What Buster Posey did today goes against the wishes of Giants fans.
Today, the San Francisco Giants executed their first planned bullpen game of the 2025 season, an act so transgressive and hostile towards Giants fans that my email inbox exploded. One of the only things the fan base has cared about the past 10 years is the franchise’s decision to employ bullpen games from time to time. They don’t like it.
Farhan Zaidi’s very first encounter with season ticketholders elicited boos because he dared to ask them if it was okay to deploy openers and bullpen games even if it was proven to be an effective strategy. On a far less important scale, back in 2022, I demonstrated the strategy’s effectiveness and received a chorus of boos in the comments. Even if it works, Giants fans prefer the game be played the old-fashioned way.
So, when Matt Gage took the mound against the Mets, it went against an entire belief system. An act of heresy. Buster Posey’s ascension was supposed to mean the end of bullpen games, so this must have felt like a betrayal. Usually, I get hundreds of emails fluctuating between asking me to die and demanding I die that it was a refreshing change of pace to receive something that was about the Giants.
Vic wrote in to say:
im 75 been giants fan for 130 years ever since humm baby was sum babee now i won watch again because reliever start game pitch one inning a disgrace no baby bad
From Steve:
I don’t know how you did it, but I’m blaming this bullpen game on you, since you’re the only analytics [pejorative] I read.
Hoby added:
My first game was a sunny afternoon at Candlestick Park when I was 6. My daddy took me with his new girlfriend at the time and she let me buy whatever I want. She was very pretty with long blonde hair. Have you ever seen a pretty lady from your mom’s basemant?> I love the Giants more than I love my kids and my ex-wife, and after 55 years in this cesspool world all I know is starters go in the front and relievers go in the back
Rhonda was a bit more diplomatic:
I’m sure Buster Posey is trying his best, but I have serious concerns now that they’re having to cut corners with this opener nonsense. I love KNBR, but I am going to have to stop listening if you don’t push Buster harder. WHY IS DOES THIS KEEP HAPPENING??!
And here’s a chance for me to point out that I’m not Brian Murphy from KNBR and Amici’s Pizza ads. I’m Bryan with a “Y,” with a voice that’s unfit for radio.
Dimitrius asks:
People like you have made the world a worse place with your analytics. How do I explain bullpen games to my kids?
I’ll end with this message from John, which I think captures the anger pretty well:
I don’t care if they work, they’re terrible to watch and I hate them as much as I hate you!
So, yeah, the Giants had a pretty good chance to win last night because of a planned bullpen game. Matt Gage looked great. Spencer Bivens was almost the hero again like he was last year against the Dodgers. It’s not their fault — or the bullpen game concept’s — that the Giants’ lineup is atrocious.
At the same time, I understand fan resentment. The team terminated Farhan Zaidi’s contract because the season ticketholders were sick of his philosophy. It was un-Baseball to them (even if it was a pure reflection of the rest of the industry). All his roster moves that added up to nothing. Bullpenning to cover for poor development and poorly assembled roster depth. Buster Posey is supposed to have changed all that. No more churn. No more changes. No surprises. Just great players who win.
That hasn’t happened yet, and even though he’s managed to stop The Churn, he hasn’t gotten the roster out of its previously programmed ways. The Giants still lack depth. They still haven’t turned the roster away from platooning and bullpenning. On top of that, the team stinks and will probably miss the playoffs again. Maybe most Giants fans didn’t expect a quick fix for the team’s problems… but something tells me that’s not the case.
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