Photo credit: @SFGiants

By Morris Phillips

In a lot of ways, the 2018 Giants haven’t tipped their hand in regards to what type of team they’ll eventually become.

First of all, they’re 24-24, after they were 19-19 and 14-14. That’s as .500 as a team can get with a sample size of 48 games, still not a third of the way through a 162-game schedule. The Giants are 13-14 against the NL West. They’re 7-7 in one-run games, 2-2 in extra innings, they were 13-13 in April, now they’re 9-10 in May.

The most games they’ve been over .500? Four.

The most games they’ve been under. 500? Four.

Immediately after winning a season-best four in a row, they lost six straight, their worst slide. And the Giants have 12 wins against right-handed starting pitchers, and 12 wins against left-handed starting pitchers.

Again, if the Giants were a poker-faced, Vegas-based, card wizard, they be a pretty good one.

But if they’re a post-season contender, one year after they lost 98 games, then we can’t quite confirm that to be true even as they sit just two games off the pace of division-leading Arizona, and a game-and-a-half behind second-place Colorado.

So what might happen next for baseball’s current over-the-hill gang?

While they eagerly wait for the return of Mark Melancon, Madison Bumgarner, Hunter Pence and Joe Panik (likely returning in that order), the schedule remains unrelenting. On Tuesday, the Giants wash down a challenging four-game set with the Rockies, with two at the home of the World Series champion Astros. They’ll see familiar face Gerrit Cole, the former Pirate with the uncanny ability to unleash 96 mph heaters on the black.

The Giants most immediate need? Not letting Cole get comfortable and mowing down San Francisco hitters in waves. Remember, Cole’s struck out 10 or more opposing batters in five of his nine starts, while the Giants collectively have fanned 10 or more times in 16 of their 48 games, exactly one-third of their contests.

No wonder the Giants languish at No. 22 in the latest ESPN Power Rankings while the defending champion Astros are No. 3: they haven’t proven anything yet.

The Giants could succeed or fail with or without their four, returning stars. They could go either way as well with their near, completely healthy offensive attack, or surge or regress once their starting rotation becomes whole. No outcome seems implausible.

But whatever happens, it starts with Cole on Tuesday, Justin Verlander on Wednesday, and continues Friday in Chicago with the Cubs’ Kyle Kendrick.

Now that’s challenging.