Was this week the last stand for the 2022 SF Giants?

It looked as if the SF Giants might sneak back into the playoff conversation earlier this week after winning five consecutive games. However, after dropping three straight games including two against the Arizona Diamondbacks and one against the Colorado Rockies, it is looking like have begun the final fade of the season.

Was this week the last stand for the 2022 SF Giants?

The Giants have a 59-60 record and currently sit six games behind the San Diego Padres for the third and final Wild Card spot. The Milwaukee Brewers are also clawing for that final spot, but they are 4.5 games ahead of the Giants in the standings.

The mildly good news is that the Brewers lost to the Chicago Cubs by a score of 8-7. On the other hand, the Padres had a crushing loss to the Washington Nationals by a score of 6-3.

This might all be a moot point. San Francisco is 11-17 in the second half of the season while averaging 3.5 runs per game during that span. They have been swept by the Los Angeles Dodgers twice and the Arizona Diamondbacks once since the All-Star break.

They have simply not played like a playoff team and that is an observation that has been felt since June. The Giants needed to take advantage of a soft schedule and it appeared as if they were doing that as they swept the Oakland A's and Pittsburgh Pirates sandwiched in between a series loss against the Padres earlier this month.

The Giants have two more games against the Rockies and a two-game series against the Detroit Tigers before a brutal stretch begins. They are scheduled to face off against playoff-caliber teams in 20 of the next 23 games after that. Some of these teams include the Dodgers, Padres, Brewers, Philadelphia Phillies, and the Atlanta Braves.

San Francisco has been hovering around .500 for much of the season but this stretch will likely keep them below it for the remainder of the year. If they nabbed a couple more wins earlier this week, they might have a different feel as they head into the toughest stretch of the season.

Of course, the same could be said for how they performed in June as well. They finished with a 13-13 record, but that was a subpar outcome given some of the opponents they faced. The season is beginning to wind down, but splitting a four-game series against the Marlins in early June or going 1-2 against the Cincinnati Reds later that month will sting as the numbers continue to fall out of their favor.

The Giants had a bleak chance at making the playoffs when this week began. Those odds could have been strengthened with better showings against the Diamondbacks and the Rockies, but it looks like their last stand for 2022 will end in disappointment.