Giants Ace Logan Webb ‘Not Dumb’ About Challenge of Chasing Dodgers

San Francisco Giants starting pitcher Logan Webb is done with the past and looking forward to a chance to reach the playoffs in 2026.

San Francisco Giants starting pitcher Logan Webb. | Eakin Howard-Imagn Images

Logan Webb is one of the few San Francisco Giants that remembers what the postseason feels like.

Webb was in his first full Major League season in 2021 when the Giants won 107 games and claimed the National League West title. For a franchise that was used to winning World Series titles, including three in a five-year span from 2010-15, the playoff spot was welcome. Unfortunately, the Giants were bounced from the postseason in the divisional round.

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The team that bounced them? The Los Angeles Dodgers. Webb and the Giants haven't had a chance to return the favor since.

Four years of mediocrity have been cold comfort as Webb has emerged as one of baseball’s best pitchers. San Francisco is 321-327 in those four seasons, with a pair of 81-81 records, including last year.

Webb knows the path is tough, and he knows who the Giants must catch, as he told John Shea of the San Francisco Standard (subscription required) at spring training in Scottsdale, Ariz.

Webb ‘Not Dumb’ About Who Giants Must Catch

For San Francisco to reach the postseason, it must in some way catch the Dodgers, who are now the two-time defending World Series champions and have won three world titles in the last six seasons. With spring training just a week old, Webb knows first the franchise must be in position to get to the playoffs.

“You’ve got to put yourself in a position to try to make the playoffs,” Webb said. “Anytime you go into a season, you should try to win the division, the No. 1 goal. I’m not dumb or anything. I understand the Dodgers are in our division, but I think if our goal wasn’t to try and beat those guys in the division, we’d be chasing the wrong things.”

Webb is used to being a workhorse. He’s pitched at least 200 innings in each of the last three seasons, with 192.1 innings in 2022. This past season he led the Majors with 207 innings pitched with a record of 15-11 with a 3.22 ERA. He finished fourth in National League Cy Young voting and was in the Top 6 in Cy Young voting for the third straight year.

He’ll pitch for Team USA in the World Baseball Classic next month, an opportunity he passed on three years ago. Now that he is more established, he feels he can leave spring training for the opportunity.

With Webb, Robbie Ray, Adrian Houser, Tyler Mahle and most likely Landen Roupp in the fifth rotation spot, the giants have constructed a rotation that should compete with most teams this season. The question, of course, is whether it can handle the Dodgers. For now, Webb is intent on instilling a sense of optimism among his teammates that carries over into a playoff berth.