A perfect Giant?
When Logan Webb kicked off his streak of four consecutive Opening Day starts for the San Francisco Giants back in 2022, he was the team’s youngest Opening Day starter in more than a decade. At 28, he’s no longer young for a baseball player, but that’s fine — he’s so much more than that. He’s the perfect Giant for this moment in time.
He’s a homegrown talent; the exact kind of player that helped fuel their championship runs last decade. He’s the gold standard when it comes to the type of player the Giants will need as they hope to become a competitive franchise again: a consistent, All-Star talent. Since 2022, he leads MLB in innings pitched (613), is 6th in wins (39), and second in value (13.6 fWAR). He has been a stabilizing force in an at-times chaotic pitching staff. It’s a pleasure to watch him pitch! Giants fans have it a lot better than some other teams when it comes to the top of the rotation and consistency.
The actual Opening Day starts have, in retrospect, been tone-setters for their respective seasons. That 2022 Opening Day started a wonderful running bit:
AUSTIN SLATER WALKS IT OFF pic.twitter.com/ZhLGOljAoJ
— SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) April 9, 2022
But! It also presented us with the season-long problem of bad Giants defense.
The 2023 Opening Day was the final embarrassment of the failed Aaron Judge sweepstakes. The second pitch of the season:
Now, Webb still struck out 12 Yankees in what wound up being a loss — because he’s great — but, the Giants never really shook the fog of that offseason and would collapse so hard down the stretch that it cost Gabe Kapler his job. Not Webb’s fault, of course, but he was as much a victim of narrative as we fans were watching the season play out.
The 2024 start was similar in that Webb was fine but setup that the team was overmatched by other teams in its division who weren’t the Dodgers. Steven’s post-game recap was titled “Reality bites,” with an even more biting lede: “How does it already feel like July?” All the promise and excitement of a new season trampled in the first 9 innings played.
2022, 2023, and 2024 feel like a trilogy. Let’s hope 2025 kicks off a new series/chapter/era in the continuing saga of the San Francisco Giants. It’ll happen on Thursday, March 27th in Cincinnati (first pitch: 1:10pm Pacific), a place that’s been tough on the Giants outside of the postseason, but where Webb has allowed just 2 runs (solo HRs) in 2 career starts (13 IP).
But you don’t have to wait until then to watch this perfect Giant pitch. Webb will make his Cactus League debut tomorrow in a game that should be just as exciting as today’s Cactus League kickoff. He’ll be followed in tomorrow’s game by Hayden Birdsong. Webb and Birdsong in the same day is about as promising as it gets.