Pennant Profile: San Francisco Giants

September 23, 2012; San Francisco, CA, USA; San Francisco Giants catcher

(28) in the dugout against the San Diego Padres during the sixth inning at AT

The Giants have been a good team for years now. This has been a result of their incredible pitching and offense that seems to be just enough to get by. That plan has worked for them, but this year it has changed.

After making trades in the offseason to acquire Angel Pagan and Melky Cabrera, the Giants offense began their turnaround. Pagan came in and supplemented a line-up that left a lot to be desired. In 2011, after Buster Posey went down, the Giants had no offense. The team started to address that in the offseason by getting Pagan and Melky Cabrera and then continued into the regular season when they acquired Hunter Pence.

The offense is rehabilitated to say the least. Hunter Pence has been a huge shot in the arm, Pagan has given them a consistent hitter and a good defender. Melky Cabrera was having a great season until he tested positive for steroids and got suspended. Buster Posey is having an MVP like season; if he doesn’t win, I have no idea who will take it from him. Pablo Sandoval has looked more like his rookie season and all of a sudden the lineup looks great.

We haven’t even mentioned the starting rotation yet.

The rotation consists of Matt Cain, Ryan Vogelsong, Madison Bumgardner, Barry Zito and Tim Lincecum. In that group, three of them have ERA’s of 3.58 or less and Matt Cain is at 2.86. This rotation is as serious as any other rotation in the league. The two pitchers at the back end have drastically underperformed.

The bullpen has been unpredictable all year, so this aspect is incredibly hard to predict.

The Giants’ success will likely revolve around the rotation. If Lincecum can return to form and the bullpen can hold, then this team can make a huge push. After clinching the NL West, this team looks locked and loaded for the post season.