The San Francisco Giants have yet to reach their potential

Getting swept in their opening series of 2026, the San Francisco Giants would’ve hoped for a better start to their season. Those three straight losses to the visiting New York Yankees were followed up with a 2-1 series win over the San Diego Padres.

Unfortunately, by the time 11 games had been completed, the Giants were sitting at just 3-8 in a highly competitive National League West. Yet they did manage to recover a bit, sitting at 9-13 heading into a three-game home series against the back-to-back defending champion Los Angeles Dodgers.

One Patrick Bailey three-run home run and impressive pitching performances have San Francisco up 2-0 in the series, with one more matchup scheduled for Thursday night. Dave Flemming, radio play-by-play broadcaster for the Giants, joined The Drive Guys to share his thoughts on what allowed them to secure some much-needed wins.

“What stands out is the bullpen,” Flemming said. “The bullpen has done a really nice job, because they’re not blowing anybody out in these games. The bullpen’s done a really nice job of stabilizing the late game situations and finding a way.”

“Some things are trending in the right direction,” he continued. “Some players are starting to swing the bats better, but it’s still not perfect. And so in the meantime, while you wait for it to get the way it’s supposed to look, you find a way to scrap and claw and win some of these games.”

“I give them credit for doing that, because, you know, they are a long way from being the best version of themselves, but they’ve stabilized the season. They’re feeling like a more confident group, and they’re surviving a really tough early-season schedule.”

Flemming highlighted how, during San Francisco’s dynasty run in the 2010’s, their bullpen production was elite, but that’s the outlier. Reserve arms can be extremely volatile and inconsistent year to year, as has been evident with the group in recent years.

Of course, first-year manager Tony Vitello — the first to make the jump straight from collegiate sports to managing an MLB team — has been a hot-button topic.

“So far, the early returns are really good, and I think you’re seeing with some of those players,” Flemming said of Vitello. “You watch him manage day to day, you watch him navigate situations. He’s building confidence.”

As is the nature of a new lead, especially in this unique scenario, there still seems to be a feeling-out process between the manager, his players, and staff.

Still five games behing the NL West leading Padres, recovering from their 3-8 start to having a chance to sweep the Dodgers feels like promising progess for San Francisco.

The San Francisco Giants have yet to reach their potential

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