SF Giants: Next 10 Games Could Determine the Season

The SF Giants remain in last place in the National League West, but there is still hope they can turn this season around.

We were told all through April how the season is still early, but it’s not April anymore. Even after beating the Dodgers on Wednesday night and winning their second series of the year, the Giants are still just 11-18 on the season.

They are 6.5 games behind the NL West leading Colorado Rockies, and are just a game behind the fourth place San Diego Padres.

Not all hope is lost, because I see a path in May that will put the Giants right back in this race for the West.

The month has already gotten out to a good start with a series win on the road against the Dodgers.

Now the Giants get a much needed off day before heading to Cincinnati to play the Reds.

The Reds are actually out to a decent start with a respectable 13-14 record. However, they have the 26th worst ERA in the league at 4.69 and play in a hitter-friendly ballpark.

If the SF Giants offense can’t get going this weekend, then it might never get going. The Giants will face a pitcher on Friday night who has an ERA of 7.20.

They will play the Reds seven times over the next 10 days, and they will win at least five of those games.

In between that series they will play three against the New York Mets at Citi Field. Even though the Mets have a great starting staff, which is hurt at the moment, they actually have a worse team ERA than the Reds.

Citi Field is not quite as hitter-friendly as Great American Ball Park, but hopefully the Giants offense carries its momentum into this series.

Plus, the Mets offense is 26th in the league in hitting and is without their best hitter. This should give the Giants pitchers a chance to get on track.

More from Around the Foghorn

• SF Giants activate Alex Wood, option Sammy Long, and DFA Chadwick Tromp
• SF Giants: Hard-throwing reliever could be key in playoffs
• SF Giants: Kevin Gausman’s sacrifice fly leads to walk-off win
• SF Giants activate 2B Donovan Solano, option Thairo Estrada
• SF Giants place closer Jake McGee on IL, recall Jay Jackson

I think the Giants win at least two games in this series, and with the aforementioned Reds series after it, the Giants will go 7-3 in the their next 10 games to bring their overall record to 18-21.

The end of the month gets a little more difficult with series against the Dodgers, St. Louis Cardinals, Chicago Cubs and Washington Nationals.

There is also a winnable series at home against the Atlanta Braves mixed in there.

Regardless, these next 10 games will go a long way in determining whether or not the Giants can turn this season around.

If they can win seven of their next 10 as I’ve proposed, I think that gives them a lot of momentum going into some of those more difficult series to end the month.

Next: NL West Power Rankings After One Month of Baseball

The goal is to get as close to .500 as they can by the end of the month. If they can do that, then I think a lot of SF Giants fans will feel a lot better about the season going forward.