2013 MLB Preview: San Francisco Giants
By Aaron Somers
Coming off their second World Series victory in the past three seasons, there’s plenty of reason to be optimistic about the future in San Francisco. Bruce Bochy led the team to a 94-68 record and then straight through the Cincinnati Reds, St. Louis Cardinals, and Detroit Tigers on their way to winning it all. Buster Posey won a batting title and the MVP award. The pitching staff overall was strong enough to counter a poor year from Tim Lincecum and the Giants will return nearly the same group for another season.
With the start of the 2013 Regular Season upon us, it seemed like the ideal time to check in with each of our team sites here at FanSided MLB and check out what our experts have to say on the upcoming season. From Around the Foghorn, let’s check in with Senior Editor Bryan Rosa and see what he had to say about the team’s best and worst case scenarios, as well as what’s most likely to happen.
Best Case Scenario
For the San Francisco Giants, their best case scenario would be for everybody to stay healthy and to perform up to their expectations. Seems odd to say for a team who’s won two out of the previous three World Series’, but, in the past two years we’ve seen Buster Posey go down with a catastrophic injury, Pablo Sandoval miss nearly half of two consecutive seasons with hamate breaks and guys like Tim Lincecum and Hunter Pence fall off the face of the earth when it comes to their career averages (not to mention losing Melky Cabrera halfway through last year). They’ve certainly had some difficult moments despite their success.
Worst Case Scenario
Giants struggle with health – again – and can’t compete with the hated but re-tooled Dodgers, who look primed for a solid season despite a handful of aging vets.
Most Likely to Happen
The Giants and Dodgers (and the D’Backs may try to jam their foot in the door) compete for the NL West crown until the final week/days of the season, bringing one of the best rivalries in baseball back to the top.
There will be plenty of pressure on the Giants to repeat the success of this past season, but a key factor is going to be their ability to avoid the major injuries. The Giants struggled in 2011, a year after their previous World Series win, slipping back to 2nd place and missing the playoffs while Posey missed nearly the whole year to a knee injury. He’s become the heart and soul of this team and will need to post another solid campaign should the Giants hope to repeat as champions once again.
Follow all that goes on with the defending champions at Around the Foghorn.