Will Brutal Schedule Slow Down San Francisco Giants' Shockingly Good Start?

The San Francisco Giants have had to overcome a brutal schedule to start the season.

Apr 16, 2025; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; San Francisco Giants outfielder Heliot Ramos (17) celebrates with teammates after the game against the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park. | Kyle Ross-Imagn Images

With the San Francisco Giants off to a surprisingly good 13-5 start, many fans are wondering if they're for real.

Based on the teams they've beaten so far, it certainly seems so.

The Giants have had a difficult schedule to begin the year with no easy opponents. The worst team they've faced so far has been the Cincinnati Reds, who are 9-9 entering play on Thursday and aren't a bad team.

In other words, San Francisco hasn't been beating up on bad opponents. Quite the opposite, actually.

The Giants opened the season with a 5-1 road trip, taking two of three from the Reds in Cincinnati and sweeping the defending AL West champion Houston Astros. All of their wins were by multiple runs, and their one loss was by only one run, so they narrowly missed going 6-0.

The Giants really did not have a stretch like this last year where they played good baseball against quality teams. Little roster turnover, but the roster seems to have a different dynamic.

— Jeff Young (@BaseballJeff1) April 17, 2025

San Francisco's first homestand of the season began with a three-game sweep of the Seattle Mariners, who are coming off four straight winning seasons and missed making the playoffs by one game last year. The Mariners have a great pitching staff and put up a good fight, but the Giants proved more resilient with a pair of walk-off wins.

San Francisco's bats briefly went cold against the Reds, getting shut out in back-to-back games and squandering two magnificent pitching performances by Logan Webb and Landen Roupp. The Giants only allowed three runs in those two losses combined and would have won had they simply scored some runs.

After ending the homestand with another walk-off win, San Francisco has continued to roll during its toughest stretch yet. After taking two of three from the defending AL champion New York Yankees in the Bronx over the weekend, the Giants have won two of their first three games against the reigning NL East champion Philadelphia Phillies.

Overall, there's been nothing fluky about San Francisco's performance thus far. The Giants had the best record in MLB during spring training and have dominated tough opponents to begin the season. They have a 12-6 expected record based on their plus-34 run differential, suggesting they're legit.

They're pitching great, getting timely hitting, playing excellent defense and running the bases well, looking like a complete team in all areas. They're playing with energy and resilience and look like a totally different team than the mediocre one that went 80-82 last year.

San Francisco needs to keep it up, however, as the rest of its April schedule doesn't get any easier. The Giants close out the month with series against the Los Angeles Angels, Milwaukee Brewers, Texas Rangers and San Diego Padres, all of whom are over .500 through April 16.

They don't get a "real" break until the lowly Colorado Rockies come to town at the beginning of May. If San Francisco still has a winning record by then, that will be a great sign that this team has what it takes to contend in a historically good NL West this year.