San Francisco Giants staying hot in NL West

san francisco giants staying hot in nl west 2016 images

san francisco giants staying hot in nl west 2016 images

After a cold start to the season that raised some eyebrows on the west coast, the San Francisco Giants have enjoyed a solid streak of success in Major League Baseball. Currently leading the NL West division, the Giants have won 9 of their last 10 games to open up a 4-game lead over the Colorado Rockies.

Most recently the Giants took away a series victory over the Chicago Cubs. The two teams played a 3-game set over the weekend with the Giants winning 2 of 3. The one loss they suffered came when Jake Arrieta was on the mound for the Cubs, perhaps a clear testament to just how effective the Chicago ace is. Before the Chicago series, San Fran swept the Padres in a series from San Diego, and they swept the Diamondbacks in a series from Phoenix.

The Chicago series win is clearly a team highlight in this young season. The loss that the Cubs suffered to San Fran on Sunday night brought them below .700 baseball. However, manager Bruce Bochy tried to keep things in perspective:

“I know it created a lot of interest, but a lot of series will, whether it’s the Dodgers or the San Diego Padres coming in,” Bochy said. “We’re in May. We try to play the same every night.”

Offensively the Giants are a mediocre team as they are middle of the pack in terms of OPS in the National League, currently sitting 9th of 15 teams. Their pitching certainly isn’t top notch. However, San Francisco is 6th of 15 NL teams in terms of team ERA, currently at 3.75. From another defensive point of view, one major strength of San Francisco’s is their fielding ability as the Giants have only committed 19 errors in their 46 games played so far.

Heading into Monday, San Fran has a series coming up against the Padres again, one that will come from San Francisco this time. Thursday will be a day off for the Giants, and then they have a weekend series at Colorado, one that will feature the current No. 1 and No. 2 in the NL West division.

Colorado’s season has been unlike San Francisco’s thus far in the sense that the Rockies played better out of the gates this year. More recently Colorado have been regressing back to the pack, and they enter this week playing just .500 baseball now.

The Giants’ main divisional rival is still considered to be the Los Angeles Dodgers. At present LA are 22-23 on the year and 4.5 games back of first place in the NL West. For the balance of the month, the Giants also have a series at Atlanta, one that have to be keen on sweeping given how poorly the Braves have played from home this season. For a mid-season NL West showdown, the Dodgers and Giants have a series coming up in a few weeks as they will meet in San Fran in mid-June.