San Francisco Giants' Inept Offense Hits Worst Skid in Over 30 Years

The San Francisco Giants' offense hasn't been this bad since the pre-Barry Bonds era.

Sep 14, 2024; San Francisco, California, USA; San Francisco Giants infielder Marco Luciano reacts after striking out. / Robert Edwards-Imagn Images

The last time the San Francisco Giants were this bad, Barry Bonds was still playing for the Pittsburgh Pirates.

The fourth-place Giants got swept at home by the San Diego Padres over the weekend, essentially ending their season. They're now six games below .500 and 9.5 games out of the last Wild Card spot with 12 games to play, meaning they'll likely be eliminated from playoff contention this week.

San Francisco has lost four straight games and five of its last six, largely due to a historically bad stretch by its punchless offense. The Giants were shut out in three straight games from Sept. 12-14 by the Padres and Milwaukee Brewers.

San Francisco managed just 14 hits in the three games combined and went 32 innings without a run at one point, finally scoring in the sixth inning of Sunday's 4-3 loss to San Diego.

It was the first time the Giants had gone scoreless in three consecutive games since June 23-25, 1992, when the Padres and Atlanta Braves blanked them in three straight.

The Giants lost 8-0.  They have been shut out in three straight games for the first time since June 23-25, 1992. It's not ideal.

— Alex Pavlovic (@PavlovicNBCS) September 15, 2024

For reference, 1992 was one of the worst years for offense in recent times. San Francisco lost 90 games that year with one of the worst lineups in baseball, motivating the front office to sign Bonds to the then-largest contract in MLB history the following offseason.

The Giants clearly need a similar boost this winter if they want to turn things around next year. They rank near the bottom of the National League in most major hitting categories, including hits, batting average, OBP and slugging.

Extending Matt Chapman was a good start, but he's already in the lineup. San Francisco needs to go out and acquire some big bats this offseason (paging Juan Soto) to give Chapman some help. He's a very good hitter, but not an elite one capable of carrying an offense by himself.

If the Giants don't, there will be a lot more low-scoring games -- and potentially some firings -- in their future.