{"id":302793,"date":"2025-10-14T14:10:34","date_gmt":"2025-10-14T14:10:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/302793\/"},"modified":"2025-10-14T14:10:34","modified_gmt":"2025-10-14T14:10:34","slug":"these-world-series-contenders-should-serve-as-inspiration-for-buster-posey-and-the-giants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/302793\/","title":{"rendered":"These World Series contenders should serve as inspiration for Buster Posey and the Giants"},"content":{"rendered":"

Want more ways to catch up on the latest in Bay Area sports? Sign up for the Section 415 email newsletter here<\/a> and subscribe to the Section 415 podcast wherever you listen<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Major League Baseball\u2019s postseason bracket is down to the final four, and the Giants can find inspiration from how two of the teams strategize and carry out their game plans.<\/p>\n

The Toronto Blue Jays and Milwaukee Brewers are everything the Giants wanted to be this season. And should try to be going forward.\u00a0<\/p>\n

From president of baseball operations Buster Posey to the coaching staff, the Giants spoke often about the need to do the \u201clittle things\u201d right to prolong rallies, win games, and contend in the top-heavy National League West. Obviously, they fell short.<\/p>\n

The Blue Jays and Brewers are exhibits A and B on how it\u2019s done.<\/p>\n

Listen toSection 415<\/p>\n

3 days ago<\/p>\n

Section 415: After the 49ers\u2019 4-1 start, what\u2019s a realistic outcome for this season? <\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

6 days ago<\/p>\n

Section 415: Buster Posey talks manager qualities, his first year on the job, and more<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Wednesday, Oct. 1<\/p>\n

Introducing \u2018Section 415,\u2019 our Bay Area sports podcast<\/p>\n

\"Collage<\/p>\n

Aside from being fundamentally sound by making the routine plays and running the bases well, their situational hitting is tremendous \u2013 they put the ball in play and don\u2019t strike out much. That Blue Jays hitters average just 5.5 strikeouts in the postseason, fewest among the 12 playoff teams, and the Brewers\u2019 average is 7.3 shows how they emphasize contact.<\/p>\n

It was a similar story in the regular season. The Blue Jays had the lowest strikeout rate in the majors while the Brewers ranked sixth. The Giants were 19th and reached double-digits in strikeouts a whopping 62 times. By comparison, the Brewers did it 41 times, the Blue Jays just 25.<\/p>\n

Putting the ball in play is harder than ever with more pitchers than ever throwing close to 100 mph (quite a few who surpass triple digits) and reaching optimal spin rates on secondary pitches thanks in part to advanced technology.<\/p>\n

\"ABuster Posey could look to emulate some of baseball\u2019s most successful teams in his second year as president of baseball operations. | Source: Ezra Shaw\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

The Blue Jays and Brewers make it work with their bat-to-ball skills and relatively low swing-and-miss rates \u2013 the Blue Jays ranked first in the majors in contact rate at 80.5% while the Brewers were third at 79.5%. Did they sacrifice power in the process? Perhaps. The Blue Jays ranked 11th in the majors in homers, the Brewers 22nd.<\/p>\n

But here they are, one step from the World Series, with only the Seattle Mariners and L.A. Dodgers in their way, though each team is in an early hole \u2013 the Blue Jays are down two games to none against Seattle in the ALCS, and the Brewers lost their opener to the Dodgers in the NLCS.<\/p>\n

The Giants, who have reached the playoffs once in nine years, benefited in their championship era by putting the ball in play and putting pressure on defenses, and that\u2019s again a talking point with Posey in charge. Especially with Oracle Park a pitchers\u2019 paradise.<\/p>\n

This is a good time to mention that the top upcoming free agent, Kyle Tucker, is known for his contact and nearly had as many walks (87) as strikeouts (88). He\u2019d fit in nicely in right field as a Giant, but there will be plenty of cheaper contact hitters that Posey can pursue in free agency and the trade market.<\/p>\n

When I asked Posey late in the season if he\u2019d like to add more contact hitters moving forward, he said, \u201cI think that\u2019s fair. I think you need a balance. You\u2019re going to need some guys that are probably going to swing and miss more but have the ability to hit the ball out of the park, but you also need the guys that are going to swing and miss less and be more line-drive, contact oriented.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Matt Chapman believes new technology set to debut in 2026 could help him better master the strike zone. | Source: Justin Edmonds\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Posey, who emphasized contact hitters in his first draft and trade deadline, realizes his big-swing guys are who they are and isn\u2019t about to revamp their approaches. Willy Adames struck out a career-high 179 times, 11th most in the majors. Rafael Devers\u2019 combined strikeout number in Boston and San Francisco was also a career high, 192, fifth most in the majors.<\/p>\n

Devers ranked sixth among qualifying hitters in hard-hit rate behind prominent sluggers Kyle Schwarber, Shohei Ohtani, Aaron Judge, Oneil Cruz, and James Wood. On the other hand, there\u2019s a lot of swing and miss with Devers, who struck out four times in five separate games. He also had eight three-strikeout games and became the first player in history with 15 strikeouts over five games to open a season. In one five-game stretch as a Giant, he K\u2019d 14 times.<\/p>\n

Would Devers emphasize cutting down on strikeouts next season? I asked. In a sign of the times, he said no. \u201cI don\u2019t think I need to change that,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s an out. It\u2019s part of the game. I think if I look at my production overall, I think I was inconsistent, but it will get better.\u201d<\/p>\n

Matt Chapman told me something interesting about strikeouts. He\u2019s coming off the second-lowest strikeout rate of his career, 23.6%, lowest since 2019, and he\u2019s thinking the rate could further dip next season with the arrival of the automated ball-strike system in which players can challenge the plate umpire\u2019s calls.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019ll allow me to know my strike zone and understand what my specific strike zone is,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s up to the umpires to call it, but you\u2019ll know specifically what\u2019s a strike and what\u2019s a ball. If the zone is more consistent and you don\u2019t get balls called strikes, I think we\u2019ll see more balls in play, for sure. I don\u2019t want to speak too soon, but there will be more checks and balances.\u201d<\/p>\n

Devers and Patrick Bailey had the highest strikeout rate among Giants regulars, 29.4%, followed by Adames\u2019 26.1%. Jung Hoo Lee had the lowest, 11.5%, but too often he seemed pull happy \u2013 42.8% of his batted balls were to the right side \u2013 and he needs to do a better job spraying the ball around the field.<\/p>\n

\"APatrick Bailey\u2019s strikeout rate was tied with Devers for the highest of any Giants regular. | Source: Larry Placido\/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images<\/p>\n

In the final weekend of the season, I asked Lee about improving his overall offensive game next season by better utilizing his speed, and he said, \u201cIf the situation is given \u2013 and also during the play, you never know what kind of situation you\u2019ll be in \u2013 I\u2019m there to bunt. I\u2019m there to steal. If the team wants me to do it, I\u2019m there to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Blue Jays and Brewers posted the best records in their leagues, but no one on those teams will win an MVP award or Cy Young award. They simply find ways to beat you. For instance, they ranked 1-2 in the majors in hitting with runners in scoring position, .292 and .279. The Giants were at .252.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Brewers, extremely aggressive on the bases, led the NL in steals. The Giants were last, again. The Blue Jays don\u2019t steal bases like the Brewers, but they\u2019re more free swinging and generate harder contact.<\/p>\n

Depth is another asset for both playoff teams. The Blue Jays had a majors-high 19 players with at least a 1.0 WAR, led by George Springer and Vladimir Guerrero Jr., according to Baseball Reference, while the Brewers had 18, led by Freddy Paralta and Brice Turang. Depth was a major issue for the Giants especially down the stretch when they had gaping holes in their rotation and bullpen.<\/p>\n

Posey said a priority is solidifying the pitching staff, but the offense has lots of room to grow, and it wouldn\u2019t hurt to try emulating the strategies of the Blue Jays and Brewers.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a copycat league, after all, and those teams serve as excellent models for the Giants in the upcoming years of the Posey administration.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Want more ways to catch up on the latest in Bay Area sports? Sign up for the Section…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":302794,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[17492,1266,2596,1275,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-302793","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-buster-posey","9":"tag-mlb","10":"tag-rafael-devers","11":"tag-san-francisco-giants","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-united-states","14":"tag-unitedstates","15":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115372925260073556","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302793","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=302793"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302793\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/302794"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=302793"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=302793"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=302793"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}