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SF Giants: 3 takeaways from the Giants' recent hot streak

By Eric Cole |
Los Angeles Dodgers v San Francisco Giants
Los Angeles Dodgers v San Francisco Giants / Andy Kuno/San Francisco Giants/GettyImages
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The San Francisco Giants have turned their 2023 season around in a hurry lately. As of today, they are currently riding a 10 game win streak and have won 12 of their last 14 games. Aside from a hiccup in their series against the Cubs where they lost two out of three, the Giants have been basically untouchable the last two weeks plus.

This hot streak could not have come at a better time for the Giants. The Dodgers have stalled somewhat over that same time period which is an opportunity you never want to let pass you by. The Diamondbacks remain in first place in the division, but they have also looked more human of late and that has allowed San Fran to regain a ton of ground in the division.

The end result of all of this is that the Giants find themselves in second place in the National League West with no signs of slowing down. Their luck hasn't been perfect in June with some injuries to Mike Yastrzemski and Lamonte Wade Jr. being notable there, but overall Giants fans have to be thrilled.

The questions now are how were the Giants able to flip the switch June and what does this mean for the rest of the season? These are very fair questions and while the answers should always include some version of "it's complicated", here are some of the key takeaways from the Giants' hot streak in June so far.

The Giants' offense is alive and well

If you look purely at the Fangraphs WAR (fWAR) leaderboards, the Giants' position players get a lot of love as a top 5 group in all of baseball this season. Thairo Estrada has been great and they have gotten big time contributions from JD Davis, Mike Yastrzemski, Patrick Bailey, and Lamonte Wade Jr. in 2023.

If you narrow the focus down to since June 6th which is when this torrid stretch started against the Rockies, things look even rosier for the Giants as only the Atlanta Braves' offense has a higher fWAR than the Giants in all of baseball during this time period. The Diamondbacks and Padres are nipping right at their heels, but the Dodgers have been outside the top 20 which is pretty bizarre when you think about it.

It isn't just fWAR, either, as the Giants have been among the best in the league in wRC+, runs scored (the Giants rank first there), and wOBA over this same stretch. Bailey and Estrada have been particularly good with Joc Pederson being right there with them as well.

You don't put together streaks like this without a fair bit of luck on your side to and the Giants are no exception as their team BABIP sits at .335 over their last 15 games. This isn't a knock against the Giants whatsoever as the quality of contact matters a lot when it comes to BABIP, but it is worth acknowledging that they have been awesome AND balls have been finding holes along the way.

The Giants' bullpen has been the best in baseball

You would think that in order to put together this sort of win streak, the Giants rotation has had to also be nails. However, that has not been the case as Giants starters have posted just 0.7 fWAR (outside the top 20 in the league) in their last 15 starts with a 4.25 ERA and 4.11 FIP. Their strikeout rate and walk rate have been middling and they rank dead last in innings pitched. So what is the deal?

Well, a huge part of it has been the play of the bullpen. Since June 6th, the Giants' relievers have been the best group in all of baseball and it isn't close with 1.6 fWAR. Some of that is from the sheer amount they have been used as they have 84 innings pitched in 52 appearances during the streak which is a LOT. However, they have also been awesome with a 2.25 ERA and 2.98 FIP over all of those innings.

Sean Manaea holds the fWAR lead in the bullpen over this stretch thanks to his FIP, but the San Francisco bullpen has six relievers that have made five or more appearances who also have ERAs of 1.42 ERA or lower during this hot streak. That is a team effort and it has been more than enough to compensate for the deficiencies in the rotation in June.

The National League West may be decided at the trade deadline

Now that the Giants have firmly inserted themselves in the division race, the NL West is looking more and more like it will be decided at the trade deadline. The Diamondbacks, Dodgers, and Giants all have roster holes they would like to fill and whoever shores up their roster shortcomings best in the next month or so could have an edge.

The Giants may have an advantage if that is the case. In addition to having a farm system that has prospects that are both expendable to the organization as well as have real trade value, they also have Kyle Harrison sitting there in the minor leagues all but ready to fill one of the Giants' biggest needs at starting pitcher.

We don't know how this will all shake out the rest of the season, but it sure is nice to see the Giants put themselves in a position to have fans optimistic in 2023.

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