2019 San Francisco Giants

2019 San Francisco Giants / Franchise: San Francisco Giants / BR Team Page

Record: 77-85, Finished 3rd in NL Western Division (2019 NL)

Managed by Bruce Bochy

Coaches: Jose Alguacil, Matt Herges, Hensley Meulens, Alonzo Powell, Rick Schu, Ron Wotus and Curt Young

Ballpark: Oracle Park

Season Highlights

Spring training started on a bad note for the 2019 San Francisco Giants as on March 4th, team President Larry Baer was forced to take a leave of absence after being caught on a video using physical force against his wife. Given that recent high-profile incidents of domestic violence by players had been dealt with harshly, it was impossible for the Giants to brush off similar actions by a top executive, and on March 26th, Commissioner Rob Manfred announced he was being suspended until July 1st. A couple of days after the original incident, it was revealed that OF Cameron Maybin had been arrested on a charge of driving under the influence. Before that, the biggest off-season news had been the announcement by long-time manager Bruce Bochy at the start of camp that this would be his final season as skipper and that he would retire at the end of the year. Adding to the sense of a page being turned was the passing of long-time owner Peter Magowan on January 27th at the age of 76. Even though he was retired, he remained one of the public faces of the team. Another in this wholesale series of changes was that the home ballpark also received a new name for the season, being renamed Oracle Park after a change of corporate sponsorship.

The Giants started the season off as expected, going 12-18 in March/April and 10-16 in May. On May 31st, they were at 22-34, in last place in the NL West, 15 games out of first. There was already talk about which players were going to be moved at the trading deadline, with P Madison Bumgarner the name coming up most frequently. The Giant played better in June, going 14-13, which was nice but did not fundamentally change things. They only had one representative at the All-Star Game, closer Will Smith, who was also widely expected to be dealt by the end of July. However, perspectives changed when the Giants started July red hot, winning 16 of their first 19 games and outscoring their opponents by a wide margin. They reached .500 on July 19th with a record of 49-49, and while they still had no realistic chance of catching the first-place Los Angeles Dodgers, who were still 15 games in front that day, they were now in competition for a wild card. As a result, plans about how to approach the upcoming trade deadline had to be rethought in a hurry. While they still sent away a few older pitchers, namely Sam Dyson, Mark Melancon and Drew Pomeranz, they kept the two key pieces in Bumgarner and Smith and added 2B Scooter Gennett, acquired from the Cincinnati Reds. This in effect gave their core players one last chance at glory, even if it was a long shot.

On September 18th. Bochy recorded the 2000th win of his managerial career as the Giants defeated the Boston Red Sox, 11-3. The Giants had been unable to keep up their strong results from July and had fallen back to 4 games below .500 at that point, virtually eliminating them from postseason contention.

Awards and Honors

• All-Star: Will Smith

Further Reading

• Bob Nightengale: "The Giants are on greatest tear in 18 years. But is it enough to keep ace Madison Bumgarner?", USA Today, July 24, 2019. [1]
• Bob Nightengale: "Classy as ever, Giants give their players chance a finish what they started", USA Today, August 1, 2019. [2]
• Mike Petriello: "How the Giants have built a fascinating bullpen", mlb.com, March 4, 2019. [3]

2019 MLB season by team