San Francisco Giants: What to Watch For in Final Week of 2018 Season

Seven games. That’s all for the rest of the San Francisco Giants’ season. Seven games until the story of 2018 comes to a close, and the beginning of 2019’s begins. What should we expect in the coming week?

The San Francisco Giants season had a whole lot of promise for a significant portion of the season in 2018. They stayed afloat for the most part in what was an extremely crowded NL West, and they did it despite a long long list of injuries.

But, once they caught up with them, and the lack of life injected into the team through the stretch run, the San Francisco Giants eventually gave up on their postseason hopes at the end of August. It has led to a dismal and rather lethargic September. Now, we’re entering the final week of the regular season and there are plenty of things we need to watch for during the final week.

More from Around the Foghorn

• SF Giants: Has the starting rotation run out of options?
• Longtime SF Giants coach Ron Wotus to retire after 2021 season
• SF Giants: Is Alex Dickerson’s time in SF running out?
• SF Giants farm system: Updated top 31 prospect rankings
• SF Giants: José Quintana acquired in waiver claim from Angels

First up is Hunter Pence. While Pence insists on playing another season of pro-baseball, there is a significant chance he won’t be doing so in San Francisco in 2019.

This is likely his last week of games, and the Giants will give him his big “going away” parade. He deserves it, as he’s been one of the most influential Giants players in the ball-club’s San Francisco history. If you get a chance to go out to the park this week, make sure to take in as much Pence as you can.

Next on the list of things to watch for is Bobby Evans’ job. It’s been well documented over the last month that the San Francisco Giants are souring on Evans as the General Manager. Bob Nightengale reported last week that he was on the hot seat, while Bochy and Sabean were set to return to the ball club in 2019.

Then, yesterday, it was reported through ESPN ($) that the Giants are looking for someone to assume a significant portion of the work when it comes to baseball ops. Usually, that means someone like Bobby Evans is hitting the road. Also, according to Andrew Baggarly ($), he did NOT travel with the team to St. Louis, while Larry Baer did, which is odd considering it being the final road trip of the season. There is certainly going to be more developments coming in the next few weeks, but you have to think that he’s on his way out.

Larry Baer and Brian Sabean have both discussed personnel shake-ups this last month, and the idea that some of the more familiar names amongst Giants fans, could be on their way out this season as the team searches for a return to the postseason, and winning baseball. There are certain to be a few Giants who will be making their last appearances at AT&T Park this week.

While it might be awkward to think about it, I would encourage most Giants fans to embrace change, while celebrating the history that a lot of these guys have made for the ball-club, and the city. I’d also encourage getting out to the park as this may just be the last time that you see some of these players in the black and orange. Also, any chance of playing “disruptor” in the final series against the Dodgers is a welcome event.