A common word being used to describe the 2025 San Francisco Giants is “different.” Not in a sense of the Giants being a weird, outlier team that does not fit in with the rest of Major League Baseball, but in a way that conveys the simple fact that the 2025 Giants are just a very different team than the one Giants fans saw leave the field at the end of the 2024 season. The vibe is different. The energy is different. And most notably, the way they are winning baseball games is different.
“I think there's a cohesiveness to the team this year that we really didn't have at least to begin last year,” said manager Bob Melvin before Sunday's series finale against the Mariners. “So I think that coupled with the fact that we have a little bit of a different way we're doing things, and we're having some success, it's a good vibe.”
For the last six years when Farhan Zaidi was calling the shots, the Giants' philosophy of winning baseball games was built on the concept of doing maximum damage at any and all times. The result of that mantra was a 107-win season in 2021, followed by three years of massive frustration and disappointment. As fun as 2021 was, the simple truth was the way that team won was not sustainable. It is why Zaidi is now back with the Los Angeles Dodgers and Buster Posey is now in charge of the Giants. And while Buster did make some changes to the roster (Willy Adames, Justin Verlander to name a few) the biggest changes have come in the performance on the field. The Giants are no longer trying to muscle their way to wins. They are pivoting to a new strategy: speed.
Through 9 games to start the season, the Giants have swiped 12 bases. Only once has a runner been caught stealing. Of those 12 stolen bases, 7 have come around to score runs, including:
1. Heliot Ramos against the Astros on April 4th, who stole second and came around to score on a Wilmer Flores single to get the Giants their first run in an eventual 7-2 win.
2. Mike Yastrzemski in the finale against the Astros, who drew a walk before stealing second, which clearly rattled Astros ace Framber Valdez during a 3-run second inning.
3. Tyler Fitzgerald in the home opener, drew a walk in the bottom of the 11th inning, swiped second and came around the score the game-winning run when Willy Adames singled him in.
“We're not just stealing them to steal them,” said Melvin after the Giants home opener win on Friday. “There are opportunities to score runs and we have, you know, opportunities to do it.”
The new influx of speed on the basepaths is going to be a welcome sight for fans of the Giants' fabled Ground Attack from the early 2010s, but even those teams rarely used the stolen base to get ahead of opponents. The 2012 Giants were the “fastest” of those three title teams, finishing with 118 stolen bases, good enough for 10th in the league. The 2010 and 2014 were both 29th in MLB, the latter team beating the Royals, who led the majors in stolen bases that season, in the World Series.
Speed has never been a major tool the Giants have used. At least not since they moved their operations to the corner of 3rd and King streets. Since Oracle Park opened in 2000, the Giants have routinely been in the bottom third of the league in stolen bases with a few exceptions here and there. In 2007 they finished 8th in the majors en-route to a 91-loss season. In 2008, 2012 and 2015 they finished 10th in the majors. Those are the only years they have finished in the top third of the league in steals since 2000. So why the new approach this year?
“We've got a few more guys that can run this year versus last year,” said Mike Yastrzemski, who has two of the Giants 12 stolen bases this year. “I think we wanted to at least explore that opportunity before shutting it down.”
Along with Yaz, the Giants have Lee, Fitzgerald and even Heliot Ramos who are capable of swiping a bag at any time. Adames (who has the one caught stealing this year) and Matt Chapman are capable of stealing a base here and there as well.
And with more stolen bases comes more confidence in stealing bases, which suggests the Giants' thievery could only be beginning. Lee leads the team so far with three stolen bases, and he mentioned how himself, and the rest of the squad, are starting to feel more empowered on the basepaths.
“Bob [Melvin] always talks about how aggressive we need to be on base,” Lee said through interpreter Justin Han. “For me personally, I say that when you start stealing bases, that's when you find your confidence. And as you steal more bases, the confidence keeps [building].”
Nine games into the season, it is overwhelmingly obvious just how different this Giants team is from last year. Not just in how loose and happy the players are on a day-to-day basis, but how the team is approaching games and winning games. The infusion of small ball tactics like stealing bases and bunting for hits is but a small reason driving that different feeling.
“We have a little bit of a different way we're doing things, and we're having some success,” Melvin said before Sundays series finale. “It's a good vibe.”
The Giants’ different way through nine games has been a smashing success, to say the least. At the conclusion of Sunday's game, a 5-4 walk-off win courtesy of Wilmer Flores (because who else) the Giants, winners of seven straight, sit in a virtual tie atop the NL West with the hated Dodgers of Los Angeles. Whether or not the Giants can win the NL West remains to be seen. They are still weeks away from playing their first divisional opponent. But nine games in, it is obvious that this new speed-based strategy is working for the Giants, and it is one of the many, many reasons this team feels different from 2024, as well as just better.