Former SF Giants manager advances to ALDS with Texas Rangers

The SF Giants missed the playoffs in 2023. However, there are plenty of players and managers with ties to the Giants still in the playoffs. One of those is longtime manager Bruce Bochy, who led the Texas Rangers to a sweep against the Tampa Bay Rays in the Wild Card round.

Former SF Giants manager advances to ALDS with Texas Rangers

Oh, the irony is palpable. Bochy advances in October like Giants fans have seen him do so many times before while the Giants sit at home. And, without a manager. By the way, you might be able to cross one manager off of the list as the San Diego Padres have conveyed that Bob Melvin is staying in San Diego according to Dennis Lin of The Athletic.

Of course, everyone knows the story by now. Bochy managed the Padres for the first 12 years of his career and then joined the Giants in 2007. He remained in that role through the 2019 season where he led the club to three World Series titles. The 68-year-old decided to retire, but the itch to manage again was just too much to ignore.

The timing of his decision to return was impeccable. The Rangers were on the upswing when Bochy joined them last winter. It did not look like it at the time after they had only won 68 games in 2022 while parting ways with both manager Chris Woodward and president of baseball operations Jon Daniels.

Though, they had already locked up two key pieces in Corey Seager and Marcus Semien. Plus, they had an ownership group that was eager to spend and a front office who will willing to take risks at the trade deadline.

All of those moves did not pay off as their top free-agent addition, Jacob deGrom, and top trade deadline acquisition, Max Scherzer, finished the year on the injured list. Nevertheless, they made another trade involving Jordan Montgomery, who has been fantastic for them down the stretch.

Bochy added to his Hall of Fame résumé by leading the Rangers to 90 wins and sneaking into the playoffs as a Wild Card team. For Texas, it is the first time that they have reached the playoffs since 2016 and there is a good chance that Bochy finishes the year with a few Manager of the Year votes.

That is secondary to what he and the Rangers are working on at the moment. And, that is going as deep into the playoffs as possible.

He checked the first stop off of his list by sweeping the Tampa Bay Rays. The next challenge will be a tough one as the Rangers are slated to face off against the Baltimore Orioles. Though, no team has a manager with as much postseason success as Bochy has, so they will have that in their favor.