The Giants finished the 2011 season with a 6-3 loss to the Colorado Rockies Wednesday.
It was a bitter-sweet day at AT&T Park as many of the players, including Pat Burrell and Mark DeRosa, said goodbye to fans - not knowing if they would be back next year.
The team has known for more than a week that the playoffs were off the table, making it a pressure-free day. Wednesday's game was under sunny skies and a rare scorcher for the 40-thousand or so who turned out to cheer on the players.
Instead of getting ready for the post-season, coaches and players packed up their things and headed home on Thursday.
Manager Bruce Bochy held his final news conference of the year at 10 a.m.
San Francisco (86-76) wound up in second place in the NL West behind playoff-bound Arizona, becoming the first defending champion not to make the playoffs since the 2007 St. Louis Cardinals.
