Series Preview: No, the Giants didn’t break the Dodgers… unless?
The San Francisco Giants took two out of three from their longtime rivals nearly three weeks in the past and it was a kind of issues the place the staff, having embarrassed itself throughout a number of video games and a pair weeks, walked away from the wins as an indication that they’d turned a nook. We’ve all been so determined to consider that the staff is not as unhealthy because it has been via 40 video games this season that any optimistic is popping level and each detrimental is “small sample size.” Well, the Dodgers didn’t have Mookie Betts in San Francisco for that collection loss and right here in LA this week, they’re going to have Mookie Betts again for all 4 video games. Does that imply the Giants are doomed?
I definitely thought this season collection and rivalry was fait accompli and we had been destined to observe the Dodgers carry out each Mortal Kombat finisher on our favourite staff for the remainder of our lives and when that didn’t occur I believed, “Hey, maybe the Giants aren’t “as bad as they’ve looked.” And possibly, given the Dodgers efficiency in and since that collection, the Giants had wounded them in a significant approach. LA was 16-6 earlier than the collection, averaging 6 runs per recreation. They’re 8-10 since and averaging round 4. So, does the baseball world owe the Giants thanks for disrupting the staff everybody hates?
Nah. Unfortunately, that credit score ought to go to the Rockies — and the damage bug that contaminated Mookie Betts with a strained indirect. Just earlier than heading to San Francisco, the Dodgers cut up 4 video games in Coors Field. The Dodgers are constructed to beat anybody anyplace, and once they could not greatest one final place staff, it is attention-grabbing to see them battle with one other in the collection instantly after. Small pattern dimension shenanigans right here, too? Yeah, most likely.
The Dodgers are tenth in offense since April seventeenth (the begin of the Rockies collection) with a staff wRC+ of 103. If you alter for simply after the Giants’ collection, they’re sixteenth (98 wRC+). I will not dislike you with the Giants standing in both cut up. Their pitching has been higher than that in each cut up.
Now, Mookie Betts had the worst offensive season of his profession in 2025 and is unlikely to bounce again far more than round league common, given his age (33). Still, dropping right into a lineup with all the acquainted names and faces does not make the Dodgers worse and getting him again simply in time for a rivalry collection is significant.
We thought the final Giants-Dodgers assembly was a beatdown in ready or a temperature test of both franchise, however all it actually did was function a pace bump to the Dodgers operating away with the greatest file in the sport. Shohei Ohtanit’s 89 wRC+ over the previous few weeks is possibly a little bit of a narrative, nevertheless it’s drowned out by the emergence of Alex Freeland, the reliability of Max Muncy, and Kyle Tucker getting scorching. Meanwhile, the Giants are actually solely making the type of headlines that an ailing franchise generates. Trading a Gold Glover, demoting former veterans they’d deliberate all offseason lengthy to rely on all through the yr, their supervisor not being clear about pitching adjustments… it is a staff coated in flop sweat — and it is solely May eleventh!
That means this collection has the likelihood to be a staggering embarrassment but once more for… the Dodgers! That’s proper. If a world superpower cannot win a collection in opposition to Buster Posey’s Baseball Mogul 2014 sim, then it deserves all the derision that may be mustered. Dave Roberts was on a Hall of Fame trajectory as supervisor, however doubt misplaced a collection to the 2026 San Francisco Giants, trending to be one among the worst groups in franchise historical past. I’m sorry, however he merely should not be taken significantly anymore. Embarrassing! Disgraceful! But additionally, snigger out loud, particularly if the Giants are literally aggressive on this collection after ditching Patrick Bailey and placing Logan Webb on the IL.
Who: San Francisco Giants (16-24) at Los Angeles Dodgers (24-16)
Where: Dodger Stadium | Los Angeles, California
When: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday at 7:10pm PT
National broadcasts: MLB Network simulcast (Thursday)
Projected starters
Monday: Trevor McDonald (RHP 1-0, 1.29 ERA) vs. Roki Sasaki (RHP 1-3, 5.97 ERA)
Tuesday: Adrian Houser (RHP 0-4, 6.19 ERA) vs. Yoshinobu Yamamato (RHP 3-2, 3.09 ERA)
Wednesday: Robbie Ray (LHP 3-4, 2.76 ERA) vs. Shohei Ohtani (RHP 2-2, 0.97 ERA)
Thursday: Landen Roupp (RHP 5-3, 3.09 ERA) vs. Emmet Sheehan (2-1 RHP, 4.79 ERA)
Mookie Betts: He’s persistently ready to attract walks and hit doubles in opposition to the Giants, and despite the fact that his damage has held him again from doing any of that this yr, it’s going to be value watching to see if he can come again and do it to the Giants at will.
Max Muncy: no ocean for him to hit dingers intohowever he went homerless in opposition to the Giants in that collection loss and so I’d count on him to not have zero homers in these subsequent 4 video games.
The Dodgers’ bullpen: Four recreation collection actually do enable groups to take the full tour of their opponent, and whereas the Dodgers’ lineup is spectacular and scary and their rotation is superb on paper, it is their bullpen that normally affords extra progress than chew. That feels very true with Edwin Diaz hitting the IL with unfastened our bodies in his pitching elbow. That means the Dodgers have been injured bitten to the level that final yr’s huge free agent nearer acquisition, Tanner Scott, is again in that position.
Willy Adames: In the final collection preview I wrote,
This collection might be the definitive take a look at to find out whether or not or not Willy Adames handed away sooner or later this season and what we’re seeing hang-out the Giants lineup proper now could be, in reality, a ggg-ghost.
He went 5-for-14 in opposition to Pittsburgh so, we should think about the chance that he’s not a ghost and remains to be alive to the level of lastly beginning to seem like a significant leaguer once more. Great timing?
Bryce Eldridge / Rafael Devers: Great to see Eldridge get his first homer and see Devers sock two final week, however the Giants will want each to place up huge performances if they will compete in the subsequent 4 video games. Devers is 10-for-30 with 4 doubles and a pair of homers right here in the month of May.
Did Buster Posey go to Tony Vitello’s home throughout the hiring course of? If so, I ponder what that was like. If not, why not?
The Dodgers is not going to sweep.
