Probably not. But Maybe?
Happy Tuesday, San Francisco Giants fans!
After their latest victory, a 14-4 shellacking of the ex-Giant filled Pittsburgh Pirates, the Giants are now winners of 11 of their last 14 games.
More importantly, they’re 28-26, and currently occupying the third and final Wild Card spot in the National League standings.
The assumption assumption about the division was that the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres would battle for NL West supremacy, with the loser sliding into a Wild Card spot. The Giants and Arizona Diamondbacks would then have an uphill climb if they wanted to get into the postseason picture.
The Dodgers have held up to their end of the deal. At 33-22, you can pencil them in for the postseason already, even if they could still be challenged for the division lead.
The Padres have not. Despite their major offseason spending spree, they sit at just 24-29 … with the same record as the Cincinnati Reds, and a worse record than the Detroit Tigers.
The D-Backs and Giants, meanwhile, have been varying levels of competitive, with Arizona just 1.5 games behind the Dodgers.
As a result, the NL West has three teams in the playoffs at the moment. And while the Padres are a full 3.5 games back in the Wild Card standings, conventional wisdom says they’ll make a push.
No one is really standing in their way. The Miami Marlins, with an identical 28-26 record to the Giants, are the only team from the NL East or NL Central to be above .500 while not leading the division. So the race is wide open.
All the talk has been about if the AL East could field four playoff teams, but … what about the NL West?
What time do the Giants play today?
The Giants host the Pirates tonight at 6:45 p.m. PT.