The San Francisco Giants, unequivocally baseball's best team in even-numbered years, started off 2016 in grand style.
Ace Madison Bumgarner was so-so by his standards in his opening day start Monday, going five innings and giving up three runs, but it was the Giants' offense that stood out in a 12-3 win over the Milwaukee Brewers. The highlight came in the eighth inning, when Denard Span, Joe Panik and Buster Posey launched back-to-back-to-back home runs off Brewers reliever Ariel Pena to put an exclamation point on San Francisco's punishing day at the plate.
It's been almost 20 years since any team in the majors hit three consecutive home runs in the first game of the season. Coincidentally, the manager of the last team to do it was also Bruce Bochy.
 | @AlexPavlovic | |
Per Elias, Giants are first team to go back-to-back-to-back on Opening Day since the 1997 Padres.
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Span led the way offensively for the Giants with five RBIs and two runs scored while third baseman Matt Duffy came up with four RBIs and a home run of his own and first baseman Brandon Belt went 3-for-4 with a walk.
San Francisco loaded up on pitching in the offseason, signing Johnny Cueto and Jeff Samardzija to big free-agent contracts, and mostly overshadowing the acquisition of Span. The dynamic outfielder got a three-year deal with the Giants to play center field and be the catalyst at the top of the lineup in front of Panik, Posey, Hunter Pence and Belt.
The prevailing thought is that with a rotation fronted by Bumgarner, Cueto and Samardzija and a consistent lineup, the Giants should be good enough to get back into the playoffs and compete for their fourth World Series title since 2010.
Scoring 12 runs on opening day with Span in the leadoff spot is one way to make this statement: San Francisco is serious about contending this season.
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