Today, the San Francisco Giants executed their first planned bullpen game of the 2025 season, an act so transgressive and hostile towards Giants fans that my email inbox exploded. One of the only things the fan base has cared about the past 10 years is the franchise’s decision to employ bullpen games from time to time. They don’t like it.
Farhan Zaidi’s very first encounter with season ticketholders elicited boos because he dared to ask them if it was okay to deploy openers and bullpen games even if it was proven to be an effective strategy.