Any kind of sports fandom is truly maddening. It took me a long time to acknowledge that, but damn, is it true. Despite this reality, baseball fandom is my life. Giants fandom is in my blood. It's easy to forget about the maddening part during blissful moments, but it's there, always lurking. Right now I'd describe my Giants fandom as just that: maddening.
Last night's Giants game left me with only one question: "What is baseball?" I asked this due to the fact that the Giants should not have won last night's game. The lineup made no sense whatsoever to anyone who knows a lick about baseball. It was a Nicholas Cage movie made within at least the last decade. It was ridiculous. Chris Heston threw a ton of pitches, but somehow amassed a lot of strikeouts and was effectively wild. Ehire Adrianza walked three (!?!?!?!) times. Buster Posey was not in the lineup. Angel Pagan homered. But last night made me love this stupid Giants team in what can really only be articulated as a stupid season.
I had figured that by late September, the Giants would be so far out of the division that the end of the season would be, dare I say, pleasant. At least it wouldn't be stressful, or, as previously mentioned, maddening. It wouldn't be the most dangerous possibility of all: hopeful. Here we are, with 13 games left, and the Giants are 6 back of the Dodgers in the NL West. As for the Wild Card, I wouldn't even want the Giants to get mixed up in that, because it's too good as is. Plus, the Giants are stupid behind in that race; they see the dust cloud and know that bus is never coming back. But (but!!) the NL West division remains a hail-mary long shot. I wish I could stop believing. I want nothing more than to close the door on this silly Giants season and move on. But hope will not allow me to, my fandom will not lay dormant. Here are a few reasons why the Giants might (but definitely, probably WILL NOT) tie things up in the NL West:
Exhibit A: The Dodgers have hit a speed bump lately. They lost a series to the Pirates and Kershaw lost at home. Now they are, at best, about to lose a series to the Diamondbacks. I'm pretty sure this hasn't happened all season, as the Giants are the only team in the NL West to lead a season series against the Dodgers. Granted, sometimes the Dodgers starting pitching beyond Kershaw and Greinke looks about as great as the Giants, but still. Paul Goldschmidt was a darling and decided to save his home runs for LA and not San Francisco. He is doing good work, that annoyingly amazing man. But I digress. Greinke was just listed as being scratched tonight with calf soreness. The Dodgers other starting options are not great, which means Arizona could possibly sweep. This would help.
Exhibit B: The Giants schedule is favorable, including a series against the A's. The A's could help the Giants get within 4 games of the division by the time the Dodgers come to town. That would make the Dodger series more meaningful, and possibly, at the very least, not allow the Dodgers to clinch the NL West in San Francisco. Until the Dodgers recent troubles, that was all I'd asked for.
Exhibit C: The Giants have the ability to go on an inexplicable hot streak. Yes, the Dodgers would also have to continue their struggles, but I've seen far weirder things than that. If the Giants can win a World Series without Angel Pagan and Matt Cain while having Travis Ishikawa as their left fielder, anything is possible. Hell, that's the kind of thing that makes me believe in unicorns. With all that said, it wouldn't be easy for the Giants to do this, but still, remotely possible.
I'm guessing that Dodger fans feel about the Giants how Mets fans feel about the Nationals: you know a different outcome than what's predicted is highly unlikely, but you're still worried. You're still looking over your shoulder, wondering, even if logic says otherwise. So I'm hoping against logic and predictability, because the Giants have had a stupid season, damn it. And the stupidest way of all to end it would be to win the NL West. The Giants (and hope in sports teams) are like a bag of Skittles you find under your car seat; you know they're probably bad, but you just love Skittles so much, you can't help but have some.
