Why the San Francisco Giants Will Break the “Odd Year Curse” this Year

Despite the fact that the San Francisco Giants actually didn’t win the 2016 World Series, it doesn’t mean there’s a small part in each fans heart looking forward to 2018.

Even years have been good to the fan base. The even year tradition is extricable to Giants fans.

However, its 2017. Us Giants fans have a fear of even years, with this fear being inadmissible,  but what we fail to realize is that every year is an odd year for the other 29 teams. Keep in mind other teams “odd years” are every season … The Dodgers have had about three decades of “odd year” seasons, but who’s counting?

It’s 2017, but I have faith that my Giants will pull through. Here’s why:

• Let’s talk about the infield. With Buster Posey as the anchor of his team with incomparable framing ability and a .368 SLG, there’s no concern there. Yes, Posey has a problem with power regression with only 2 home runs in the final 64 games of last years’ regular season, but that brings me to my next point.
• Suffering a concussion from last season, Joe Panik went from a .312/.378/.455 line to a .239/.315/.379 within one season. With that being said, it’s comeback season.
• Brandon Belt and Brandon Crawford are on a high and coming off from a successful season, remaining in their prime.

• The San Francisco outfield, otherwise known as Hunter Pence (kidding), has had a couple of injury plagued seasons. Without a doubt, the Giants are a championship caliber team with a healthy Hunter Pence in the lineup. With limited time in the past two seasons Pence was hitting .275 and .289, not to mention he’s on the backside of his career at 34. The gaping hole that is the left field was not addressed this offseason, but that’s another conversation.

• And finally, and hopefully our saving grace, Mark Melancon. The bullpen was the bane of our even year tradition, so signing Melancon will hopefully (and should) solidify the ninth inning for the Giants. Melancon’s numbers aren’t bad at all with a 1.80 ERA, 0.91 WHIP, and 42 unintentional walks in 290 innings — that’s in the past four years. In the last two seasons Melancon has had 98 saves with 104 chances. So now I’m just praying that final inning is locked down (p.s. — Sergio Romo, you’re still a traitor in my eyes).

Next: San Francisco Giants Madness: 1-4 Seeds Announced

So with all that being said, here’s to breaking the odd year curse. With a new year comes a new season, hopefully full of surprises and maybe even a new tradition.