Masterful!
Giants complete all-time great season, defeating Reds 4 games to 1 in World Series
The Giants’ ninth Redwood SOM League title arrived with the force and inescapability of Loma Prieta. By the time Jake McCarthy grounded into the double play that ended Game 5 with a 13–5 Giants victory, the result disappointed many but surprised none.
With their four-games-to-one gentleman’s sweep, the Giants capped off one of the great seasons in Redwood SOM history: color-to-color, with 52 regular-season wins that preceded a postseason rampage, disposing of the Athletics and then the Reds while winning eight of ten games in the process.
The World Series effectively ended in the top of Game Five’s fourth inning, when the Giants reached Ronel Blanco for eight runs. The inning’s offensive avalanche was such that it seems pointless to note individual plays, as if any particular drop makes or breaks a rainstorm. But some nonetheless stand out: Mike Trout’s two-run shot before an out was recorded, followed, seemingly twenty batters later, by Kerry Carpenter’s two-out grand slam. In the at-bat just before Carpenter’s blast, Blanco committed a critical error on Kyle Tucker’s comeback grounder, not only allowing a run on its own but squelching any chance of a third out. There aren’t a lot of five-run errors in this game, but Blanco found a way.
In all the Giants hit seven (!) home runs during Game 5, with Trout hitting another in addition to his fourth-inning shot, while Tucker added two of his own, and Francisco Lindor and Rafael Devers added one each. Meanwhile Chris Sale stymied the Reds’ hitters, finishing yet another post-season complete game while striking out 11 and scattering nine hits.
The task of selecting a series MVP was complicated by the Giants’ usual surplus of worthy candidates: Lindor batted .316 for the series while scoring six runs in five games; Sal Perez batted .294 with an OPS of .899; and Trout’s heroics weren’t limited to Game Five, as he added an additional dinger and drove in six runs and scored another four himself.
But Sale stood out again, and commanded MVP honors: he was the winning pitcher in two of the Giants’ four wins, posting a 3.12 ERA and striking out 19 in all. He was aided throughout by the Giants’ sterling defense, especially their infield that seemed to turn double plays whenever Sale needed one, snuffing out a number of Reds’ would-be rallies aborning.
The 2025 Giants are not only your Redwood SOM world champions, but one of the great teams in league history. The rest of the league hopes that we shall not see their like again!
2025 World Series
Giants (Number 1 seed) versus Reds (Number 2 seed)
Giants win series 4 games to 1
MVP: Chris Sale
Divisional Playoffs
Giants (Number 1 seed) versus Oakland (Number 4 seed)
Giants win series 4 games to 1
MVP: Francisco Lindor
Reds (Number 2 seed) versus Yankees (Number 3 seed)
Reds win series 4 games to 3
MVP: Bobby Witt Jr.
Final Regular Season Standings
Larry Division
- x-Giants (52-28), .650, 0.0 GB
- y-Yankees (43-37), .538, 9.0 GB
- Cardinals (41-39), .513, 11.0 GB
Moe Division
- x-Oakland (43-37), .538, 0.0 GB
- Mets (40-40), .500, 3.0 GB
- Rockies (33-47), .413 10.0 GB
Curly Division
- x-Reds (43-37), .538, 0.0 GB
- Pirates (34-46), .425, 9.0 GB
- Red Sox (31-49), .388, 12.0 GB
x - Clinched division
y - Clinched wild card
2026 Draft Order
1. Red Sox
2. Rockies
3. Pirates
4. Mets
5. Cardinals
6. Oakland
7. Yankees
8. Reds
9. Giants
Next action: Hot stove starts now! See you next season!
