The San Francisco Giants (27-39) are only one of two National League teams that are not within five games of a playoff slot. They rank in the bottom-10 in ERA, receive inconsistent production from their most expensive position players and will play six games each against the Los Angeles Dodgers and Atlanta Braves before season’s end. The prognosis is beyond bleak, but all this team can do is keep toiling away.
Matt Chapman is fully embodying that mindset following Sunday’s 2-1 extra-innings, series-clinching road victory over the Chicago Cubs.
“I think everybody’s still believing,” the two-time Platinum Glove third baseman told current MLB analyst Anthony Rizzo after hitting the go-ahead single in the 10th inning. “We started off slow and it’s easy to get down… I mean hitting is hard and you can make things {into} big deals and you can all get into a rut, but if you believe and we keep working and grinding, we have enough veteran guys that know it’s a long season… There’s a lot of baseball left.”
Honestly, what else is the guy supposed to say? Chapman is in the second year of a $151 million contract, so fans are not going to tolerate any gloom and doom from him or any other professional ballplayer for that matter. Optimistic rhetoric is obligatory, but is there a chance that the 2019 All-Star is actually right?
The Giants should have enough talent in their lineup to be consistently competitive, their pitching troubles should relent to some degree and 10 remaining games versus the last-place Colorado Rockies should help. Perhaps there is a narrow and rocky path that San Francisco can wedge itself into this season. It better find an opening quick, though.
Matt Chapman will bring a .245/.326/.369/.695 slash line with him to Monday’s home matchup against the Washington Nationals (33-33). First pitch is set for 9:45 p.m. ET.
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