Well look what we have here, it looks like a pattern
developing. The San Francisco Giants have made it a habit of missing the
postseason only to win the World Series the next season. It happened in 2010, 2012 and
it happened again in 2014. Will it happen again in 2016? Well looking at the
free agency signing and the fact that Matt Cain is now you’re fifth starter it
looks extremely likely.
First things first, they have to make the postseason. San
Francisco should have a much clearer path to the postseason this coming year
than in seasons past. The Los Angeles Dodgers have been their biggest obstacle
within the division with their one-two punch of Clayton Kershaw and Zack
Greinke at the top of the rotation but Greinke is gone and Kershaw was exposed
for some not-so-nice comments he made to the team’s GM about right fielder and
star player Yasiel Puig. Don Mattingly is gone and I just have a gut feeling
that things are going to be a mess in Los Angeles. Especially if the Dodgers
want to cut payroll by the $100 million that we have seen thrown around.
The Giants pitching staff is built for the long haul and is
built for October baseball. Madison Bumgarner has been the only 200 IP in the
San Francisco rotation since Matt Cain did it back in his hay day but this
winter the team has seemingly fixed their rotation woes. The team signed Johnny
Cueto to a six-year deal and signed Jeff Samardzija to a five-year deal, both
perennial 200 IP pitchers, to plug in behind Bumgarner in the rotation.
Samardzija and Cueto both pitched in hitter friendly ball parks in 2015, more
so Cueto with the Reds than Samardzija in Chicago, and should benefit from the
big dimensions and speedy outfielders in San Francisco’s outfield leading to
more innings and more victories.
The time for San Francisco and teams like the Arizona
Diamondbacks to strike is now and both teams are seemingly going full steam
ahead. It shouldn’t matter though if the past is any indicator of the future,
the San Francisco Giants missed the postseason completely in 2015 so they are
almost a virtual lock for the World Series title in 2016. Right?
NL will definitely be fun to watch this year.
ReplyDeleteNL teams are definitely getting stacked.
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