Giants Improvement in June Doesn't Lead to Desired Success

San Francisco Giants infielder Rafael Devers (16) celebrates with outfielder Casey Schmitt (10) and infielder Luis Arraez (1). IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Giants Improvement in June Doesn't Lead to Desired Success

Originally posted on San Francisco Giants on SI
By Seth Dowdle | Last updated Jul 2, 2026 11:00 AM ET

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Improvement is good, right?

In most cases, improving a team’s record by two games over a month-to-month period would be cause for a minor celebration. While it wouldn’t mean that a club is preordained for October success, it would show that the bones of the organization are continuing to grow into the season.

For the San Francisco Giants, marginal improvement is still a failure.

The Giants went 12-14 in June, bringing their overall record to 35-50. That’s just barely better than how they finished in May (10-18). Yay?

In all seriousness, San Francisco was better in June than it had been the rest of the season. While the team’s run differential was minus-9 (111 runs scored and 120 runs allowed), that’s far better than the minus-22 that emerged in May.

A lot of that came from a renewed spirit from the pitching staff, which lowered opponents' batting average from .261 in May to .245 in June. While the offense was doing pretty much the same thing it had done all season, the arms on the roster finally came to play.

It still wasn’t enough for one to call the month an overwhelming success. The opposite, really.

Better, But Not Enough in the Bay Area

IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

San Francisco concluded June with back-to-back series victories over the Athletics and the Atlanta Braves. There were also series wins over the Milwaukee Brewers and Chicago Cubs mixed in there, too. But a sweep by the Miami Marlins — who are admittedly the hottest team in the sport at the moment — as well as unfortunate losses to the Washington Nationals and the Arizona Diamondbacks (Tuesday night's game was rough, to say the least) marred what otherwise could’ve been a month that saw the Giants finish above .500.

Baseball truly is played around the margins.

If you’re a Giants fan who leans toward being a bit more positive, then June showed that there is a glimmer of hope on the horizon. Perhaps this group of players can put together a string of good weeks that culminates in this season not being a total lost cause when everything is said and done.

But if you approach life with a glass-half-empty outlook, then the month of June was just another example of how paltry the Giants have become in recent years. Not good enough to warrant extraordinary praise but also not bad enough to completely tear the house down.

That’s a frustrating place to be, and there will surely be conversations throughout the summer and beyond about what this team should do to best prepare for the long-term build toward another World Series. For now, all we can focus on is what we’ve seen so far.

And the Giants, for all their shortcomings in 2026 — and goodness, there have been a ton — did improve in June. That’s a positive thing, however small it may be.