The SF Giants CEO Larry Baer feels the same as most fans on the recent baseball season. “It was a gut-punch,” he said. It was a hard-fought season with a lot of hope and optimism that ended in heartbreak. The team ended the season with 109 wins, but the disappointment came from falling in the playoffs to rival the Los Angeles Dodgers. Prior to that, the team saw the tantalizing goal of the World Series within reach.
The Controversial End: A Defining Moment
It’s one thing to have a successful season end when a qualified opponent brings their best. Yet, for the Giants, it’s not that clear in the eyes of many fans about how the game ended. In the final moments, questions remain including whether Wilmer Flores checked his swing. Gabe Morales, the first base umpire said he went through, leading to the end of the game.
Asked about the controversial call, Baer states it was frustrating and said he was in the background of the camera shot, giving him a pretty good vantage point. He said, “There are thousands and thousands of calls in a season with dozens or even hundreds of calls in any game. I don’t think it’s right for us to dwell on that.” He continued on stating, “Last night was something pretty magical,” in an interview the day after the end to the Giants’ season. I think a lot of folks in the ballpark felt the spirit of Willie Mays, Koufax, and Jackie Robinson, and Willie McCovey? It was a magical and incredible season.”
A Season of Highs and Lows
There’s no doubt that the Giant’s had an impressive season, with highs and lows throughout it. Wilmer Flores had a solid season. So did Buster Posey, the club’s catcher. It may have been his best season since 2014. Many are quite hopeful for the coming seasons, hoping that the good things of this year will carry through. Among those is the golden right arm of Logan Webb. The 24-year-old starter held off the Dodgers to just one run in 14 2/3rd innings in the series.
Speaking of the upcoming future for the Giants, Baer states, “To produce 109 wins, including the playoffs, was magic, and they captivated the community.” He continued in a recent article, “It’s an amazing platform for the future for us. We didn’t get to the ultimate goal, but there was so much progress in a short period of time. We feel empowered and emboldened.”
The team has a lot of work to do in the offseason. It only has two players signed past 2022 including Tommy La Stella and Brandon Crawford. That means the Giants could be planning a big investment in free agency.
Still, with 107 wins – the most wins in the history of the franchise in the regular season – is reason enough for fans to be looking forward to good things to come.
“I think the sting of last night’s loss, will morph over time, maybe in the coming hours and days to gratitude and appreciation for what we were able to accomplish on the field and off the field.” It has been a difficult season, including starting out the year with just 8,000 people in the stands all socially distanced due to the pandemic.
A Season That Changed Things
A lot of things happened to change the game for Larry Baer and the team itself. The president of baseball operations, Farhan Zaidi noted that the team developed a strong level of trust between each other and that led to many good experiences. It’s easy to see they had in fact become a strong team force with the electricity and excitement on the field during the playoffs, including in the stands.
It’s important not to overlook just how far the team came. Not many would have had high expectations for a playoff berth at the start of the season. Experts only gave the Giants an expected 75 wins for the season. Speaking of the team’s main players coming together, Baer said, “It was almost like an orchestra working together. “
Larry Baer has been noted as one of the professional sports’ leading visionaries. He joined the Giants in 1992 as Executive Vice President. He was tasked with working to keep the Giants in San Francisco. He was named CEO of the group in 2012. In his first year serving as president and CEO, the team won their second World Series Championship in just 3 years.
