Kawakami: A few pressing questions as this colossal Giants season hurtles toward the finish line

This Giants season is so big that even Madison Bumgarner seemed sort of inconsequential on Thursday at Oracle Park. Well, at least more inconsequential than usual. Of course, Bumgarner still loomed large as he stood on that familiar mound as a visitor in front of a Giants crowd for the first time. But amid the circumstances of this epic Giants-Dodgers division steeplechase, he definitely was not the biggest thing going.

This Giants season is so big that it’s overshadowing all else. This is so big that every interesting new moment feels like a piece of instant history, etched into the record book in real-time. This is so big that it feels like the playoffs started about five weeks ago. Except they haven’t even started yet and the Giants, after winning their 105th game on Thursday, still have to keep winning to make sure they win the NL West.

That’s big. Huge. Colossal. And unforgettable, no matter how this ends.

This Giants season is so immensely theatric that throughout their mesmerizing walk-off 5-4 victory, everybody in the park also had their eyes on the out-of-town scoreboard, watching the Dodgers jump ahead of the Padres, then almost lose the lead and then cruise to victory, to keep within two games of the Giants. With three games to play for both teams.

And when LaMonte Wade Jr. drove a sharp ground ball off the glove of first baseman Pavin Smith to score in Steven Duggar and end this game, it didn’t end the drama. For sure, the crowd went crazy, the Giants poured onto the field and celebrated around Wade. But it was also very clearly just another step on the way to October, to even bigger games and more tension. It will only build. It’s been thunderous, and it will get geometrically more powerful.

The 2021 highlight reel just keeps getting longer for LaMonte

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— SFGiants (@SFGiants) October 1, 2021

Several times an inning on Thursday, you thought to yourself: Hmm, that development was interesting. How will this affect the Giants in the division series, if they get there? Does this underline a hidden weakness? Are we seeing a lineup tweak that could elevate them an extra round or two? Is that what keeps them from winning the World Series? Or is that what will make sure that they do?

That’s the beauty and weight of essential late September baseball, especially when the Dodgers are at 103 wins and the Giants are at 105. And they’re clearly the best two teams in baseball, at least in the regular season. Every moment echoes. Every play lingers. Every question is a possible crisis. Every success is a potential championship hallmark.

Like the Dodgers, the Giants have a few concerns. They also have options. They have decisions to make. They have players who need to hit a little better. They have secret weapons and wearying stalwarts. Let’s take a look at a few notable issues going into this final regular-season weekend against the Padres:

How’s the Giants’ starting rotation going to hold up?

Scott Kazmir was basically a placeholder starter on Thursday and he lasted only one out, giving up three runs, before he hurt his hamstring on a botched attempt to cover first base, which meant that the bullpen had to cover 8 2/3 innings. And it did, pretty brilliantly and not for the first time this season.

Thanks to the built-in off-days, teams only need four starters in the playoffs. The Giants have Logan Webb (who is scheduled to get his final regular-season start on Sunday), Kevin Gausman (who is getting his final regular-season start on Saturday, bumped back a day to give him a little more rest), Anthony DeSclafani (final start on Friday) and Alex Wood (who pitched Wednesday). If they keep to this, their top two starters — Webb and Gausman — would be eliminated from pitching either in a possible Game 163 against the Dodgers on Monday and/or the wild-card game on Wednesday. Which would set up Wood, DeSclafani or a bullpen game for either Game 163 or the wild-card game. Not at all ideal.

The best scenario for the Giants would be to clinch the division on Friday or Saturday so they could have plenty of time to reset their rotation for a Friday NLDS Game 1, probably leading off with Webb. (If Webb pitches in the Sunday finale, he’d be on regular rest for a possible Game 1 start, but I’m sure the Giants would love to get him some extra rest heading into that series.)

The Giants’ rotation is never going to match up on paper with the Dodgers’ or Brewers’ starters, but they’ve held up down the stretch by patching it together even after some fairly disastrous and short starts. They did it again Thursday. They probably can’t do it very often in the playoffs.

Is Camilo Doval the playoff closer?

Yes, I think so. Obviously, nothing has to be set in stone now, especially as the Giants wait for incumbent closer Jake McGee to come back from an oblique strain. And Doval isn’t exactly experienced as a closer or pitching at all in the playoffs, since, of course, he’s a rookie who hasn’t done any of this before.

But Doval also hasn’t given up a run in 13 September appearances, which dropped his ERA from 6.39 to 3.24 in the process. He throws 100 mph and sometimes higher, the kind of swing-and-miss stuff that can dominate a playoff series or two. And his arm seems ready for this — he pitched Tuesday and Wednesday and yet was warming up in the bottom of the ninth on Thursday in case the game went into extra innings.

So let’s say that Doval will be given every opportunity to pitch the ninth inning in the postseason and isn’t going to be used just as a match-up guy against certain right-handed hitters.

“I think he’s good against anybody,” manager Gabe Kapler said Thursday of Doval. “I say that with a high degree of confidence because if he’s throwing strikes with his stuff, he’s going to be somewhat matchup agnostic. It doesn’t mean that we won’t still be cognizant of his experience levels. … He’s demonstrated that he’s comfortable in pretty much every intensity level. But these games the last couple of days are even going to be potentially elevated from that standpoint, from an intensity level. And the postseason, every step of the way a little bit more is on the line and can feel a little bit more intense.”

So can Doval be the playoff closer after only getting the role in the last week or so? “I would feel comfortable having Camilo pitch in any situation right now,” Kapler said.

A big question against left-handed pitching: What’s up with Kris Bryant and Evan Longoria?

Longoria and Bryant, in the fourth and fifth slots against the lefty starter, went a combined 0-for-8 with four strikeouts on Thursday, both stranding runners in the first, third and fifth innings.

Over his last seven games, Bryant is 3-for-24 with no extra-base hits. Over his last seven games, Longoria is 3-for-28 with one extra-base hit, a double.

Maybe it’s just happenstance that both are in mini slumps at the same time. But the Giants could face some left-handed starters in the playoffs, particularly the Dodgers’ Julio Urias and Clayton Kershaw, and need something more from Bryant and Longoria pretty quickly.

Evan Longoria (John Hefti / USA Today)

And it speaks to a larger Giants issue: They are an unbelievable 78-34 (.696 winning percentage) this season against right-handed starters, but even after Thursday’s victory in a game started by Bumgarner, they are a relatively mortal 27-20 (.574) against left-handed starters.

Which makes it even more important that …

There’s a solid chance that Buster Posey will catch every playoff game

The Giants remained disciplined with Posey’s playing time throughout the season — Thursday was only his 100th catching start and he has played no other position except catcher — and it has paid off. Not only has he had a statistical renaissance, Posey is looking and apparently feeling fresh enough to push it a little going into this final stretch.

Thursday was his third start in three days, something the Giants have mostly avoided through the first five-plus months. And Posey looked very good, roping a double off of Bumgarner in the fifth inning and throwing out pinch-runner Jake McCarthy on a steal attempt in the top of the ninth. Both Posey and Kapler said the plan is for Posey to start again on Friday, though that could change depending on how Posey feels before the game.

He likely will rest the Saturday day game then play Sunday if the Giants need to win Game 162 to clinch the division. And if all goes well for Posey into the weekend, look for him to be penciled into the lineup for every postseason game.

“Earlier in the season and even a week or 10 days ago, it was, ‘Let’s plan the next five, six, seven games, this road trip, this homestand,” Kapler said Thursday. “And I think now we’re at a place where we’re checking with him every night and see how his body’s recovering.”

Will the Giants have sellouts in the playoffs?

There were 27,503 at Oracle on Thursday, which is a far cry from the 41,915 capacity that automatically jammed into the stadium for all previous September and October runs. It still was loud on Thursday. It still was quite the scene. But that’s 14,000 fewer than everybody is used to. And that’s even with the Giants capping off an all-time regular season.

We all know the reasons for this: Legitimate concerns about packing into a stadium in the middle of a pandemic, the fact that Oracle doesn’t require proof of vaccination to attend or have vaccination-only sections, the limited walk-over possibilities with fewer people working downtown, the scaled-back public transit options and the parking headaches with Lot A spaces drastically reduced due to the Mission Rock construction.

But the bigger crowds, surely, are coming this weekend and into the playoffs, right?

(Photo of Buster Posey and Camilo Doval: Thearon W. Henderson / Getty Images)