SB Nation • 4 min read

A pitching matchup exposing the depth difference between the Dodgers and Giants

Without the record you’d normally expect from a pitcher of his caliber, primarily due to missing half a season’s worth of games, Tyler Glasnow looks to go above .500 for the first time since early June. Coming off back-to-back wins that took his record to 3-3, Tyler Glasnow faces the Giants for the second time in a row.

Considering the focus on securing a division title as soon as possible and Clayton Kershaw’s retirement announcement with his final home regular-season start, the Giants’ outlook has

slipped through the cracks as a point of discussion during this series. More importantly, the Dodgers’ ability to potentially hurt the Giants’ scenario hasn’t been as big a topic as one might assume, with Los Angeles close to beating San Francisco out of a small but still real playoff possibility. An extra layer here is that the playoff spot the Giants are chasing is that of a likely opponent for the Dodgers in the Wild Card round.

Given the way this series and all meetings between these two teams have gone in 2025, maybe the Dodgers should’ve been more enthusiastic about the possibility of playing the Giants in the playoffs. Los Angeles is 8-3 on the year against its biggest rival.

The specific matchups for games this Saturday and also on Sunday highlight one of the more stark differences between these two teams, particularly when it comes to the pitching staff. For a while, San Francisco can keep up on the starting pitching front. Logan Webb against Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Clayton Kershaw versus Robbie Ray were relatively even duels based on 2025 production. It’s after that that the trouble begins.

On one side, you have the absurdly talented Glasnow. Meanwhile, after Ray and Webb, the Giants turn to Kai-Wei Teng, a rookie right-hander from Taiwan making only his seventh start of the year, coming into this game with an ERA above 6.00.

A specific aspect of Glasnow’s game to keep an eye on in his final home start is the command. Despite allowing three runs or fewer in his last 14 starts, Glasnow has had difficulty limiting free passes. In half of his last eight starts, Glasnow has walked four or more batters, including in his previous outing, against the Giants.