SAN FRANCISCO — The Giants’ slim postseason hopes were extinguished Tuesday night, and within hours of their elimination becoming official began to shift plans accordingly.
Robbie Ray, who was scheduled to start Wednesday’s series finale against the Cardinals, was scratched shortly after the clubhouse doors closed to reporters and replaced with long reliever J.T. Brubaker. Standing in front of his locker the following afternoon, Ray reflected on the first full season under his belt since undergoing Tommy John surgery.
“Couldn’t really ask for a whole much more,” he said.
After missing almost the entirety of 2023, Ray returned last July and logged 30 innings and this season became one of the most durable and reliable starters in the majors. At the time of his final start, Ray ranked among the league leaders in innings (182⅓; 12th) and pitches thrown (3,069; third) while finishing with a 3.65 ERA, his best mark over the course of a season since he won the Cy Young in 2021.
“I felt really good about my season,” said Ray, who was also named an All-Star for the second time in his career. “… I’m proud to be able to take the ball when I was asked to and log that many innings, give our team a chance to win that many times. Obviously it didn’t work out the way we wanted to, but this is a good workload to build off of.”
Although the season ended on a sour note, posting an 8.13 ERA over his final six starts, Ray didn’t believe fatigue was a factor. Across the board, the velocity on his pitches was higher in September than it was in August.
“Obviously I haven’t been in that situation in a while, so there was a little fatigue,” Ray said. “But ultimately felt like I still had the capability of going out there and giving us a chance to win. I never felt bad, really at all this year. I felt pretty strong all the way through.”
“That’s who he is — he’s a bulldog,” manager Bob Melvin said. “He gives everything on every pitch. You can hear him. He gets after it all the time, wants to be there for his team, wants to post and certainly did for us this year. But it makes some sense to give him this one off.”
The sharp increase in workload this season made it an easy decision to put a wrap on Ray’s year and turn their attention to 2026.
With Justin Verlander set to be a free agent, Ray is one of only three sure things in next year’s rotation, along with Logan Webb and Landen Roupp. Hayden Birdsong, Carson Whisenhunt, Kai-Wei Teng, Trevor McDonald are some of the names who will battle for the final two spots, if they aren’t filled through free agency or trade this offseason.
“We’ve got some good young guys, me and Webby got a veteran presence. If we add someone in the offseason too, that’d be great,” Ray said. “There’s gonna be some guys on the market who I think could potentially help us out.”
When Webb exited Tuesday’s game, he was in line for the win and it appeared Ray would still have a reason to pitch on Wednesday. But the Giants’ bullpen wasn’t able to hold on to an 8-3 lead and lost, 9-8, which combined with the Mets’ win put too much daylight between the teams for the third and final wild card spot with four games left to play.
The loss locked in a fourth straight season without a winning record or a postseason appearance.
Webb said this year was “the most frustrating” while also calling the roster “the most talented team I’ve been on,” including the one that won 107 games in 2021, the last Giants squad to make the playoffs.
“If there’s one thing about Buster Posey, I don’t think he’s okay with losing,” Webb said. “I don’t think he’s okay with even being .500. He wants to win. I’m not going to play his job because it’s not my job, but I don’t think he’s OK with this. I don’t think there’s a lot of people OK with this in this clubhouse.”
Ray was asked if he could pinpoint where things went wrong for a team that was tied with the Dodgers for first place in the National League West when they made the biggest splash of the season, adding Rafael Devers in a mid-June blockbuster.
“It felt like there was multiple times right before the trade deadline where we kind of shot ourselves in the foot,” he said.
Since the Devers trade, the Giants have gone 36-52 and went from buyers to sellers by the trade deadline. On Tuesday, the slide reached its natural conclusion, with their season ending in disappointment for the fourth straight year.
“Not to say that we didn’t get some good pieces for the future, but we got rid of a couple key pieces in this clubhouse,” Ray said. “After that we kind of went on a surge and felt like we were getting some momentum. Then, the last couple weeks we just weren’t able to really do anything. It’s unfortunate, but it’s a good lesson for us to learn.”
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Notable
— RHP Randy Rodríguez underwent successful surgery to repair the ulnar collateral ligament in right elbow — the operation commonly known as Tommy John — and was given a 12-14 month timeline for recovery. Dr. Keith Meister performed the procedure.
— RHP Logan Webb will start the Giants’ season finale on Sunday, giving him a chance to become the first Giants pitcher since Bill Voiselle in 1944 to lead the league in strikeouts and innings pitched. Webb (201⅔) has logged five more innings than the next-closest pitcher in the National League, Christopher Sánchez, and is tied with Paul Skenes at 216 strikeouts.
— McDonald and Verlander will get the nod in the Giants’ other two remaining games.