San Francisco Giants’ Brandon Crawford (35) celebrates in the dugout after scoring off of a single hit by Joc Pederson during the third inning on Tue Aug 8, 2023 against the Los Angeles Angels at the Big A in Anaheim. Crawford could be playing his last game of his career or with the Giants after Sun Oct 1, 2023 at Oracle Park vs. the Los Angeles Dodgers. (AP file photo)

By Barbara Mason

The 2023 MLB season is coming to an end with three games left for the San Francisco Giants (78-81). It has sure been a roller coaster ride for the team. The Giants that trailed the Dodgers by a single game at one time not too long ago is now three games below .500.

There was a time after the all-star break that this team was playing great baseball. They were winning so many different way and had a real knack for coming from behind and winning. That all came to a screeching halt in the past several months with the Giants getting really inconsistent.

When it looked like they were getting back on track, they would simply implode. It just seemed to fall to pieces. Some of the errors that came out of this dugout were crazy, errors that you just do not see everyday. The Giants have to be feeling a real sense of disappointment; coming so close and falling just short.

Thursday the Giants had their last day off before they take on the Los Angeles Dodgers in the final three-game series of the regular season at Oracle Park. The Dodgers will be off to the playoffs and the Giants will be off to parts unknown.

It will surely be a long off-season for San Francisco suffering yet another disappointing season. The Giants has quite a list of pending free agents which include Brandon Crawford who has not yet indicated if he will retire. There will for certain be some big changes considering how this season went. A younger and faster roster would be a good place to start. 22 players are over the age of 25 and 14 of them are 30 and older.

Friday night the Dodger series will get underway with first pitch scheduled for 7:15 PM. Keaton Winn will take the mound for the Giants with a 0-0, 3.89 ERA. For the Dodgers it will be Lance Lynn that the San Francisco offense will be facing. Lynn has a 12-11 win/loss record and a 5.83 ERA.

Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman will be leading the offensive charge for Los Angles. San Francisco will be leaning on Wilmer Flores, Thairo Estrada and J.D. Davis in this final series. These final three games mean little to either team.

The Dodgers have locked in the No. 2 seed in the National League after having a tremendous 2023 regular season. They will open the division series at Dodger Stadium next Saturday. This season really went down to the wire for many of these teams and unfortunately San Francisco could not seal the deal.

It will likely be a quiet series this weekend although this is an age-old rivalry that may bring out fans rooting for both sides. It will be a farewell to the 2023 season for the San Francisco Giants missing yet another post season.

It will be an interesting and important off-season for the Giants as they make some roster changes that may be significant. Only time will tell what this team will look like as they head into the 2024 season.

Barbara Mason is an Oakland A’s podcast and beat writer at http://www.sportsradioservice.com