San Francisco Giants Offense Arrives Too Late To Save Season

The San Francisco Giants' bats have finally woken up.

Sep 24, 2024; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; San Francisco Giants outfielder Michael Conforto celebrates with catcher Patrick Bailey and first base LaMonte Wade Jr. / Rick Scuteri-Imagn Images

Is this the same San Francisco Giants team their fans have been watching for the last six months?

For most of the season, the Giants were the National League version of the Seattle Mariners. They had all the starting pitching in the world, but their bats were often nowhere to be found.

Well, now that San Francisco has already been eliminated from playoff contention, its slumbering offense has finally come out of hibernation.

Better late than never.

The Giants erupted for 11 runs and 14 hits against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Tuesday night, clobbering five home runs and sending Brandon Pfaadt to an early shower. That was more than enough run support for Logan Webb, who spun six shutout innings en route to his 13th win.

The @SFGiants have hit FIVE home runs and have scored TEN runs 👀 pic.twitter.com/CR4LR6KLHj

— MLB (@MLB) September 25, 2024

After demolishing the defending NL champs, San Francisco has now won five straight games (its longest winning streak of the season) and seven of its last eight -- all on the road. The Giants have matched last year's win total (79) with four games to go and are back at .500 for the first time since Aug. 30., which may be enough to save Farhan Zaidi's job this offseason.

With nothing to play for anymore, San Francisco is suddenly playing like the best team in baseball. Over their last eight games, the red-hot Giants are 7-1 and have outscored their opponents 48-12. Their sizzling lineup has averaged six runs per game (they were averaging 4.22 before that) and their pitching staff has been lights-out, tossing four shutouts.

Even more impressively, San Francisco is crushing good teams. The Diamondbacks, Baltimore Orioles and Kansas City Royals are all Wild Card contenders who could be in the playoffs next week.

Unfortunately, the Giants won't be. Maybe if they'd played like this earlier in the month (they started September 4-9), they'd still be playing meaningful baseball games.