Giants remain biggest foe to Cubs
When the dust settles on the 2016 Major League Baseball regular season, the Chicago Cubs are going to have the best record in the National League. Heading into the last day of August, Joe Maddon’s club is a ridiculous 84-47, giving it a magic number of 17 for the NL Central crown.
As far as home-field advantage is concerned, the Cubs are a hefty 7.5 games ahead of the Washington Nationals and 11 games better than the Los Angeles Dodgers. In other words, the road to the World Series goes through venerable Wrigley Field in October 2016.
While the Nationals and Dodgers are on pace to win their respective divisions, it appears the San Francisco Giants and St. Louis Cardinals are the best bets to play in the harrowing NL Wild Card Game. If the Cubs are smart, they swallow hard and pull for the Cardinals.
The Giants are absolutely loaded to the gills with both pitching and experience. While Chicago can trot out the likes of Jake Arrieta, Jon Lester, Jason Hammel and Kyle Hendricks, the Giants can match. San Francisco has a devastating rotation featuring Madison Bumgarner, Johnny Cueto, Jeff Samardzija and Matt Moore, four guys more than equipped to handle a big moment.
While everyone tends to focus on style points and runs scored in the regular season, it is the men who prevent them who dominate the postseason. The Nationals, Cardinals and Dodgers all have quality pitching (Los Angeles only does if Clayton Kershaw comes back), but none match the talent and guile coming from the Bay Area.
Yes, San Francisco has one of the more non-threatening lineups of any team in recent postseason memory. Then again, you could say that about the 2010, 2012 and 2014 editions of the Giants. All three of those teams won the World Series. This season, San Francisco has few power sources. Buster Posey and Brandon Crawford each have 12 home runs, while Joe Panik has contributed 10 with a month to go. The home run leader of the club is first baseman Brandon Belt, who has swatted 14. There have been players with more home runs in a single month than any Giants player has swatted all year long.
San Francisco isn’t going to blow you away on the basepaths, either. Only Angel Pagan and Denard Span are in double-digit stolen bases, combining for 25. Nobody has reached 15 yet. And still, the Giants are cruising toward their fourth playoff berth of the decade, threatening to win another title under manager Bruce Bochy.
The Giants are the type of team built for October. They are laughingly low on sizzle, but incredibly high on results. In the final stretch of the season, that’s all that matters.
