The San Francisco Giants have been a bad baseball team in 2017. We're not used to that. Since 2009, they've had just one losing season, and entering this season only four franchises had won more games the past eight seasons. After an awful 12-24 start, they had played a little better, winning three series in a row -- three of four against the Cincinnati Reds, two of three against the Los Angeles Dodgers, two of three against the St. Louis Cardinals.
This tough stretch of games then headed to Wrigley Field, and after winning the series opener, the Giants lost the final three, including a 5-1 loss Thursday as Jeff Samardzija served up three home runs and the offense scraped out just five hits even while striking out only one time.