The 46-62 Giants have already played two of the four 2026 series against the Padres, going 2-1 in the 2nd series of the season, and then 1-2 at the start of May. The season series will wrap up in mid-September. This time, there are four games, at Petco:
• Thursday, 6:40, Robbie Ray (9-6, 3.16) vs. LHP JP Sears (3-3, 3.86)
• Friday, 6:45, Carson Whisenhunt (2-1, 4.60) vs. TBD on Apple TV
• Saturday, 5:40, Tyler Mahle (3-9, 4.96) vs. RHP Walker Buehler (6-5, 5.13)
• Sunday, 1:10, Landen Roupp (7-9, 4.12) vs. RHP Michael King (6-7, 3.38)
As Wednesday evening, only the three Padres pitchers shown have been announced. Giants pitching are just by counting ahead as if this was a normal week, but of course Ray and Mahle are the subjects of trade talk.
The Padres are 12-12 this month and just took a pair from the Rockies for their 5th straight win. Sigh, the Giants haven’t managed 4 in a row even once this year. That brings the Padres above water, at 55-53, 12½ behind those other guys, and 1½ behind both the Snakes and final wild card position. Here’s their current team:
✽ 1B Ty France (46), 2B Jake Cronenworth (13), SS Xander Bogaerts (39), 3B Manny Machado (64, 23 HR)
✽ RF Fernando Tatis (49), CF Jackson Merrill (48), LF Gavin Sheets (43)
✽ C Luis Campusano (14), DH Luis Rengifo (8)
✽ bench C Freddy Fermin, C Rodolfo Duran, IF Sung-Mun Song, OF Jase Bowen
✽ rotation King, Griffin Canning (2-9, 6.65), Marquez (4-2, 5.17), Sears, and Tight Pants
✽ closer Mason Miller, set ups Adrian Morejon and Bradgley Rodriguez
Asked about the Giants poor contracts this week, Jim Bowden says every team has them, and then cited Bogaerts ($25M annually for ’27-‘33) and Machado ($33M annually for ’27-‘33) as examples. The Padres are on the hook for some big coin, including Tatis ($25M for ‘27-‘28 and $36M from ’29-’34). Tatis did have his first career 5 hit game this week, and is hitting 0.285. Tatis went without a homer for much of the season’s start, and now has 8. Those $$$ obligations are the reason people are speculating on a trade of Mason Miller sometime during this series.
The road trip continues to Texas, with the first pitch in the Monday game there to be thrown two hours after the trading deadline (3 PM WMF time). See the Angels preview for the data on salary and contract lengths of various Giants who might be leaving us.
The Picture of the Post goes to Robbie Ray, for his time with the Giants. He will make one more start for the Orange and Black, during the Padres series, and then be traded to his 7th MLB team over the weekend. He’s been a #1b pitcher to Logan Webb’s #1a, pitching 60 times since recovery from TJ in mid-2024. His Giants record is 23-16 with an ERA of 3.16. Another team will ride his 34 year old arm, and his pitching smarts, into post-season glory. We all wish him very well, as we all assume the Giants would never send him to the blue people.
Luis Arraez went 4-4 in his probably final game in Giants colors at Willie Mays Field, drove in two, and took over the MLB batting average lead. We will cheer for you in San Diego, and hope you are traded to a team worthy of your humanity and skill.
There’s a chance that Heliot Ramos has also played his last home game in San Francisco. He’s been a great teammate, but more and more buzz is rising about his trade chances. Rumors, or perhaps wishful thinking, surround pitchers like Mahle, Houser, Brubaker, and Hentges.
