With 2025 nearly reaching its halfway mark, Bay Area sports have made an apparent resurgence. Despite the Golden State Warriors losing to the Minnesota Timberwolves in the National Basketball Association’s (NBA) Western Conference Semifinals (WCSF) due to Stephen Curry’s hamstring injury, the Bay Area seems to be back on track to relive the dominance that they asserted in the 2010’s.
The San Francisco Giants began their season a hot 8-1 in their first nine games and now, as of May 27th, they sit comfortably at a record of 31-23 which puts them two games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers for first place in the National League West Division. This news for Giants fans is optimistic since over the past eight seasons, they have only made a playoff appearance once back in 2021, where they led the league with 107 wins but lost to their rivals the Dodgers in the National League Division Series.
With the Giants on pace to fight for playoff contention, more fans have returned to watching San Francisco compete. Junior Tucker Jacobberger has been a Giants fan his whole life and is excited to watch his team winning baseball again.
“When the Giants are winning, so is the community. I feel like all of the fans and kids at Redwood are being pulled back into watching baseball because of the Giants’ success,” Jacobberger said. “Even at home, for the first time in a while, my family and I have been consistently watching each Giants game and it brings me that same excitement that I had when I was younger when the Giants were a playoff team.”
In the 2010s, playoff baseball was dominated by the Giants who won three World Series titles in 2010, 2012 and 2014. They made the playoffs once again in 2016, but lost to the eventual 2016 champions, the Chicago Cubs. The Giants were highlighted by star catcher Buster Posey, who won Major League Baseball’s Rookie of the Year award in 2010, Most Valuable Player in 2012, Comeback Player of the Year in both 2012 and 2021, made seven All-Star game appearances, won five Silver Slugger Awards and won the Gold Glove Award in 2016.
Posey is now back working as the Giants’ President of Baseball Operations. Many attest the Giants’ recent success to their new owner and old friend.
“I think that Posey has a big part in the Giants’ success because the team won when he was there. He’s signed several impact players and set an expectation for what Giants baseball was like when he played on the team,” Jacobberger said.
Although the Warriors recently lost in the WCSF to the Minnesota Timberwolves, this season proved that the Warriors have what it takes to get back to the promised land.
The Warriors started off the season cold, going 25-26 in the first 51 games of the NBA season. It was clear that changes had to be made, and the Warriors went out and traded for perennial superstar, Jimmy Butler. Since acquiring Butler, the Warriors had a record of 27-8 in their next 35 games and won 23 of the 30 games in which Butler played in. The Warriors ended the regular season with a record of 48-34 which landed them the seventh seed in a tough Western Conference. Despite that, the Warriors went on to win two playoff series against the Memphis Grizzlies in the Play-In Tournament and against the Houston Rockets in the first round.
In the 2010s, the Warriors appeared five times in the NBA Finals, winning in 2015, 2017 and 2018. Additionally, the 2016 Warriors set an NBA record for wins in a regular season of 73-9. More recently in 2022, the Warriors again won the NBA Finals for the first time since 2018.
“I think that the Jimmy Butler trade saved the Warriors’ season as they had not looked the same since the 2022 championship and before in the 2010s when they won all of those championships, ” Jacobberger said. “With Butler, they won a ton of games and went on a streak to make the playoffs. He made me want to watch every series.”
Sophomore and member of Redwood’s freshman-sophomore (frosh) baseball team, Dylan McDonald has enjoyed witnessing the success of Bay Area teams in the past years.
“I grew up watching the Giants and the Warriors and I’m happy to see that they are both finally good again after some rough stretches in the 2020s except for the Warriors 2022 championship,” McDonald said.
Although the Giants still have a long season ahead of them and despite the Warriors season-ending playoff loss, both teams appear to be on an encouraging trajectory. Most Bay Area fans can agree that their teams are trending in the right direction. Fans have credited new management for the Giants, Posey and a new superstar in town for the Warriors, Butler, both of who proved to make immediate impacts in their new roles.
“I’m glad that things are trending upwards,” McDonald said.
