I asked ChatGPT to produce this. I didn’t dare use a real picture of the real team that won. Not sure why they all look like brothers with the same facial hair.
You can download the episode here, or stream it below!
The MLB season is officially over, and it ended in agonizing fashion with the Dodgers squeaking out their second consecutive championship over a Toronto Blue Jays team that just couldn’t put the nail in the coffin. We beat the dead horse that should have been a ring for Toronto, but before that, we break down Tony Vitello’s presser at Oracle, Gold Glove wins for Bailey and Webb, and some new coaching hires. We’ll be back periodically throughout the offseason as news breaks, but thank you for your continued support as we close out season 15 of the TortureCast.
Tony Vitello is the 40th manager in Giants’ franchise history
You can download the episode here, or stream it below!
Today, the Giants announced that University of Tennessee head coach Tony Vitello will be their new manager. Vitello becomes the first college coach to move directly to MLB manager without previous professional coaching experience. He turned a Volunteers team around, accruing a .722 winning percentage, and winning the 2024 College World Series and was named Coach of the Year. This could be exactly what the Giants need, or it could flame out in horrible disaster, but they had to try something, and this is Buster Posey’s first crack at “his guy” to helm the ship. The whole gang is back together (Willie, Eric, and Chad) to talk about Vitello and to preview the World Series, which unfortunately has that team in blue in it…again.
Willy Adames smiles as he rounds the bases after hitting his 30th homerun of the season on the last day of the season, becoming the first Giant to hit 30 homers since Barry Bonds in 2004. Adames also won the Willie Mac award on Friday night.
You can download the episode here, or stream it below!
Chad and Eric conduct a partial autopsy on the corpse of the 2025 San Francisco Giants, but before that, there’s a long conversation about who the Giants are going to replace Bob Melvin with. That’s right, after signing Melvin to an extension on July 1, the Giants parted ways with Melvin and now will search for their next skipper. No, it won’t be Bruce Bochy, who just ended his tenure as manager with the Rangers. So much went wrong for the Giants this year, but in the end, they missed the playoffs by just 3 games (they were 2 games back, but Mets held the tiebreaker over Giants). Heck, Ryan Walker blew three saves (all losses) in the last two weeks of the season alone! There are many other games to point to. The Giants are close, tantalizingly close, but they need more. Buster Posey said in this morning’s interview that they can’t keep doing the same thing and expecting different results, thus the Melvin dismissal. Hey, Willy Adames became the first Giant to hit 30 homers since Bonds in 2004, and we talk about the playoffs and give our predictions. Anyone but the Dodgers, right?
You can download the episode here, or stream it below!
We strung out this episode because during the recording, the Giants blew a 5-run lead they had in the 7th against the Cardinals, then Ryan Walker came in and failed to close out a 1-run lead, allowing 2 runs in the 9th. We waited out the episode to watch Wilmer Flores feebly strike out with the tying run on second to end the game and their official and mathematical hopes for the playoffs as they were eliminated. But, before coughing up their largest lead of the season, Eric and I break down what went wrong in the last two weeks that saw their once bright and resuscitated playoff hopes get extinguished in such a quick fashion. They’ve now lost 9 of 11 and can only achieve a .500 season by winning their remaining four games. They are likely headed to another losing season. This also means that the Giants have only made the playoffs ONCE in the last nine seasons. That is just one more than the Pirates. Will Melvin be fired? Who will win the Willie Mac? Will Adames reach 30 homers when it seemed like a lock when he hit his 28th 13 games ago? We review the playoff races and talk a bit about the ABS coming to MLB next season. Next episode will record on Monday, the night before the playoffs start when we’ll give our playoff predictions. Alas, a Giants postseason will have to wait until at least next year.
The TortureCast 