It’s officially playoff time for Tim Leiper’s San Francisco Giants
By: Andrew Benson
RP Show Intern
After a team record 107 wins for the San Francisco Giants, the playoffs are about to begin. Tomorrow night, the St. Louis Cardinals and the Los Angeles Dodgers will compete in a wild card game for a spot in the playoffs, and a first round matchup with the Giants.
“It’s been absolutely crazy,” said Tim Leiper, an outfield and baserunning coach for the Giants. “It’s one of those dream seasons and everything that could go right, did go right. You have buy-in from everybody, great production from older players, and winning 107 games which is nearly impossible to do in this day in age, it’s been magical.”
On the final day of the season, the Giants secured the top spot in the NL west, but it is an achievement the team has been working tirelessly on every game of the season. And in many cases, a little bit different than teams would traditionally.
“We would kind of turn the game upside down in terms of trying to get matchups and trying to win games early and doing those things you normally wait until the seventh inning to do,” said Leiper.
“I think the one thing we did religiously more than anyone else, is look for matchups as early as you possibly can. I think a lot of people shake their heads at it, but you can’t argue with the success they have had this year.”
The success the Giants have had is not entirely new for Leiper.
“ I remember with the Blue Jays in 2015 clinching a spot,” said Leiper. “It was such a feeling being on the field with our front office sitting right behind us, that feeling of we’re all in this together. The feeling of it is so special.”
The Toronto Blue Jays certainly didn’t have the same result this year. The Blue Jays weren’t even able to make the playoffs this season, despite setting home run records as a team and playing well down the stretch.
While Leiper and many Blue Jays fans are saying the team should be proud of the accomplishments this season, both Rod Pedersen and Darren Dupont said this season is nothing but a disappointment.
“I can’t take it anymore,” said Pedersen. “Is this how soft we have become as a society? I remember my dad saying, ‘strike the term good enough from your vocabulary’. Do your best 100% of the time, and if you fail after doing your best, then that’s fine. You have no regrets. I don’t think the Toronto Blue Jays can say that.”
The Blue Jays will have to wait until next year for a chance to have that same feeling Leiper had in 2015, and now the success he is seeing with the Giants. Until then, they can only look back on the disappointing end to the season they just finished.
“If you are happy with the Blue Jays season, you are soft,” said Pedersen.
