San Francisco Giants designated hitter Rafael Devers (16) sheds his gear after striking out against the Arizona Diamondbacks during the first inning at Chase Field. Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images

Giants Chances of Claiming NL Wild Card Berth Get Worse After D-backs Loss

Originally posted on San Francisco Giants on SI
By Matt Postins | Last updated Sep 16, 2025 11:00 AM ET

At one point the San Francisco Giants were red hot. Now, the Giants have gone ice cold at the worst possible time.

The Giants fell to the Arizona Diamondbacks, 8-1, on Monday night, their third straight and loss and one that did further damage to their hopes of surging to a National League wild card berth. In fact, the Giants (75-74) are now behind the D-backs in the race.

They won 11 of 12 games from Aug. 23 to Sept. 5. That, combined with a series win over Arizona from Sept. 8-10, allowed the Giants to cut the New York Mets’ lead for the final NL wild card berth to one-half game. Now, three losses later, San Francisco has more ground to make up.

Giants Wild Card Deficit Grows

The Bryce Eldridge cheering section was excited for his first MLB at-bat pic.twitter.com/WBDtrxhk7h
— SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) September 16, 2025

San Francisco is now two games behind the Mets for that wild card berth. The Diamondbacks are now the team in chase mode on the Mets, 1.5 games back. New York was off on Monday and gets back to action on Tuesday. The Giants have 12 games left and cannot end up in a tie with the Mets for a playoff berth because New York has the head-to-head tiebreaker.

The promotion of top prospect Bryce Eldridge took his place in the batting order on Monday, serving as the designated hitter. The hope was that he would add some juice to the offense that has struggled a bit in the past few games.

But the reality is the Giants are giving up too many runs down the stretch. San Francisco held the Los Angeles Dodgers to a run on Friday in a 5-1 win. In the final two games of that series Los Angeles outscored San Francisco, 23-9. The Giants must get back to trusting their starting pitching, one of their strengths this season, if they hope to get back into the race.

San Francisco likely needs to win the remaining two games of this series with Arizona as a four-game set with the Dodgers in Los Angeles looms starting on Thursday.

The Giants are trying to get back to the playoffs for the first time since 2021, when it won the NL West. San Francisco last claimed a wild card berth in 2016 and last won a World Series in 2014.

San Francisco Giants Playoff Watch

Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images

NL Wild Card Race (after Sept. 15)

Chicago Cubs: 85-64 (9.0 games ahead)

San Diego Padres: 82-68 (5.0 games ahead)

New York Mets: 77-73 (last wild card berth)

Arizona Diamondbacks 76-75 (1.5 games behind final berth)

San Francisco Giants: 75-75 (2.0 games behind final berth)

San Francisco Giants Games Remaining: 12

San Francisco Giants Remaining Schedule: Sept. 16-17, at Arizona; Sept. 18-21, at Los Angeles Dodgers; Sept. 22-24 vs. St. Louis; Sept. 26-28, vs. Colorado.

This article first appeared on San Francisco Giants on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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