The Giants welcome the Miami Marlins to AT&T Park on Thursday night to kick off a four game set.
With the series win over Atlanta, the Giants have now won five of their last six series and own the best record in the National League.
The Marlins head into San Francisco for their third series of the road trip, after stops in San Diego and Los Angeles.
Miami's previous series: Miami continued their California swing in Los Angeles, losing two of three.
They avoided the sweep with a big 13-3 win on Wednesday, but have still struggled mightily on their current road trip.
The Marlins are now 2-5 through the first seven games of the trip, quickly erasing the 19-15 record they held just a week ago.
They now sit at 21-20, and have fallen to third place in the NL East.
San Francisco's previous series: The Giants strong start continued with a series win against Atlanta.
They finish the season 5-1 versus the Braves, and capped the series with a 10 run, 15 hit performance on Wednesday.
The Giants are now 26-15 and have opened up a 3 ½ game lead over Colorado.
Miami's probable starters: 5/15 – Nathan Eovaldi (2-1, 2.86 ERA), 5/16 – Henderson Alvarez (2-3, 3.33 ERA), 5/17 – Tom Koehler (3-3, 2.57 ERA), 5/18 – Jacob Turner (0-1, 6.75 ERA)
San Francisco's probable starters: 5/15 – Matt Cain (0-3, 4.25 ERA), 5/16 – Tim Hudson (4-2, 2.09 ERA), 5/17 – Tim Lincecum (3-2, 4.78 ERA), 5/16 – Ryan Vogelsong (1-2, 4.22 ERA)
Three things to know for the series:
Stanton's monster start: It's no secret that the 24-year-old right fielder is one of the premiere power threats in all of baseball, but staying on the field has been an issue for Stanton during his brief career.
The good news for both Stanton and the Marlins is that he hasn't caught the injury bug yet this year – and it's paid off in a big way.
Stanton paces the majors with 42 RBI's, to go along with 11 home runs (tied for the NL lead), a .325 batting average, 28 runs scored, a 1.022 OPS and four steals.
Just how hot has Stanton been to start the year? His 42 RBI's in 40 games are already nearly half of his career high of 87, which he tallied in 150 games back in 2011.
Even if his production slows a bit – which will probably happen at some point – Stanton is still on pace to post 45 home runs and 170 RBI's.
While that RBI total is sure to come down a notch, it wouldn't be a surprise to see Stanton put up those 45 home runs and settle in around 120 RBI's.
For this series, the Giants will have to pick their battles with the slugger. While the Marlins lineup around Stanton is much better than a year ago, he is still the biggest threat in the order.
Keeping leadoff hitter Christian Yelich and number two hitter Marcel Ozuna off base in front of Stanton is going to go a long way towards slowing his production.
Fernandez will have Tommy John surgery: Miami's other young super star, 21-year-old Jose Fernandez will miss the rest of the season – and the start of next year – with Tommy John surgery.
His injury is a frustrating development, even if you aren't a Marlins fan.
Yet another rising star will go under the knife, in what has become an epidemic in baseball recently, with 14 pitchers needing TJ surgery so far this season.
His injury is bad for all of baseball, as the righty has taken the league by storm since the start of 2013 – not only with his performance, but also his captivating story about defecting from Cuba.
Fernandez posted a remarkable 2.25 ERA and 257 strikeouts through his first 224.1 major league innings – while also winning Rookie of the Year and being named to the NL All-Star team in 2013.
He had already racked up a league high 70 strikeouts this season, to go along with a microscopic .95 WHIP.
Miami will have to pick up the pieces and move on without their franchise arm – leaving a gaping hole in their starting rotation.
Road woes for Miami: It's a bit of a surprise just how much the Giants and Marlins have in common when it comes to team performance.
Offensively both Miami and San Francisco rank in the top five in runs scored, home runs and runs batted in.
On the pitching side, Miami has been unexpectedly strong this year, comparing quite favorably to the Giants – in fact, to date they actually have more strikeouts, quality starts and shutouts than San Francisco's staff.
However, those stats are a bit deceiving when you examine them deeper. Despite posting similar team statistics so far, the Giants own the most wins in baseball, while Miami sits one game over .500.
The biggest reason for that is Miami's horrendous road record.
The Marlins have found great success at home, but have looked like a completely different team on the road, where they've gone 4-15 this year – while hitting .224 and averaging just over three runs per game.
Needless to say, Miami has lost every road series this season and the Giants will look to take advantage of those struggles during this four game set.
No team goes into a series expecting a sweep – especially in a four game series – but Miami has been so bad on the road that the Giants will be disappointed with anything less than three wins this weekend.
Final note: The Giants will try to break the Marlins' recent dominance at AT&T this weekend.
Since the start of 2011, the Marlins have gone 9-1 in San Francisco, sweeping two series in the process.
For more content by Chris Kersevan, check out his writer’s page and on Twitter @cker7
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