In our final series preview of the year, let’s consider that the San Francisco Giants have the chance to sweep their way to their second 81-81 record in four seasons. If you’ve watched most of their games
in 2025, then you probably realize that won’t happen. The real frustrating part is that the Rockies will make it easy for a sweep.
You saw the headline. The Rockies have done a lot of losing in Oracle Park. Indeed, their record at Oracle in just the past few seasons — when they transitioned to a reliable 90-loss team to a reliable 100-loss team — is 2-15. They haven’t won more than 2 games in San Francisco since 2019. They’re 18-60 on the road this year with a -205 run differential. That’s impressively awful, which is why it’ll be a little funny when they win a game in this series.
I don’t think the Giants care if they go 81-81 or 80-82. The clubhouse has already labeled this season a disappointment. The final three games of the season aren’t going to amount to a hill of beans, and in any case, it will be the team’s fourth consecutive non-winning season. This is a pretty remarkable data point. Just as the Giants had never EVER trailed in their rivalry with the Dodgers, they’ve never had more than four straight losing seasons*:
1899-1902
1974-1977
1982-1985
2005-2008
2017-2020
2022-2025
*-some might argue that .500 is not a losing record, which is why I first described it as non-winning, but if it ain’t winning, it’s losing, right? Humm Baby!
There’s nothing at stake in this series, which is probably not what anyone had hoped for when Buster Posey took over as President of Baseball Operations, but Giants fans are probably used to all the losing by now. The Giants are 14th in losses since the start of 2017 (685). On top of that — and here’s why it’s likely the Rockies will win a game in this series — although the Giants are 9-6 at home recently, Oracle Park attendees have seen the Giants lose quit a lot, with the team posting a 39-39 home record (-16 run differential). They’ve had just three sweeps at home in 2025 (the Athletics back in May, Atlanta in June, the Cubs in August).
What this series does, though, is allow us to look at a few things:
- Is Trevor McDonald a starter? He was able to flummox the Dodgers due to some unfamiliarity (6 IP 1 ER), and maybe he’ll have a lot of good fortune in his first time around the league. Or maybe he’s legit. The Rockies lineup is probably not the best measuring stick either way, but in terms of “org arm” to consider for the team’s pitching plan next season, it’s nice to see one pop up here at the end of the season.
- Willy Adames still needs just 2 home runs to reach 30 home runs this season. He’s 9-for-51 (with 11 walks!) since his last dinger (September 9th).
- Only 31 Giants have had 690 or more plate appearances in a season, with Hunter Pence’s 708 in 2014 being the most recent. Heliot Ramos is at 682, putting him in position to eclipse Will Clark’s 1988 and Rich Aurilia’s 2001. He’s also picked things up a bit from a power perspective with 3 homers in his last 6 games. His previous 3 came over a span of 26 games and 116 plate appearances. He’s just two away from matching his total from last season (22), too. If he’s somehow able to do that, he’ll become just the 8th Giant to homer at least that many times in his age 24 & 25 seasons. Already, Ramos is one of just 9 Giants in franchise history to have 20+ home runs in their age 24 & 25 seasons. There have been just 53 seasons in Giants history, too, where a player aged 25 or younger has hit 20 or more home runs. Ramos is two of them.
Meanwhile, the last time the Giants faced Kyle Freeland, it got a little testy. Will Matt Chapman shove him again or will Freeland simply bean everybody? Will Justin Verlander get his 4th win of the season? And, Logan Webb has already crossed the 200 innings threshold. Will the Giants really run him out there for the finale?
Series overview
Who: Colorado Rockies vs. San Francisco Giants
Where: Oracle Park | San Francisco, California
When: Friday at 7:15pm PT, Saturday at 1:05pm PT, Sunday at 12:05pm PT
National broadcasts: None.
Projected starters
Fridayy: German Marquez (RHP 3-15, 6.49 ERA) vs. Trevor McDonald (RHP 0-0, 3.38 ERA)
Saturday: Kyle Freeland (LHP 5-16, 5.00 ERA) vs. Justin Verlander (RHP 3-11, 3.88 ERA)
Sunday: McCade Brown (RHP 0-4, 7.54 ERA) vs. Logan Webb (RHP 14-11, 3.30 ERA)
Where they stand
Rockies: 43-116, 5th in NL West, 39.0 GB in Wild Card, Last 10: 2-8, Road record: 18-60
Giants: 78-81, 4th in NL West, 4.0 GB in Wild Card, Last 10: 3-7, Home record: 39-39
Prediction time
Rafael Devers will play in every game of this series, reaching 163 for the season.
