By Morris Phillips

SAN FRANCISCO–Buster Posey retired, Kevin Gausman left town in search of big bucks, and yes, the Dodgers did everything but disappear. And somehow the Giants persevered, and in many ways got better.

Better than 107 regular season wins? We’ll see.

The common wisdom has been that the Giants don’t have to break a franchise-record for regular season wins for a second, straight season to be better. Trying to do so in competition with the Dodgers, and within the new reality of expanded playoffs would be unnecessary. But within an organization built on incremental improvement and fine tuning, the Giants–through 31 games–have shown signs of ascendancy.

The 2022 Giants don’t hit home runs like they did in 2021, but they’re positively stingy in giving them up. The pitching staff has allowed just 17 round trippers in 31 games, and they’ve issued just 84 walks. The theme: nothing easy for opposing hitters, and as the team’s offense kicks in, these pitching numbers grow in significance.

Evan Longoria, LaMonte Wade Jr., Steven Duggar, Brandon Belt and Tommy LaStella (who has yet to debut in 2022) have missed sizeable pieces of the schedule, reducing the potency of the offense. In their place Luis Gonzales, Thairo Estrada, Joc Pederson and Wilmer Flores have picked up their games, and kept the basepaths moving. Compensating for the relative lack of homers (32 hit in 31 games), the Giants led MLB in sacrifice flies (17) and 20 stolen bases put the team in the top five across baseball. Can’t hammer ’em? Finesse ’em, be resourceful. The Giants have clearly gotten the message.

The team’s bullpen has been fantastic so far, easily the best unit of the ballclub to date. No fewer than seven, heavy usage relievers sport ERAs of less than 3.38. Jake McGee, last season’s closer is the one outlier and he’s landed on the injured list partly in hopes he can recapture his effectiveness.

The Giants’ schedule–as we can envision it now–is challenging throughout. That’s the case succinctly in the coming weeks with the Cardinals, Mets, Padres and the Phillies before they host the Dodgers for the first time on June 10.

On Friday, Logan Webb goes for a MLB-leading fifth win on Friday night in St. Louis. The Cardinals have Jordan Hicks has their expected starter.