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San Francisco Giants: A Month By Month Analysis of the 2017 Schedule

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 6:17 p.m. ET

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Fansided, Daniel Sperry/FanSided via Around the Foghorn

Mar 25, 2016; Scottsdale, AZ, USA; Kansas City Royals second baseman Omar Infante (14) hits a double off of San Francisco Giants starting pitcher Johnny Cueto (47) during the fifth inning at Scottsdale Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matt Kartozian-USA TODAY Sports

The San Francisco Giants are virtually guaranteed to be a contender in the NL West for 2017. With them at the top are the Dodgers, and close behind are most likely the Rockies. Month by Month we’re going to take a look at the 2017 schedule and see where the most difficult stretch of games will be.

The San Francisco Giants 2017 schedule has been out for a while now. But it’s finally time that we can take a look at their schedule and not have the recurring thought in the back of your head saying “DUDE, THE SEASON IS 6 MONTHS AWAY” like you would if you looked when the Giants were eliminated this fall.

Earlier this week, we took a look at four road-trips that you should make alongside the Giants. While that was four small short looks at the schedule and what is upcoming this season, we’re going to take a look at the schedule overall, and month-by-month.

Sep 10, 2016; Phoenix, AZ, USA; San Francisco Giants right fielder Hunter Pence (8) looks on against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field. The Giants won 11-3. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

April Schedule Breakdown:

Significant Home-stand: April 24th-30th; four games vs. Dodgers, three vs. Padres

Significant Road-trip: Opening day/week: April 2nd-9th, three games at DiamondBacks, three games at Padres

Most Intriguing Matchup: I actually have two for this, one sentimental, the other is pure rivalry (take a guess at who). The first is the Kansas City Royals. The Royals ability to compete next year is frankly a big question mark. The most intriguing thing about his matchup is that it’s inter-league play, and the Royals only appear on the schedule once every three seasons. It’s also fun because it’s the first matchup since the 2014 World Series, which will be fresh on the minds of both sets of players come April. It will be even more so if Madison Bumgarner pitches in KC (Technically he would start if he was the 1 starter in the rotation, on the last game in KC). It’s only a two game set, short and sweet in the midwest before they go back to SF, but the Royals will be in town in June for the other two games of this inter-league matchup

Of course the series against the Dodgers in the final home-stand of the month will be significant. The first matchup with the Dodgers of the season, and it will be quite entertaining. Any-time the Dodgers come to town, that date on the calendar is circled, no matter how bad either team is.

Overall, the month of April is a nice jump into the season. A whole lot of divisional play, and worst road-trip travel wise is going to Colorado and Kansas City. Not bad at all.

Aug 25, 2016; Los Angeles, CA, USA; San Francisco Giants starting pitcher Matt Moore (45) reacts after giving up a single to Los Angeles Dodgers shortstop Corey Seager (5) in the ninth inning of the game at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

May Schedule Breakdown:

Significant Home-stand: May 26th-30th; three vs. Atlanta, three vs. Washington

This home-stand figures to be more difficult than the other. Cincinnati and the Dodgers are the other one. While the Dodgers will be tough, Cincinnati most likely won’t be competitive next year, and would be significantly weaker than the last time they faced the Giants. The prospect of Atlanta being good next year is way higher than the Reds being good, and the Nationals should be expected to be in the postseason conversation again in ’17.

Significant Road-trip: May 1st-10th; three at Dodgers, three at Reds, three at Mets

The first road trip more than six games, and significant travel will make this a tough one. They go from Los Angeles>Cincinnati>New York>San Francisco In the span of 11 days, including a trip home from New York, and home game the next night. I don’t care how used to traveling these guys are, that’s a relatively brutal travel setup.

Overall, May is easily the hardest month on the schedule. At the end of this article, we’ll look at the Giants strength of schedule by month, and you’ll see how difficult May will be. The Dodgers twice, Chicago on the Road, including every NL Playoff team from 2016. May will be the test of the mettle. After that the schedule strength evens out. But May is by far the toughest month on the schedule from an opponent’s strength standpoint.

Jun 2, 2016; Atlanta, GA, USA; General view of a few fans attending the game between the Atlanta Braves and the San Francisco Giants during the 9th inning at Turner Field. The Giants won 6-0. Mandatory Credit: Jason Getz-USA TODAY Sports

June Schedule Breakdown:

Significant Home-stand: June 9th-14th; three vs. Minnesota, two vs. Kanas City

The other home-stand is the Mets and Rockies. While they are bigger opponents in the scale of competitiveness, I love inter-league play. The home stand I have listed brings in a couple teams that aren’t expected to be contenders, but have some interesting and exciting players, especially players that Giants fans on the west coast don’t get to see very often.

Significant Road-trip: June 15th-22nd; four at Colorado, four at Atlanta

So the Giants have games consecutively from June 13th-28th. It starts with the two game series vs. KC and ends with three home games against the Rockies on the 28th. In the middle is travel to Colorado, Atlanta and back to San Francisco with out a day off in-between. Especially when going from the altitude of Denver, down to the humidity of Atlanta, that road-trip could be incredibly taxing on players. They do have a road-trip at the beginning of the month that is somewhat similar, but they get a day off to travel to Philadelphia, where they then travel to Milwaukee, and back to San Francisco with no day off.

Overall, the opponent strength isn’t as bad as May, but the travel isn’t so kind, but welcome to the “Dog Days of Summer!”

Apr 9, 2015; San Diego, CA, USA; San Francisco Giants fans yell for autographs before the game between the San Francisco Giants and the San Diego Padres at Petco Park. Mandatory Credit: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports

July Schedule Breakdown:

Significant Home-Stand: July 14th-26th; three at San Diego (HA!), three vs. Cleveland, four vs. San Diego, three vs. Pittsburgh

After the All-Star break, the Giants have a 13 game home-stand…that’s if you consider at San Diego a home series. We all know the invasion down there is nuts, and it’s a virtual home-series every time. Anyways, even if you don’t count it, that’s thirteen games within the state of California which is really, really nice. In fact, the Giants don’t leave the state of California from July 7th to August 11th. That’s really nice, especially when you look at recent months when the July Schedule has been borderline torturous. The all-star break is also thrown in the middle of that massive stretch of games without leaving California, which should help out the rest and relief.

Significant Road-Trips: June 30th-July 6th; three at Pittsburgh, three at Detroit

The Pittsburgh series technically starts June 30th, but runs through the beginning of July. That one and the Detroit series will be relatively competitive opponents in the nasty heat and humidity combination of the midwest summers. Both Pittsburgh and Detroit are brutal in the summer, especially for a team that’s used to dry heat and temperatures under 80 for like 90% of the year. As we mentioned earlier, the Giants don’t leave the state of California for the rest of the month. Yes the Dodgers are significant, but it’s a mini three game roadtrip in the middle of their California tour this July.

Overall, July brings a little bit tougher opponents than June, but the fact that they don’t leave California from July 7th into August kinda helps smooth that out.

Oct 11, 2016; San Francisco, CA, USA; The Chicago Cubs celebrate after defeating the San Francisco Giants in game four of the 2016 NLDS playoff baseball game at AT&T Park. Mandatory Credit: John Hefti-USA TODAY Sports

August Schedule Breakdown:

Significant Home-Stand: August 2nd-9th; two vs. Oakland, three vs. Arizona, three vs. Cubs

This home-stand is significant because it’s basically the only home stand in August where they’ll most likely face a postseason contender. The other was Milwaukee and Philadelphia. Philly could potentially put something together, but that could be unlikely. Really, the only argument that should matter for this home stand mentioned is that the Cubs are coming to town. That matters, and that’s significant. The Cubs were the first team to figure out the Giants in the postseason since 2003. Every series the Giants have lost since 2002 in the postseason was to the eventual World Series Champion. This series should be circled by both Giants fans and the players. That’s why this home-stand takes the cake

Significant Road-Trip: August 11th-August 16th; three at Washington, three at Miami

Early August is just like July on the east coast. Six straight games in summer-type humidity against Miami and Washington will be a good test for them. Immediately after playing for more than a month within the state of California, they’re immediately thrown back out east, and against quality opponents. This is probably the hardest stretch of games if you tack on the Cubs series behind this in August.

Overall, the month of August is relatively nice for the Giants, but there is a big nine game stretch right in the middle. That series will probably give you a good glimpse of whether the Giants are really built for a good postseason run in 2017.

Oct 2, 2016; San Francisco, CA, USA; The San Francisco Giants players celebrates after clinching the wild card against the Los Angeles Dodgers at AT&T Park. The Giants won 7-1. Mandatory Credit: Neville E. Guard-USA TODAY Sports

September/October Schedule Breakdown:

Significant Home-stand: September 11th-20th: three vs. Dodgers, three vs. Arizona, two vs. Colorado
This home-stand is the only significant home-stand in the month of September. It’s the only stretch that features more than one series, and the biggest one being the final home series, and penultimate series against the Dodgers. This one counts because on the next road-trip, it’s Arizona and the final series against the Dodgers for 2017. This series against the Dodgers is significant. It might not decide the division, the final one likely will, but could put them in a good position to kill off any late charges by any other NL West team. With both Arizona and Colorado expected to be better than 2016, the Giants may have a bit more intra-division competition.

Significant Road-trip: September 22nd-27th; three at Dodgers, three at Arizona

This is the final road-trip of the regular season, and with the division potentially on the line, the Giants will place a whole lot of importance on this trip. The Dodgers series is very significant, but the Diamondbacks just might be competitive this year. That could pose a problem. They can’t go in and sweep the Dodgers and then get swept in Arizona on a let-off, likely negating any ground gained in that series with the Dodgers. Suffice to say, this road-trip will be significant.

Oct 11, 2016; San Francisco, CA, USA; San Francisco Giants catcher Buster Posey (28) reacts during the ninth inning of game four of the 2016 NLDS playoff baseball game against the Chicago Cubs at AT&T Park. Mandatory Credit: John Hefti-USA TODAY Sports

Strength of Schedule by Month:

I decided to give a basic strength of schedule outlook for the season. All teams on the schedule were weighted. The formula? Each 1st place finisher in 2016 received 5 points, 2nd place got four points, and so on. In addition, teams that made the postseason but didn’t finish first (WC teams) got an extra point. If they finished .500 or above but didn’t make the postseason they received an extra point, and if they were in the world series, they received an extra point. So basically, the teams who received an extra point were Detroit, St. Louis, the New York Mets, Kansas City, the Chicago Cubs, and the Cleveland Indians. Each team were only able to receive one extra point. Here was the order of most difficult months and their point value based on opponent strength that month

As I said in the recap of May, that month would be the hardest month of the season far and away. Thankfully, it is padded on either side by relatively simpler months on the schedule.

First Glance Outlook: The Giants may have a difficult start to the season just because of how difficult May is going to be. Opponent strength for that month could technically be higher because the consensus is the Braves should be relatively competitive next season. But thankfully it mellows out after that tough month of May. As long as the Giants can stay remotely healthy, they should be on their way to another playoff contender season.

Be sure to stay tuned to Around the Foghorn for your hot-stove needs, and the buildup to Opening Day!

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