The Giants’ Stunning Collapse

From 41–29 to baseball’s worst team, and why Bob Melvin isn’t the (only) problem.

The San Francisco Giants are in a complete and utter tailspin.

On June 13—ironically, the anniversary of Matt Cain’s 2012 perfect game—the Giants beat the Los Angeles Dodgers to improve to 41–29. They were tied for first in the NL West and carried a +52 run differential.

Since then? Entering play on August 23, they’ve fallen to 61–68 with a minus-17 run differential.

That means the Giants have gone just 20–39 over their last 59 games, with a minus-69 run differential.

That’s not just bad—it’s the worst record in baseball over that span, and it’s not particularly close. The abysmal Chicago White Sox—owners of the worst record in MLB history last year and sitting at 45–83 this year—are the next-worst team, with three fewer losses than the Giants. To make matters worse, Chicago even took two of three from San Francisco during this stretch.

So… what happened? And is Bob Melvin to blame?

What Happened

Let’s break it down in simple terms. Giants stats since June 14, with MLB ranks:

• 219 runs (last)

• .228 AVG (29th)

• .302 OBP (29th)

• .374 SLG (28th)

• 92 wRC+ (26th)

• 15 SB (last)

• 23.3 K% (6th-highest)

• -4.8 BsR* (last)

*FanGraphs’ Base Running metric (in runs above average)

Yikes. Outside of Willy Adames (133 wRC+, 2.2 fWAR), the offense has been atrocious.

And it’s not just the bats—the mound has been a mess too:

• 4.81 Starter ERA (23rd)

• 4.18 Reliever ERA (15th)

• 4.53 Team ERA (22nd)

• -1.6 Def* (9th)

*FanGraphs’ Defense metric (fielding and positional adjustment combined, in runs above average)

Logan Webb has pitched well underneath the surface (2.80 FIP), but still owns a 4.07 ERA across 11 starts/66.1 innings in this stretch.

Behind him? Landen Roupp (4.70 ERA), Carson Whisenhunt (4.91), Justin Verlander (4.91), Spencer Bivens (5.58), Tristan Beck (5.81), Kai-Wei Teng (8.78), Sean Hjelle (9.00), and Hayden Birdsong (10.38)—have all ranged from shaky to disastrous across 214 combined innings.

The Giants can’t score, and their pitching has faltered. It’s no surprise they’ve been the worst team in baseball—by several games—over their last 59 contests (36% of a full season).

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Is Bob Melvin to Blame?