2020 San Francisco Giants Predictions and Odds to Win the World Series

The good news for San Francisco this year is that a likely shortened 2020 season means that they will get what should be a painful rebuilding season out of the way much more quickly than it would’ve been if they had to endure a 162-game grind.

San Francisco’s initial 2020 MLB season win total number of 68.5 was the sixth-lowest number on the preseason betting board. Only the Miami Marlins (64.5 wins) had a lower win total number in the National League.

So I suppose it is good news for San Francisco that they won’t have a shot at losing 100 games this season. But that’s likely to be the only good news floating around this overmatched team.

San Francisco Giants 2020 Projected Lineup (updated expert MLB picks daily)

1. Mike Yastrzemski – OF

2. Buster Posey – C

3. Brandon Belt – 1B

4. Evan Longoria – 3B

5. Hunter Pence – OF

6. Alex Dickerson – SS

7. Brandon Crawford – OF

8. Mauricio Dubon – 2B

9. Pitcher

The names look familiar. But guys like Buster Posey, Brandon Belt and Evan Longoria are well past their primes. Throw in guys like Pablo Sandoval, Hunter Pence and Brandon Crawford, and the Giants have one of the oldest rosters in the Majors.

San Francisco finished in the bottom five in the Majors in runs, home runs, batting average and slugging. They were pathetic. And other than bringing back 37-year-old Pence – who hit .226 here in 2018 – and getting a whole season from Dickerson, I don’t know that I see where the improvement is going to come from.

Mike Yastrzemski, the grandson of Red Sox great Carl, will give Giants fans a bit of an underdog to root for. However, he is turning 29 this season and isn’t exactly an exciting, upstart prospect. Those are in relative short supply for San Francisco.

The most likely scenario for this roster is that the Giants are hoping to turn over their veterans for prospects. This plan could backfire, though. Since there won’t be a normal season, there is no telling when the trade deadline will be and how teams will respond to it.

San Francisco Giants 2020 Projected Rotation And Closer

1. Johnny Cueto (R)

2. Jeff Samardzija (R)

3. Kevin Gausman (R)

4. Drew Smyly (L)

5. Andrew Suarez (L)

Closer: None (R)

Even if the Giants do find a way to spark their moribund offense, I don’t see any way that their pitching staff will be able to lend them enough support to keep San Francisco competitive.

Johnny Cueto has made only 13 starts over the course of the past two seasons and is damaged goods. Since the start of 2017, he’s posted a 4.24 ERA and, frankly, Cueto has only been a quality MLB-caliber starter twice in the last six seasons.

Jeff Samardzija is garbage. Kevin Gausman isn’t much better and is on his fourth team in two years. And Drew Smyly, finally back after missing 2017 and 2018, is coming off a season in which he posted a 6.24 ERA for Texas and Philadelphia. They never clarified who their fifth starter would be before camp broke.

So yeah, San Francisco’s rotation is kind of a train wreck. Which is par for the course for a team that had four starters make at least 16 starts and post an ERA of at least 5.08 last season.

The Giants also don’t have a closer. In fact, just about every part of their bullpen was in flux this spring. San Francisco was able to put the pieces together last season, finishing No. 6 in the Majors in bullpen ERA. There are very few standouts in this group, though, and they are kind of a whole-is-greater-than-the-sum-of-its-parts collective.

San Francisco Giants Odds To Win The World Series

Don’t bother. The Giants are 80-to-1 to win their division, and it only gets worse from there. San Francisco is 125-to-1 to win the National League pennant and they are a 250-to-1 long shot to win the World Series.

San Francisco Giants 2020 Predictions

I am basing all of my predictions on my belief in an 81-game season that starts in early July. I have absolutely no inside information about MLB’s plans for the 2020 season. However, for the sake of discussion, 81 games are what I have in mind while writing these previews.

With the exception of Longoria, the rest of those guys are still heroes around the Bay Area because they were all starters on the 2014 World Series champions. It is possible that a shortened season could help these aging vets rekindle some of that magic and pull a competitive season out of nowhere.

That is kind of a best-case scenario. The more likely scenario is that this languid, aging team goes through the motions as kind of a last hurrah before the franchise undergoes a major rebuilding effort.

If they are lucky, then the season will turn out to be a free-for-all and there will be plenty of teams looking to buy at the trade deadline. If they are unlucky, the Giants won’t be able to make any deals to unload their older core and they will have wasted a year of rebuilding on a team that can’t pitch and can’t hit.

Robert Ferringo is a professional sports bettor and handicapper for Doc’s Sports and is considered one of the top MLB betting experts in the country. He has posted three consecutive winning MLB seasons and closed the 2019 season on a +$10,000 baseball run for his followers. Robert has beaten the books for six of seven profitable seasons on the diamond and is looking forward to another winning season for his clients. If you would like some help winning more bets in MLB this season the good news is that you can try out Ferringo’s MLB picks for free when you set up your complimentary $60 account here.