SAN FRANCISCO — The 2021 Giants won a franchise-record 107 games, but the next year, they also accomplished something that had never been done in their long history. The 2022 Giants became the first in franchise history to finish the season exactly at .500.
Three years later, the Giants can do it again. That’s nothing to celebrate, of course, especially with the expectations they had for themselves.
For the fifth time in six years, San Francisco will finish somewhere within two games of .500. It has been a mediocre season, but three of the team’s best players have the chance to clinch notable individual accomplishments on Sunday. Here’s what to watch for on the final day of the 2025 season …
Will It End?
One of the most amazing things about the 30-homer drought is the fact that few have even gotten close to ending it. Since Barry Bonds hit 45 homers in 2004, only five Giants have even hit 27, and Willy Adames and Brandon Belt are the only ones other than Bonds to hit at least 28.
Belt came the closest to ending all of this, reaching 29 with a two-homer performance in the 155th game of the 2021 season. The Captain got hit by a pitch the next day, ending his season.
Adames reached 29 in his first at-bat Friday, and given that he has four multi-homer games this season, the expectations were high the rest of the night. He couldn’t get it done in four plate appearances and he was 0-for-4 on Saturday. After Friday’s game, Adames said he’s aware of how long it’s been because it’s talked about often, but it’s not something he’s thinking about on the way to the park.
“For me, obviously (30) is a big deal, but I’m just trying to win, man,” he said Friday. “I don’t really care about hitting 30. Obviously I want to do it, but it’s not something that I’m like, ‘Oh, if I don’t do it …’ No, if I don’t do it this year, I’ll do it next year. [Rafael Devers] is going to do it for sure, and [Matt Chapman], if they stay healthy.”
If Adames doesn’t get it done Sunday, the Giants could have a race to 30 next season. Devers has four 30-homer seasons, and Chapman hit 27 last year. Heliot Ramos and Bryce Eldridge both have the power to do it.
But … you never know what the future will bring. Adames has the best shot yet to end this conversation once and for all. He never has faced Sunday starter McCade Brown, but he has six homers already against the Rockies this year.
A New Trick For The Ace
This season, Logan Webb decided he wanted to be more of a strikeout pitcher. With his first one Sunday, he’ll wind up leading the National League.
It’s quite the accomplishment for someone who has been one of the game’s top groundball pitchers since his debut and currently ranks fourth in the league in groundball rate. Webb enters the day tied with Pittsburgh’s Paul Skenes and Philadelphia’s Jesus Luzardo at 216 strikeouts, but he’s the only one pitching Sunday.
Phillies ace Christopher Sanchez will be on the mound, but he needs 12 strikeouts just to reach that pack. He could, however, force Webb to stay on the mound for a bit if he wants other bragging rights.
Webb leads Sanchez by 5 1/3 innings atop the NL leaderboard, but he also is 3 2/3 innings behind Boston’s Garrett Crochet for the MLB lead. If he passes Crochet, he’ll be the MLB leader for a second time and NL leader for a third straight year.
Assuming Webb does enough to lead the NL in both categories — a pretty safe assumption — he’ll become the first Giants pitcher to lead the NL in innings and strikeouts since Bill Voiselle in 1944. Juan Marichal and Gaylord Perry led the league in innings and Tim Lincecum had the strikeouts, but Webb will do something that’s never been done by a San Francisco Giant.
It has been done three times in the American League by another current Giant, Justin Verlander. After his final start of the year, Verlander said he’s looking forward to watching Webb join the club.
More Than An Everyday Player
On the day he was traded to the Giants, Devers started at DH for the Boston Red Sox and hit a homer against the New York Yankees. It was the 73rd game of the season for Boston, but when Devers debuted in San Francisco 48 hours later, the Giants were playing their 73rd game.
Devers has taken the field every day in both spots, and when you add it up, he’s about to do something very rare. Today will be Game 163 for Devers, making him the first big leaguer to play more than 162 games since Justin Morneau also went 163 in 2008. You have to go all the way back to 1962 to find the last Giant to do it.
The Giants and Los Angeles Dodgers finished tied for the pennant that year and played a three-game playoff, which back then counted as part of the regular season. José Pagán started all three games and had six hits as the Giants edged their rival to reach the World Series.
Devers will become just the third player in the last 50 seasons to play more than 162 games because of a trade. Because all tiebreakers are now settled without play-in games, it might be a long, long time before another Giant gets a chance to do this.
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