SAN FRANCISCO — The Giants’ confidence hasn’t wavered once this season. And for good reason.
Despite having one of MLB’s more underwhelming offenses in 2025, San Francisco is capable of winning on any given night, against any given opponent, due to an excellent overall pitching staff and an elite bullpen.
There’s enough of a sample size (66 games) to definitively make that statement.
San Francisco, with a 4-3 win over the Braves on Sunday at Oracle Park, not only capped off a sweep of Atlanta and extended its winning streak to five games, but played its seventh-consecutive one-run game, 14th consecutive game decided by two-or-fewer runs (longest streak in franchise history), but tallied its 15th win when trailing by two-or-more runs this season, which is the most among MLB teams.
That last stat, in particular, is the most impressive and is a testament to just how much of an advantage the Giants can have late in games with the way their bullpen, led by Camilo Doval (1.50 ERA), Randy Rodriguez (0.61 ERA), Tyler Rogers (1.48 ERA), Erik Miller (1.25 ERA) and Spencer Bivens (3.07 ERA) has pitched this season.
“You look at the overall bullpen numbers, the pitching in general, but the bullpen’s been off the charts and a real reason for a lot of confidence late in games,” Giants manager Bob Melvin said postgame. “And even when we’re not doing much offensively, we really don’t get down because we know for the most part they’re going to keep us there and if we get an opportunity and scratch out a run, we end up winning a game.”
The starting rotation, anchored by Logan Webb (2.58 ERA), Robbie Ray (2.44 ERA), Landen Roupp (3.29 ERA) and Hayden Birdsong (2.55 ERA), is solid, and is pitching with extra confidence knowing they have an arsenal of lock-down arms in the bullpen that either will preserve their leads or maintain a likely-already-small deficit.
“Coming out of the game, whether there’s runners on or it’s a new inning, the bullpen’s been unbelievable this year,” Roupp said. “Full confidence in those guys. It’s really easy to just, I hate coming out of the game regardless, but it’s easy to turn it over to them because you know they’re going to do their job.”
The Giants’ offense, in most games, really doesn’t have to do much. Three or four runs oftentimes is enough to secure a win.
However, the slumping lineup, while benefiting from the consistent support of a dominant pitching staff, oftentimes finds itself under the microscope after losses.
“I think it goes both ways,” Mike Yastrzemski said postgame when asked if it’s easier to go through a slump when the rotation and bullpen are pitching as well as they are. “You know that there’s days where we’re lucky that we have them pitching as well as they are, and there’s days where we’re kicking ourselves for not giving them a win or for not finishing a job like we should.
“At the end of the day, you’ve got to turn the page because there’s 162 of these things and every single one matters.”
The Giants’ offense has wasted quite a few all-around excellent pitching performances this season, and while there still are major concerns about the lineup’s potential, there might not be a team better equipped to overcome a slow month — or two — at the plate than the Giants.
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