San Francisco Giants

The San Francisco Giants have clinched the National League West over the Los Angeles Dodgers after an 11-4 win over the San Diego Padres on the final day of the regular season.

San Francisco also secured home-field advantage through the entire playoffs by virtue of finishing with MLB's best record (107-55).

The Giants and Dodgers had each clinched a playoff berth earlier in September, but the battle for the division crown remained heated between the top two teams in the league. Considering the wild-card team could be eliminated in a one-game series, there was clearly a lot of value in winning the division.

Los Angeles will now host the St. Louis Cardinals in the NL Wild Card Game on Wednesday night.

While the Dodgers are coming off a World Series title and have the more recognizable names on the roster, it was the Giants who held off their rival to clinch the division title.

They break a run of eight straight first-place finishes for the Dodgers.

San Francisco entered 2021 with low expectations after posting a losing record for the fourth straight year in 2020. The team changed the mindset right away with a hot start while posting a 57-32 record at the All-Star break.

Veterans Buster Posey, Evan Longoria, Brandon Belt and Brandon Crawford have all hit at a high level all season long, while Kris Bryant added even more offensive depth ahead of the trade deadline.

The rotation has had more question marks during the season, but starters Kevin Gausman, Logan Webb and Anthony DeSclafani could be enough to carry the team through the postseason.

It will make the Giants a tough team to beat as they seek their first World Series title since 2014.

When you think of some of the historic baseball rivalries, it's the ones on the coasts that stand out: the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox, and the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Francisco Giants. 

On the East Coast, it's the loud, intense fans with their wicked accents and their storied franchises. Out west, it's a laid-back crowd until the "Beat L.A." chant breaks out. It's Northern California vs. Southern California, Boston vs. New York and bragging rights for all of the transplants that reside in enemy territory. 

This is why this year's American League Wild Card and National League West races have been so exciting. And no disrespect to the AL, the Yankees or the Sox, but this bout between the Dodgers and the Giants might be one of the best finishes ever for a divisional crown.

The Dodgers have been one of the most elite teams baseball has ever seen for the last decade. They have won eight consecutive NL West titles, three pennants and one World Series title. However, those division titles are relatively meaningless in the grand scheme of things. Division leaders make the playoffs and sometimes secure home-field advantage, but it means nothing if it doesn't end with the Commissioner's Trophy. 

Yet it's the Giants who have won three World Series titles since 2010. It was maddening for the residents of the Southland to watch their beloved Dodgers dominate during the regular season only to see their neighbors to the north celebrate titles in 2010, 2012 and 2014. Los Angeles fans were forced to watch the Giants snap their 56-year title drought while the Dodgers' own swelled to 26 years by the time San Francisco won its third World Series. 

Ultimately, the Giants' success was unsustainable. The core aged, their manager retired and they bottomed out in 2017 with 98 losses. All the while, the Dodgers remained successful and finally won that long-coveted World Series.

But now the Giants and the Dodgers are battling it out once again. They are the best teams in baseball by a pretty good margin, as both have surpassed the 100-win threshold, marking only the fifth time in divisional history (1969) one division has boasted two 100-win teams. However, one will have to play in a single-elimination playoff game against the St. Louis Cardinals, a surprise contender that just reeled off 17 wins in a row before losing to the Milwaukee Brewers on Wednesday.

Nonetheless, we're in that fun, frenetic part of the season where there are multiple scenarios in play. This race might not be decided in 162 games. If the two end up tied on Sunday night, the Giants would host a play-in game. San Francisco earned the right to play at home by winning the head-to-head series by the slimmest of margins: 10-9. The winner would advance to the NLDS, and the loser would host the NL Wild Card game.

The Giants are 2.0 games ahead in the standings, but they have to play five games (two against the Arizona Diamondbacks, three against the San Diego Padres) without Brandon Belt, who is on the injured list with a fractured thumb. The Dodgers have five games left at home—two against the Padres and three against another NL contender in the Brewers.

How each of them got to this position makes this race all the more interesting. The Dodgers were supposed to be a historic juggernaut. They had assembled one of the most frightening pitching staffs in history, adding 2020 NL Cy Young Award winner Trevor Bauer for good measure in the offseason. They had potential All-Stars at nearly every position and several MVP candidates to start the season.

But then one of those star arms—starting pitching Dustin May—needed Tommy John surgery. Cody Bellinger, Corey Seager and Mookie Betts all got hurt, and even when they returned, they didn't play like All-Stars. Bauer is on administrative leave and under investigation by the league and the Pasadena Police Department after a woman accused him of sexually assaulting her twice, which Bauer has denied. Despite all that, though, they have managed to secure their third 100-win season in the last five years.

For the Giants, it looked like it would be an unremarkable end for the few players left from the 2014 team. But shortstop Brandon Crawford has looked like an MVP. The same could be said for Buster Posey, who returned after taking 2020 off to help his wife, Kristen, with their adopted, premature twin daughters. Even with his injury, Belt still set a new career-best with 29 home runs.

The Giants lead the National League in home runs despite the fact that only three players on the roster have reached the 20-homer mark (Belt, Crawford and Mike Yastrzemski).

Kevin Gausman has reinvented himself at age 30, while 35-year-old Jake McGee is showing that you only need one pitch to be successful.

General manager Scott Harris and president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi did a remarkable job to expedite the rebuild. The Giants were so good midway through the year they became buyers instead of sellers, trading for third baseman Kris Bryant. They made this splash without completely decimating their farm system because it had been restocked over the past five years.

So here's where the urgency comes in for both teams. The Giants are a team on the rise, but the veterans will have to make way for the prospects sooner or later. This could be the last dance for some players who brought titles to the city. Belt will be a free agent this winter. Pitcher Johnny Cueto has a club option for next season, and so does Posey. The Giants have Posey's heir apparent in top prospect Joey Bart too.

Crawford was extended through 2023 with a club option through 2024, but he was once viewed as an early-season trade candidate before forcing the club's hand.

A ton of key Los Angeles players are in the final year of their contracts. The heartbeat of the club, ace Clayton Kershaw, will be a free agent following this season, as will Seager, closer Kenley Jansen, outfielder AJ Pollock, reliever Joe Kelly, utility man Chris Taylor and starting pitcher Max Scherzer, their prized trade deadline acquisition. Some might return, but it's unlikely all of them will still be playing in Dodger blue next season.

All of this has culminated in what is perhaps the best divisional race in baseball history. It's right up there with the 1978 tiebreaker between the Yankees and Red Sox, the one where Bucky Dent, a light-hitting shortstop, hit a three-run home run over the Green Monster to give the Yankees a 3-2 lead and help them eventually win the game 5-4. It might be better than the 1995 AL West competition between the California Angels and the Seattle Mariners when the Mariners, led by Ken Griffey Jr. and Edgar Martinez, secured their first-ever postseason berth and saved the team from relocation.

But divisional races aren't remembered the way playoff runs are. Few remember that the Dodgers clinched the 2014 NL West title by routing the Giants 9-1 at Dodger Stadium—what we remember from 2014 is Madison Bumgarner coming into Game 7 against the upstart Kansas City Royals on short rest to close out the game and clinch the series.

So, while this race has certainly been entertaining, history is made in October, not September. At the end of the day, this race is still about playoff positioning. The Giants hold the edge and the Dodgers might be the favorites, so this race still has significant ramifications for each team as we head into the postseason and start playing the games everyone will remember. 

One of the best rivalries in baseball is only about to get better this weekend.

San Francisco Giants first baseman Brandon Belt is heading to the injured list with a fractured left thumb, per Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area. 

He's reportedly looking at a four-week stint on IL:

Belt, 33, suffered the injury on Sunday after being hit by a Lucas Gilbreath fastball while he squared around to bunt. 

It's a major loss for the Giants, who have the best record in baseball and are title contenders. He leads the team with a career-high 29 homers and a .975 OPS, adding 59 RBI and 65 runs.

It's been a career year for the one-time All-Star and two-time champion, helping to fuel San Francisco's surprising run to the top of the NL West. Being without him for the majority, if not the entirety, of the postseason is a huge blow. 

As for replacing Belt in the lineup, Darin Ruf is a possibility if he's able to come off the injured list himself after suffering a strained oblique last week. Getting Ruf back, who has hit 15 homers this year in a platoon role, would help alleviate the loss of Belt's bat in the lineup. 

If Ruf remains unable to go, however, Wilmer Flores is another option for the Giants at first base. Regardless, the team is going to be without its most dangerous power hitter for about a month. 

The San Francisco Giants became the first MLB team to reach the 100-win milestone in 2021 as they hit four home runs to score a 7-2 victory over the Colorado Rockies on Friday night.

Brandon Crawford, Mike Yastrzemski, Brandon Belt and Tommy La Stella homered for San Francisco, which continues to hold a narrow one-game lead over the reigning World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL West division race. 

"It's a big deal," Giants manager Gabe Kapler told reporters about win No. 100. "We know our division is extraordinarily talented, but we also know that we're talented. Our goal was to win the division and not just sneak into the playoffs."

San Francisco didn't generate much attention coming into the regular season while playing in the same division as the star-studded Dodgers and San Diego Padres.

The ZiPS preseason projections forecasted the Giants to posted a lackluster 75-87 record and gave them a mere 2.2 percent chance to make the playoffs, per Dan Szymborski of FanGraphs.

Kapler's group came out of the gates hot, winning eight of their first 12 games, and never relented en route to the club's first 100-win campaign since 2003.

Starter Alex Wood gave up two runs with seven strikeouts across four innings, and a quartet of relievers—Kervin Castro, Tony Watson, Tyler Rogers and Camilo Doval—combined for five shutout innings out of the bullpen to secure Friday's victory.

"It's a big accomplishment, but we're looking for more," Wood said.

While the Giants clinched a postseason berth back on Sept. 13, they haven't had an opportunity to give key players any added rest because of the tight battle for the division crown.

The Dodgers have been surging with 11 wins in their past 13 games, which could push the NL West race right down to the wire with just over a week left in the regular season.

Prior to 2012, when MLB added a second wild-card team to expand the playoff field to five clubs from each league, the division title was a nice accomplishment but not the be-all and end-all. Now, with the team that comes in second forced into the one-game Wild Card Round, it's crucial to fight for the top spot in the standings.

The Giants are likely to win over 100 games, but if the Dodgers pass them during the final week, their storybook season could come to an abrupt end with one bad outing.

So while San Francisco and Los Angeles would like to give players an extra day off and begin setting up their rotations for the playoffs, they instead have to fight tooth and nail until the NL West is decided, and that could even come down to a tiebreaker game.

The Giants have two more road games against the Rockies this weekend before finishing the regular season with a six-game homestand against the Arizona Diamondbacks and Padres.

Coming into the 2021 season, the expectation for the National League West was that it would be a two-team race between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Diego Padres. Surely, if the NL West were to have two playoff representatives, it would be that pair.

The San Francisco Giants didn't get the memo.

The Giants (94-50) clinched a playoff berth with Monday's 9-1 win over the San Diego Padres, becoming the first team in the majors to secure a postseason spot. It will be the organization's first trip to the postseason since 2016.

So how did we get here?

For one, number of players are having excellent seasons at the plate. Mike Yastrzemski has set a career high in homers (23). Buster Posey and Brandon Crawford were All-Stars. Brandon Belt (24 homers, .937 OPS) is having a career year.

And the team's 217 homers this season are the second-most in baseball.

Perhaps even more importantly, however, the rotation—led by Kevin Gausman, Anthony DeSclafani, Alex Wood, Johnny Cueto and Logan Webb—has been superb. Tyler Rogers and Jake McGee have locked down the later innings. Entering Monday, the Giants' 3.27 ERA and 1.14 WHIP were each second in baseball.

There's no question that the Dodgers and Padres have greater star power. The Dodgers, in particular, might have baseball's deepest and most talented roster. But the Giants have quietly chugged along all season, winning at an impressive clip and currently sit in first place in the NL West (entered Monday 2.5 games ahead of the Dodgers).

A playoff berth became inevitable a while ago. Now the only question is whether the Giants can win their first title since they claimed three between the 2010 and 2014 seasons.

As the Major League Baseball season reaches the home stretch, concession staffers at the San Francisco Giants' Oracle Park could strike as a result of poor working conditions.

Citing the hazards that come with their jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic, 96.7 percent of the roughly 930 concession workers voted to authorize a strike Saturday. The Unite Here Local 2 union said at least 20 staffers have contracted COVID-19 since the stadium welcomed back fans this season.

The strike comes as the Giants are preparing for another deep postseason run, though technically the workers wouldn't be striking against the ballclub. Workers are contracted through Bon Appétit Management Company.

"Bon Appétit Management Company and Local 2 are currently engaged in collective bargaining negotiations," the Giants said in a statement to ABC7 News (h/t ESPN). "We encourage both sides to work productively to reach an agreement as soon as possible. The Giants make the health and safety of everyone working and visiting Oracle Park a top priority. We operate our venue in compliance with local and state health requirements."

Local 2 President Anand Singh noted to SFGate's Alex Shultz that though the negotiations are between Local 2 and Bon Appétit, "the Giants hold the cards here" and could direct Bon Appétit to, for example, raise wages.

Concession workers say the Giants have failed to create a safe environment and have cited waning vigilance in checking fans' proof of vaccination or a negative test.

Workers were on the job Saturday night when the Giants hosted the Los Angeles Dodgers. The vote allows the employees to begin their strike at their discretion; however, it's unclear when staffers will begin in earnest.

The San Francisco Giants will be without two of their pitchers for the immediate future after they announced they placed Johnny Cueto and Alex Wood on the injured list.

San Francisco recalled pitcher John Brebbia and infielder Jason Vosler from Triple-A Sacramento in corresponding moves.

Manager Gabe Kapler told reporters that Wood tested positive for COVID-19, while Cueto tested negative but is not feeling well.

San Francisco is in the middle of a tight race in the National League West and sits just 2.5 games ahead of the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Cueto is one of the pitching staff's anchors and has a 3.73 ERA, 1.30 WHIP and 94 strikeouts in 108.2 innings. The two-time All-Star has bounced back after finishing with an ERA above 5.00 in each of the last two seasons.

Wood has also been solid for the Giants this season and has a 4.08 ERA, 1.23 WHIP and 135 strikeouts in 125.2 innings.

This is Wood's first season in San Francisco after spending the 2020 campaign with the Dodgers and previously pitching for the Atlanta Braves, Cincinnati Reds and Los Angeles in prior years.

Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area noted the timing was particularly worrisome for the Giants because Cueto was scheduled to start Monday's game against fellow playoff contenders in the Milwaukee Brewers. Instead, Jose Alvarez will start a bullpen game.

What's more, Wood was going to start Tuesday's contest, and both pitchers were supposed to start upcoming games against the Dodgers during the coming weekend.

San Francisco will have to navigate the current roster shortage if it's going to hold onto its division lead down the season's stretch run.

After locking up one of their impending free agents already, the San Francisco Giants are reportedly going to keep another key player on their roster for at least one more year. 

Per MLB Network's Jon Heyman, the Giants intend to bring back Buster Posey in 2022. 

Heyman noted it's possible San Francisco will exercise the All-Star catcher's $22 million option for next season, but the "more likely" scenario is the two sides work out a multiyear deal. 

Last week, the Giants signed shortstop Brandon Crawford to a two-year, $32 million contract extension that keeps him with the team through the 2023 season. 

Posey seemed unlikely to become a free agent this offseason because of the team option on his current deal and how well he has played to this point in 2021. 

San Francisco's front office does have several key roster decisions to figure out after this season. Brandon Belt, Kris Bryant, Kevin Gausman, Anthony DeSclafani and Alex Wood are all eligible to become free agents. 

If the Giants can work out a multiyear agreement with Posey that includes a lower average annual salary than the $22 million he would make on his option next season, it could allow the front office to get more money from ownership to retain at least some of those players. 

The Giants have defied even their most optimistic expectations thus far in 2021. Their 77-42 record is the best in Major League Baseball. They lead the Los Angeles Dodgers by four games for first place in the National League West. 

Posey's resurgence has been a major reason for San Francisco's success. The seven-time All-Star is hitting .330/.424/.548 with 15 homers and 39 RBI in 78 games.    

Rather than wait to see what free agency had to offer this offseason, Brandon Crawford has re-signed with the San Francisco Giants. 

They announced on Friday that their All-Star shortstop signed a two-year contract extension through the 2023 season. 

Per Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area, Crawford's new deal is worth $32 million. 

Crawford is in the final season of the six-year, $75 million contract he signed in November 2015. 

The three-time All-Star's bounce-back campaign in 2021 has coincided with the Giants' surprising surge to the top of the MLB standings. 

After posting a .689 OPS in 201 games between the 2019 and '20 seasons, Crawford is hitting .296/.364/.540 with 19 homers and 69 RBI through 95 games in 2021. He remains one of the game's best defensive shortstops. 

Per FanGraphs, Crawford is tied for fourth among all qualified shortstops in defensive runs saved (seven) and tied for eighth in defensive value (6.1). 

Now that Crawford and Francisco Lindor have signed contract extensions, the free-agent class of shortstops this offseason will be led by Carlos Correa, Javier Baez and Corey Seager. 

Crawford was named to the NL All-Star team this season for the first time since 2018. 

San Francisco (74-41) has a five-game lead over the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL West. The team is on track to make the playoffs for the first time since 2016.