodgers.
“It doesn’t matter anymore.”
He’s right, it doesn’t. Not just because the Giants avoided the cataclysmic meltdown, but because they did so by regaining the mojo of the team that dominated the league in the season’s first half. The Giants outclassed the NL West champion Dodgers in every facet throughout the weekend series, outscoring them 19-4, just 10 days removed from laying an egg in a three-game series in Los Angeles, where they managed a paltry six runs.
Bochy was at a loss for words trying to describe what on Earth took place over the last two months, and had just as hard a time on Sunday, struggling to decipher how quickly his team was able flip the switch.
“This game is hard to explain sometimes,” a soaked but content Bochy said as he leaned back in his office chair. “We were missing a couple of guys and we were sputtering offensively, trying to get this bullpen in order. For us to get there, and how we got there…I said earlier I felt we had to win out in this series, we couldn’t count on somebody helping us.”
Bochy was right. The St. Louis Cardinals, who faced similar second half struggles, also ran the table in their final four games of the season. Had San Francisco not made the inexplicable transformation back into the first half juggernaut version of themselves, they’d be heading to Busch Stadium right now.
In the context of the Giants’ success over the last decade, the last second turnaround isn’t all that surprising. In fact, if you subscribe to the even year theory, this weekend’s sweep of the Dodgers was practically preordained.
“The goal was to get to the playoffs,” Belt said. “We would’ve liked to win the division, but it didn’t work out the last couple times we won the World Series either.”
The Giants actually did win the division in 2012, but Belt’s point is well taken. They don’t like taking the easy road. They didn’t take it in 2010 when they made the playoffs on the season’s final day. They didn’t take it in 2012 when they came back from 3-1 deficit in the Championship Series against St. Louis. Nor did they take it in 2014, as Belt was likely referring to, when they squandered their division lead in the second half of the season, and had to win a one-game playoff on the road before another magical run.
Sound familier?
“I think we maintained a pretty good belief that we would be here,” said Brandon Crawford, protective goggles on forehead. “We have a lot of experience on this team. We know how to win ballgames.”
On any other team, a quote like that would be thrown aside as nothing more than a meaningless cliche. It’s convenient to attribute the win to the Giants having their backs against the wall, something that was said frequently amidst the jubilant celebration.
But if once is a fluke, twice is a coincidence and three times is a trend, the fact that the Giants are again playing at their best when they absolutely have to, actually seems more reasonable than the alternative.
Their history makes things like Ty Blach’s insane performance in his second career start, Conor Gillispie’s dive into the camera well and Sergio Romo’s resurgence as an unstoppable ninth inning killer, just feel like part of the script.
That script usually ends with a deep run into October. Romo’s been there for the previous three, and with a sly grin that usually accompanies the consumption of free alcohol, said he’s ready for another go-around.
“Now we get a chance to dance.”