Bizarre ritual may be the key to recent SF Giants hot streak

The SF Giants are on a roll right now. They are playing cleaner baseball and are scoring more runs which naturally will lead to more wins. However, a bizarre ritual may be playing a part in their recent success.

We already took a look at the quasi-freak behavior of rookie Giants outfielder Drew Gilbert. He got choked by third baseman Matt Chapman after he crushed a home run in Monday’s game against the Rockies which revealed that he may have the sort of intense weirdo energy that the team has sorely been missing.

Strange SF Giants ritual may be behind the team's hot streak

We got a little more info on this bizarre choke practice. Apparently Willy Adames said the choke is part of a “hype ritual” that the team does before every game that Adames said is “over the line” so I guess we can all just use our imaginations.

The choke was not the first time we have seen it as apparently Chapman gave Gilbert a choke in the dugout of a home game at Oracle Park which is pictured above. I guess this is just a thing that they do but it sure seems to be working.

Baseball is filled with weird, bizarre rituals. Giants fans can recall the days of the rally thong and Hunter Pence’s profanity-laden motivation speeches during playoff runs. Baseball players are a notoriously superstitious lot so if something works and they are winning games you know they are going to keep on doing it.

Plus, with Pat Burrell in that dugout as the hitting coach, we know that he has been rumored to be involved in some bizarre and hilarious behavior in the past that may or may not have had something to do with the team’s 2010 championship run. Maybe The Machine has made a comeback in the clubhouse in a desperate effort to get the bats going. Pure speculation obviously, but with Burrell being on the hot seat maybe desperate times have called for desperate measures.

Whatever weirdness this team is engaging in, it is working. They are red-hot and have somehow made people believe they actually have some sort of chance at the playoffs. Even if they come up short it is great to see the team still fighting after so many months of uneven and uninspired play.

The energy and the weirdness seems to be back in San Francisco which is a great sign and hopefully they can sustain it into 2026 even if they come up short of the postseason.

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