There was no bigger story about the San Francisco Giants in 2026 than Buster Posey tainting his legacy. No, it wasn’t because he put together the third-worst team of the San Francisco era or because he proved to have thin skin in the face of some obvious and foreseeable criticism on the occasion of an interview he knew was on the books. No, it’s for the obvious reason: when he had a chance to stand up for the Giants community, he didn’t.
But, the Feds! The Feds! You might say. Well, until such time as this country ceases to have a First Amendment, it has a First Amendment, and the idea that in affirming the existence of some is an affront to the deeply held beliefs of another is the pernicious one that has led to our present moment. Maybe the Giants’ entire clubhouse is filled to the brim — overflowing, even! — with anti-LGBTQ+ bigots and so he didn’t want to cross them. Okay. Well, he still sided with the players who won’t be around as long as the people who live in the community will be. And, if Buster himself has those views, then he opted to alienate customers.
And if Buster Posey is the Giants, then the Giants are cool with what went down. They might have enough market research to show that the exclusion of their anti-LGBTQ+ fans won’t hurt their revenues. Maybe there’s a significant market for bigots who will pay a premium to be able to go to an area of San Francisco untouched by gay. Any smear’ll do, because the Giants have invited it.
I think there is a difference in the fandom between fans who watch the team and even listen to the team and fans who read (and, I suppose, write) about the team, and maybe that’s always been the case. When they see Buster Posey’s face, they think Buster Posey! and when they see his terrible team stink it up in one of the worst seasons in franchise history they think in the zone of “These guys are embarrassing themselves in front of Buster” to “Buster’ll figure it out” to “Buster had better figure out,” and that’s about as strong as the criticism gets.
Except with the post-protest presser. That was the moment the veneer cracked. That was the moment people could see and hear someone unsure of himself. Not so much that field general from the championship era. For the fans who read, they could rationalize without watching because in reading you could find what you needed to back up your convictions. For the fans who hate LGBTQ+ people and the players who look to their servant-leader for approval, it was a sign. A wink as good as a nod, a hesitation as good as a declaration.
For everybody else, it was pain. Perhaps the defining pain of the season. Beyond the heart of the team being taken away from what he loves to do and beyond the cementing of a decade of failure (sorry, 2021, you pointless fluke of a season!). Buster Posey delivered fans an impossible dream — three times! — and in three minutes, he revealed the cruel world that has always informed the pastime we use to escape it. Buster Posey wanted to decide how the major league team was put together and run and thought all the other responsibilities were either so easy that anyone could do it or simply beneath him.
But the risk of looking really bad was there from the moment he took the job. Saying that he’s damaged his legacy, then, doesn’t really sound controversial and maybe listing it as the #1 storyline is too dramatic. Again, the Giants being a plane crash humping a train wreck was a predictable tragedy. And the Giants have been so bad and unserious for so long that another bad season doesn’t really move the needle. Plus, he’s going to the Hall of Fame even if the Giants lose 120 games in 2027. At worst, his reputation in the Bay Area has taken a slight hit, and only then with the group of people who care about people beyond themselves and their family.
Which… on second thought… means quite a lot. Don’t you think?
It was notable that so many fans went out of their way to declare that they wouldn’t root for the team or write about the team anymore. So, I’m putting it #1 because, again, if Buster Posey is the Face of the Giants, then the Giants Are Buster Posey. And the Giants say they’re cool with what some of the players did on a night meant to celebrate the existence of their fans.
The Giants have been coasting on the championships because it was mission accomplished. A real estate group bought a baseball team and used it as wedge to gain access to a chunk of The City and in success they’ve been offered more opportunities to expand their holdings. Anything else seems secondary, and in the aftermath of this past June, it’s hard to argue otherwise. We don’t always have to nod respectfully, shrug our shoulders nihilistically, or applaud politely when The Businessmen Do Business. Sometimes, we can be mad. We can allow them to make us mad. We can stop pretending that there’s a part of the team’s actions that have civic pride in them. After all, they stopped pretending long ago.
In 2026, the San Francisco Giants were a painful affront to the game of baseball and baseball fans in every way that mattered. They played the game poorly. They took their misery out on their fans. They weren’t assuring and they were rarely entertaining. Buster Posey was known for his hugs, but when you see him now, he looks and sounds like a walking toothache.
The San Francisco Giants have been losers for a while now. This year, they wanted to make sure we all know it, and they had Buster Posey deliver that message.