MLB Writer Not High on San Francisco Giants in NL Wild Card Race

An MLB writer is not overly confident in the San Francisco Giants to climb in the wild card race in the National League.

Jul 14, 2024; San Francisco, California, USA; San Francisco Giants manager Bob Melvin (left) watches the action during the second inning against the Minnesota Twins at Oracle Park. / D. Ross Cameron-USA TODAY Sports

The San Francisco Giants made some decisions ahead of the 2024 MLB trade deadline that stirred up plenty of debate. Did they make the right decision not being full-fledged sellers?

The Giants made a few deals ahead of the deadline, sending Jorge Soler and Luke Jackson to the Atlanta Braves and Alex Cobb to the Cleveland Guardians. Another one was made to acquire veteran outfielder/first baseman Mark Canha.

The biggest takeaway for San Francisco was that they took starting pitcher Blake Snell off the market. Snell anchors the top of the team’s rotation with All-Star Logan Webb and in his first start after the break, showed why the Giants wanted to keep him.

If they are going to make a run at a wild card spot, dominating starting pitching is a must. Snell has been providing that for five weeks, looking more like the Cy Young version of himself, including a no-hitter over the weekend against the Cincinnati Reds.

Only one game under the .500 mark at 56-57, San Francisco is still 4.5 games behind the final wild card spot. The surge of the Giants’ National League west rivals the Arizona Diamondbacks and San Diego Padres has led to them occupying the last two spots behind the Braves.

7-3 in their last 10 games, San Francisco is making their push. Will they be successful and steal one of those wild card spots? Writer David Schoenfield of ESPN isn’t too high on their chances to accomplish that feat.

Schoenfield recently put together a piece ranking the wild card contenders in the NL. Out of the seven teams ranked, he placed the Giants in seventh.

Their inability to string wins together is something Schoenfield notes as a reason for being ranked last among the seven teams. But, he isn’t ready to write them off because of a favorable schedule that lies ahead.

“The Giants have a lot of teams to jump over and they've been hanging around .500 all season, without showing any signs that they're capable of winning 12 of 14 or something like that -- the kind of stretch they'll need to get closer. I'm not completely dismissing those chances, however, because there is a chance the rotation dominates down the stretch. They also begin an easy stretch of games here: Their next 16 are against the Nationals, Detroit Tigers, Braves, Oakland Athletics and Chicago White Sox. They need to dominate these next three weeks to have a chance, but with playoff odds hovering around 10%, it's unlikely the Giants make it to October,” Schoenfield wrote.

If San Francisco was going to ever prove Schoenfield, and plenty of analysts wrong, by getting hot and putting together a length winning streak, there’s no better time than now. The games against Atlanta are especially big.

If the Giants can win that series, they will gain ground in the standings. If they fall short, it crushes their already slim playoff hopes that much more.