SF Giants are the sad owners of traumatic postseason distinction

With the 2024 MLB playoffs in full swing, SF Giants fans can only cheer for whichever team is playing against the Los Angeles Dodgers after the Giants missed the playoffs for a third straight season.

While the 2010’s saw the Giants have incredible success in the playoffs, winning 3 World Series championships in 5 years, there was also a much less fun episode that occurred in 2016.

SF Giants blew a game in historic fashion back in 2016

Giants fans were reminded of it during the Wild Card round of the playoffs where a graphic went on the screen showing that in the playoffs since 1990, teams have a record of 1-538 when trailing by 3 or more runs entering the 9th inning. The only exception came in 2016 when the Giants blew a lead against the Chicago Cubs in Game 4 of the NLDS.

That game was when the dynasty truly ended for the Giants. They got an incredible performance from starting pitcher Matt Moore in that game who pitched 8 innings and only gave up two earned runs. But manager Bruce Bochy opted for the bullpen in the 9th inning and things got out of control.

He had to use 5 different pitchers in the 9th including Derek Law, Javier Lopez, Sergio Romo, Will Smith, and Hunter Strickland. When it was all said and done the Giants had surrendered 4 runs to the Cubs making the score 6-5 in favor of Chicago. The Giants failed to score in the bottom of the 9th and were eliminated from the postseason.

It was a rare instance when Bochy’s moves did not work out. The bullpen was shaky in the second half of 2016 so it seemed like only a matter of time before things came to a head the way they did. 

The Cubs went on to win the World Series that year. But Giants fans can at least take solace in the fact that their favorite team won 3 championships in a span of 5 years while the Cubs have won 3 World Series championships over a span of roughly 115 years. 

Let’s hope that another team blows a big lead in the 9th this postseason so the Giants do not stick out like a sore thumb with this sad distinction. Ideally the Dodgers. Please be the Dodgers. That would be nice.