Series Preview: No, the Giants didn’t break the Dodgers… unless?

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - MAY 10: Shohei Ohtani #17 of the Los Angeles Dodgers adjusts his batting helmet during the eighth inning against the Atlanta Braves at Dodger Stadium on May 10, 2026 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images) | Getty Images The San Francisco Giants took two out of three from their longtime rivals just about three weeks ago and it was one of those things where the team, having embarrassed itself across multiple games and a couple weeks, walked away from the wins as a sign that they’d turned a corner. We’ve all been so desperate to believe that the team isn’t as bad as it has been through 40 games this season that any positive is turning point and every negative is “small sample size.

” Well, the Dodgers didn’t have Mookie Betts in San Francisco for that series loss and here in LA this week, they’ll have Mookie Betts back for all four games. Does that mean the Giants are doomed? I certainly thought this season series and rivalry was fait accompli and we were destined to watch the Dodgers perform every Mortal Kombat finisher on our favorite team for the rest of our lives and when that didn’t happen I thought, “Hey, maybe the Giants aren’t as bad as they’ve looked.

“ And maybe, given the Dodgers performance in and since that series, the Giants had wounded them in a meaningful way. LA was 16-6 before the series, averaging 6 runs per game. They’re 8-10 since and averaging around 4.

So, does the baseball world owe the Giants thanks for disrupting the team everybody hates? Nah. Unfortunately, that credit should go to the Rockies — and the injury bug that infected Mookie Betts with a strained oblique.