With all the hullabaloo surrounding Gabe Kapler’s firing on Friday, you’d be forgiven if you forgot about the baseball game the Giants still had to play against the Dodgers.
The season felt over—it was in terms of playoff contention, and it was for Kap, stripped of the opportunity to see his fourth full season (2020 included) as San Francisco’s skipper through to the end and play for a consecutive 81-81 record. Maybe as the ground beneath him began to shift and crack these past weeks, the front office water cooler gossip, clubhouse clamor and internet din rising into an uneasy pitch, Kapler allowed himself the smallest amount of hope that this weekend series could pull his neck from the guillotine: What if we played so brilliantly and I managed so deftly, alternating between analytics and instinct with such aplomb and feel that we sweep LA, resurface at .