No one saw this coming! Your San Francisco Giants suddenly have the best record in baseball, ahead of the superstar-studded, mega-salaried LA Dodgers and New York Yankees.

Thirteen days ago in our San Francisco Giants season preview that ran the day before the Major League Baseball season started, we noted that oddsmakers were predicting the San Francisco Giants would end up dead last in the NL West. Now 12 days into the 2025 MLB season, the standings do not look like what the oddsmakers had predicted.

Image: MLB.com

Sunday’s 5-4 win over the Seattle Mariners marked the Giants’ seventh consecutive win, and leaves them not only with the best record in the NL West division, but the best record of any team in Major League Baseball. They’re off to an 8-1 start for time first since 2003, they’ve swept their last two series in a row, and won Sunday’s game in dramatic enough fashion that it deserves some video embeds.


With the game tied 4-4 in the bottom of the ninth inning, Giants catcher Patrick Bailey hit a long foul that appeared to be going into the stands, but Mariners outfielder Victor Robles absolutely laid himself out and made one of the most remarkable catches of the season yet, throwing his whole body into the netting. (He appears to have injured his shoulder in doing so, was carted off the field, and we wish him a speedy recovery).  

Phenomenal catch and all, but Robles went out of bounds to get it. That allowed the Giants' Luis Matos to advance all the way from first base to third, leaving the winning run at third base with two outs.


The next batter up Wilmer Flores, who also hit the winning home run on Opening Day, shot a single to right field, scoring Matos, and bringing a jubilant Giants team leaping from the dugout to mob him.


And honorable mention for the weekend goes to new third baseman Matt Chapman, who closed out the Mariners Saturday night with this phenomenal infield throw.


Okay, I admit, it’s early. We are nine games into the season, or rather, barely five percent of the way through the season. This sizzling Giants start could end up being just a mirage.  

But hey, we’re ahead of the mega-bucks Dodgers with their $321 million payroll, and the New York Mets with their $323 million payroll, and the New York Yankees with their $293 million payroll. This Giants’ roster of largely no-names has a payroll of $173 million, barely half of what the Dodgers and Mets are paying.

Of course, this “best record in baseball” will no longer be applicable if the Giants lose tonight. (They play the Reds at home at 6:45 pm.) And it’s probably significant that the Giants have not yet played even one team with a winning record. That won’t happen until Friday night, when they play the Yankees in New York, which will give us a better indication of whether these Giants are for real.  

But for now, come on, best record in baseball! Enjoy it, because there’s only one team that gets to say that. And right now, that team is your San Francisco Giants.

Related: SF Giants Season Preview: It’s the Dodgers’ World, Can Buster Posey Ruin It for Them? [SFist]

Image: SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA - APRIL 06: Mike Yastrzemski #5 and Heliot Ramos #17 of the San Francisco Giants celebrates after Yastrzemski hit a three-run home run against the Seattle Mariners in the bottom of the fourth inning at Oracle Park on April 06, 2025 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)