[DC 86]

The Giants go into their April 27 game vs. the A's with the best record in MLB, after Mets loss in St. Louis.

I'm still bitter the Giants didn't split with the Mets last week. Bart cost them Game 1 of the series they never should have lost, but it's nice to be on top of the heap almost a month into the season. 

Of course, I don't care about having the best record. I want to win in post season. My fear is the Giants are building a great regular season team that doesn't translate in the post season because they have no truly great players and great players win championships.

The Atlanta Braves were certainly stacked with great players last year. . . .

The Giants have nobody as good as Ozzie Albies or Freddie Freeman. The Giants lost to the Dodgers because they didn't have good enough hitting. They pitched well enough to win. They need better bats to win in post season. 

Joc Pederson îs a big upgrade over Alex Dickerson, that's for sure, but they still don't have an Albies or Freeman level offensive powerhouse, and the Braves had Pederson themselves as well.

Ozzie Albies and Freddie Freeman are great players and offensive powerhouses?!? 

As Giants pointed out above, the Giants did win three WS with pitching. Who on those teams were the requisite offensive powerhouses?

I'll side with Giants on this one, albeit substituting Austin Riley for Albies (who's nothing special). Last year Freeman hit 300/393/503 in 695 plate appearances, Riley hit 303/367/531 in 662 plate appearances. I can't imagine anyone in the Giants lineup coming close to those numbers this year.

As for the three WS champs, the following hitters put up OPS+ above 130 (30% above league average) in significant plate appearances on those teams: Buster Posey, Aubrey Huff and Pat Burrell in 2010; Buster Posey (who hit 336/408/549 and was league MVP) and Melky Cabrera in 2012; Buster Posey and Mike Morse in 2014. Who on this year's team projects to hit at those levels? maybe Brandon Belt, but how many games will he play?

[DC 86]

The Giants go into their April 27 game vs. the A's with the best record in MLB, after Mets loss in St. Louis.

I'm still bitter the Giants didn't split with the Mets last week. Bart cost them Game 1 of the series they never should have lost, but it's nice to be on top of the heap almost a month into the season. 

Of course, I don't care about having the best record. I want to win in post season. My fear is the Giants are building a great regular season team that doesn't translate in the post season because they have no truly great players and great players win championships.

The Atlanta Braves were certainly stacked with great players last year. . . .

The Giants have nobody as good as Ozzie Albies or Freddie Freeman. The Giants lost to the Dodgers because they didn't have good enough hitting. They pitched well enough to win. They need better bats to win in post season. 

Joc Pederson îs a big upgrade over Alex Dickerson, that's for sure, but they still don't have an Albies or Freeman level offensive powerhouse, and the Braves had Pederson themselves as well.

Ozzie Albies and Freddie Freeman are great players and offensive powerhouses?!? 

As Giants pointed out above, the Giants did win three WS with pitching. Who on those teams were the requisite offensive powerhouses?

I'll side with Giants on this one, albeit substituting Austin Riley for Albies (who's nothing special). Last year Freeman hit 300/393/503 in 695 plate appearances, Riley hit 303/367/531 in 662 plate appearances. I can't imagine anyone in the Giants lineup coming close to those numbers this year.

As for the three WS champs, the following hitters put up OPS+ above 130 (30% above league average) in significant plate appearances on those teams: Buster Posey, Aubrey Huff and Pat Burrell in 2010; Buster Posey (who hit 336/408/549 and was league MVP) and Melky Cabrera in 2012; Buster Posey and Mike Morse in 2014. Who on this year's team projects to hit at those levels? maybe Brandon Belt, but how many games will he play?