Double Dose of Giants Versus Dodgers in the Span of 10 Days

So far this season, the Giants and Dodgers have met twice, once in mid-June and the other in mid-July. Going into the series in June, both teams were fighting for first place in the National League West Division. When they played each other just before the 2025 All-Star Break in July, the Dodgers were ahead of the Giants by five games. It appears the first of two series between the two teams later this week will shape up similarly to their last series in July, except the stakes will be much higher.

Both of the previous series had similar results, with the Giants winning the opener and the Dodgers taking the next two to snatch the series. In the next two weeks, the teams will face off seven times with high stakes: a spot in the Wild Card, maintaining NL West dominance, and of course, age-old rivalry bragging rights. Coming out victorious against the defending World Series Champions is a tall task. However, if they want to win, they will have to bring the confidence and momentum they have built up in the last few weeks.

While the Giants have been on a hot streak, the lineup has come alive. The beauty of it is that contributions have come from every spot in the lineup. In the last two weeks, they have been hitting over .300 as a team and leading in other major categories such as home runs and runs batted in. If they win their series at home against the Diamondbacks, they will have won five of their last six series, the sole series loss to the Cardinals, in which they painfully lost both by one run. This rivalry always brings out the best in both teams. The only higher-stakes matchup would be in the playoffs, like what happened in the 2021 NL Division Series. 

If the Giants’ rotation keeps the same pattern, Justin Verlander, Kai-Wei Teng, and Logan Webb will start for the Giants in the series at Oracle Park later this week. Teng and Webb will deal with the Dodgers lineup again, but in the environment of Dodger Stadium. To finish off the second series, Robbie Ray and Carson Seymour will take the ball for the Giants. The veteran pitchers of Verlander, Webb, and Ray definitely have the quality and experience to shine on the big stage. The question is whether the rookies, Teng and Seymour, will seize the moment with these high-stakes games and yield quality starts to put the Giants in position to answer the bell against their archrivals.