The other times the Giants have started 8-12

LOS ANGELES - OCTOBER 2: Steve Finley #12 of the Los Angeles Dodgers drops his bat after hitting a ninth inning walk off grand slam home run against the San Francisco Giants on October 2, 2004 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, California. The Dodgers came from behind to win 7-3 and win the National League West. (Photo by Stephen Dunn/Getty Images) | Getty Images In case you missed it, the San Francisco Giants won their 8th baseball game of the 2026 season last night and scored 10 runs in the process just to make us all feel even better about it.

It was their 20th game of the season, though, so there’s the whole matter of their 8-12 record. Heading into the game, their 7-12 standing generated this comment from writer Wendy Thurm: This is why there’s gnashing of teeth. The Giants have declared they are a “postseason or bust” team at all times, even when they hire a rookie manager who doesn’t know a lick about spit and needs months — maybe even a full season — to get accustomed to managing a major league team.

The team demands we pay attention to the results, and right now, the team is underperforming to an extent that they’re running into a the weight of MLB history when it comes to teams that have a bad start. Now, the three Wild Card setup has certainly changed the math on playoff odds for teams with this sort of start and I would expect to see this list rise in the coming years, but let’s keep with the historical theme and expand the look at the Giants franchise that I did after their 3-7 start . In that post, I looked at three teams in the Oracle Park era that were able to turn things around.

No, I won’t be looking at the current team’s standings and comparing to history every 10 games, but given their early struggles, it seems worth putting them in context for one of the winningest franchises in professional sports. The Giants franchise has started a season 8-12 seventeen times and had just five winning seasons afterwards. Two things stand out with this list: The 100-loss 1985 team is not on it, which means the 2026 Giants might be winning their way out of that comparison finally — though, check back next week to see if they’re 10-15 or 11-16.