SAN FRANCISCO -- Through 28 games in 2017, the Giants were 10-18, seven games out of first and in last place in the National League West.
Through 28 games in 2019, the Giants are 11-17, seven games out of first and in last place in the National League West.
You might remember that the 2017 club lost 98 games, and in a way this season's start is even more concerning. The Giants have scored just 90 runs, six fewer than at this point two years ago, when they had already dealt with injuries to Buster Posey, Denard Span and Brandon Crawford, among others. Madison Bumgarner went down on his dirt bike in April of 2017, too.
This year's club has had just one player on the DL through 28 games, and Johnny Cueto was never expected to contribute until September, anyway. Still, the Giants just got swept by a Yankees team that has 13 players on the DL and somehow lost two more during Sunday's finale.
And now here come the Dodgers, perhaps the best team in the Majors, already seven games up on the Giants. This is where you might say, "Well, we didn't expect the Giants to contend, anyway." But they did hope to play meaningful baseball into September, and that was before manager Bruce Bochy announced his retirement.
So there's some urgency here in late April, even though there are plenty of games left. The Giants cannot fall any further behind. Bochy said he felt that urgency even Friday, when the Yankees came to Oracle Park to kick off a six-game homestand.
"When you're where we're at, hopefully we all feel that," he said. "We better feel like that. As they say, you don't win it here (in April) but you certainly can bury yourself where you've got too many games to make up."
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The Giants will try to chip away tonight behind Jeff Samardzija, who will face Kenta Maeda. After that it's Drew Pomeranz vs. Walker Buehler and Bumgarner vs. Hyun-Jin Ryu.
