Why SF Giants constantly playing close games bodes well going forward

SF Giants fans are all too familiar with the torturous brand of baseball currently being played by the team. San Francisco is coming off seven straight one-run contests, the last five of which they have won. All these close games are good for the team, though.

The Giants are currently 16-12 in one-run games. Manager Bob Melvin said that he would love it if the team could start winning by three or four runs and give themselves a greater margin for error. However, he also said that playing in and winning these close games would benefit the team down the road.

SF Giants are going to benefit from playing so many close games

It is clear that Giants players understand that close games are part of their brand of baseball. Before the season started, Logan Webb said the blueprint for the team was to play tight ballgames that they won on the strength of their pitching and defense. Matt Chapman called the team battle-tested after his walk-off homer and Mike Yastrzemski said these close wins have made the team resilient.

While it can be a difficult brand of baseball to watch especially when the offense goes cold, it is an approach that almost seems perfectly designed to help a team thrive in October during the playoffs. Looking back on the championship years, those Giants teams were never the most talented team on paper but they had a belief in themselves and were able to emerge victorious time and time again in close games thanks to their strong pitching, solid defense, and just enough timely hitting to get it done.

Of course, the Giants need to get to the playoffs this season first before they can start drawing on their experience playing tight games against playoff opponents. It is going to be a tall task given the division they are in. Yet, the Giants still find themselves right in the thick of the National League West so they definitely have a shot at this stage of the season.

Right now, it is clear that this Giants team has a lot of belief in themselves when things are tight late in a game. They know they have the best bullpen in baseball and their eight walk-off victories have fostered a belief that something good is going to happen late in games. A team needs good vibes like that to propel them on to the playoffs, so if they can keep on winning tight games and do end up with a spot in the playoffs they are going to bring a lot of confidence that they can win close games.