Anthony DeSclafani tossed a gem June 11 in Washington, finishing what he started for a rare complete game.
Also notably beating the odds are three graybeards, each of whom is in the final year of his contract.
Posey, 34, opted out of last summer’s pandemic-shortened season after he and his wife, Kristin, adopted identical-twin girls who had been born prematurely.
Crawford, 34, is producing the best overall season of his career and this month became the club’s career leader in games played at shortstop, breaking a record previously held by the Hall of Famer Travis Jackson, who retired in 1936.
Belt, 33, slowed by an oblique strain earlier this year, continues as a presence at first base with an on-base plus slugging percentage that ranked him second the team through Saturday.
“I think there’s something pretty deep-seated in being part of a winning culture,” said Larry Baer, who joined the organization in 1992 and currently is the club’s president and chief executive.
What’s especially striking, in what feels as if it could be the last ride for San Francisco’s championship core, is the fact that much of the baseball world has ignored their continuity, spending the last five seasons agonizing over the future of the Chicago Cubs, who won the World Series in 2016.
“I kind of feel like that’s normal for us,” Crawford said.
The end of their era was supposed to have been when the maestro, Bruce Bochy, retired and the Giants replaced him as manager with Gabe Kapler following the 2019 season.
And behind those starting pitchers is a highlight-reel defense.
Consider the Philadelphia Phillies — the Giants’ opponents in a three-game series this weekend — who, following five consecutive N.L.
His debut as a manager came with the Phillies, where he and his immediate predecessor there, Pete Mackanin, lived in the shadow of the beloved Charlie Manuel.
“It was pretty straightforward,” Kapler said.
Over time, the thread has threatened to fray.
“I didn’t have a good year in 2019.
Posey, Belt, Crawford and the veteran third baseman Evan Longoria, acquired in trade from Tampa Bay before the 2018 season, communicate nearly every day, in season or out, verbal or text.
“We’ve played so many games together we kind of know what each other’s next step is going to be,” Belt said.
“For us veteran guys, we’re trying not to even look at it as a rebuild,” Crawford said.