Dodgers can point to Rafael Devers incident as reason why Giants will never be LA

On Sunday, the always newsworthy Rafael Devers put himself back in the news cycle. With the San Francisco Giants down 2-1 to the Miami Marlins in the top of the ninth inning, Devers reached base with a leadoff walk. Immediately after his foot touched the bag, he raised a finger and wagged it insistently at the Giants' dugout.

Rookie Jonah Cox, who was coming out to pinch-run for Devers, hesitated and looked back at manager Tony Vitello but eventually proceeded to first. Devers continued to wave him off until first base umpire Nate Tomlinson intervened.

Devers sulked back to the dugout and, to put yet another point in the "diva" column, and pointedly avoided a conciliatory pat from a Giants coach.

The Giants lost 2-1. They're now 31-46, good enough for fourth place in the NL West, and 17.5 games behind the first place Los Angeles Dodgers.

Dodgers fans haven't seen the Giants as a legitimate threat in years, but there was a glimmer of hope for San Francisco when they extended Matt Chapman, fired Farhan Zaidi, hired Buster Posey, and traded for Devers — all within one calendar year. Many thought Posey would be the guy who could finally turn his old squad (who he won three World Series championships with) to their former glory.

But in 2026, the Giants have the second-worst record in baseball, a manager with no prior major league experience and, evidently, divas in the clubhouse who can't be making the losing feel any better.

Giants' Rafael Devers drama confirms they were never going to be able to compete with Dodgers

Posey was widely lauded for pulling off the Devers trade last June. The Boston Red Sox were taking the brunt of the blame for how they handled the Devers-Alex Bregman conundrum — at least from fans — and the Giants gave up four pieces no one would miss in return for one of baseball's most powerful bats.

(Of course, the Brewers have since fixed Kyle Harrison and the Dodgers have been roundabout benefactors of the Devers trade since acquiring James Tibbs III for Dustin May, but hindsight is 20/20.)

Now — though it'll be tough for the Red Sox fans who were firmly in Devers' court last year to accept — it's becoming clearer that the acrimonious Devers divorce wasn't entirely the fault of Craig Breslow and the Red Sox front office.

The Giants have had a host of problems Dodgers fans have been able to point and laugh at for years. They couldn't attract free agents to the city for a long time. When they finally could, those free agents ended up looking like terrible investments (Matt Chapman and Willy Adames, who the Giants are now trying to trade). San Francisco even had a front office head who seemed allergic to making daring moves. And now, his replacement's first truly daring move (trading for Devers) is going viral for all the wrong reasons.

Anyone who thought the Giants had any hope of catching up with the Dodgers this year should be eating crow right now. It might not even happen in this lifetime.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow