Giants baseball......TORTURE!!!

And you thought that the path to the post-season was going to be easy. The San Francisco Giants are living up to their 2010 regular season mantra of GIANTS BASEBALL.....TORTURE!!!

Thanks to Andrew Baggarly we have the four possible outcomes for tomorrow for the Giants. The outcomes are below.

The good news is that no matter what happens tomorrow the Giants can not be eliminated from playoff contention on Sunday. However, if they lose then it is possible they will have to play one or two more games before they make it into the playoffs.

In order for the Giants not to make the playoffs they would have to have lost five games in a row to end the season, four against the Padres, of which they have already lost two, and another one against the Braves.

Something else of note is that it is possible the Giants could clinch a playoff spot before game time. The Braves-Phillies game starts at 10:35. It is important to note that the Giants still need to beat the Padres. They want to win the NL West and have home field advantage for the first round.

I like the Giants chances, especially tomorrow when yours truly will be in the house.

And as promised, the four possible outcomes:

Outcome No.1: Giants win, Braves win. 
The Giants are 92-70 and win the NL West. The Braves are 91-71 and win the wild card. The Padres are 90-71 and are eliminated. (The Giants and Braves would match up in the Division Series.)

Outcome No.2: Giants win, Braves lose. 
The Giants are 92-70 and win the NL West. The Braves and Padres are 90-72 and would have a one-game playoff for the wild card Monday at Atlanta. (If the Braves prevail, the Giants get them in the NLDS. If the Padres are the wild card, the Giants would match up against the Cincinnati Reds. In either event, the Giants would have home-field advantage for the NLDS.)

Outcome No.3: Giants lose, Braves lose 
The Braves are 90-72 and are eliminated. The Giants and Padres tie atop the NL West at 91-71, and both clinch postseason berths on the same field (!!!). The Padres are awarded the NL West title without a tiebreaker because they captured the season series against the Giants. Thus, the Giants enter as the wild card. (The Giants would begin an NLDS Wednesday against the Phillies while the Padres would get the Reds.)

Outcome No.4: Giants lose, Braves win 
OK, now this is the crazy part. The Giants, Padres and Braves would finish with identical 91-71 records, necessitating a tiebreaker game for the NL West that would be held Monday at San Diego. (Time TBA.) The winner Monday would be NL West champ. The loser would be forced to play a second tiebreaker game Tuesday at Atlanta for the wild card. (The rules governing NLDS matchups are the same. The Phillies get the wild card winner, unless it’s the Braves. In that case, the Phillies get the Reds and the NL West winner will face the Braves.)