# 1998 San Francisco Giants season

The 1998 San Francisco Giants season was the Giants' 116th season in Major League Baseball, their 41st season in San Francisco since their move from New York following the 1957 season, and their 39th at 3Com Park at Candlestick Point. The team finished in second place in the National League West with an 89–74 record, 9½ games behind the San Diego Padres. They tied the Chicago Cubs for the Wild Card spot and played a tie-breaker game, which the Giants lost 5-3.

## Offseason

* November 11, 1997: Chris Singleton and Alberto Castillo were traded by the Giants to the New York Yankees for Charlie Hayes and cash.
* November 21, 1997: Brent Mayne was signed as a free agent by the Giants.
* December 6, 1997: Danny Darwin was signed as a free agent by the Giants.
* January 21, 1998: Alex Diaz was signed as a free agent by the Giants.
* January 29, 1998: Jalal Leach was traded by the Seattle Mariners with Scott Smith (minors) to the San Francisco Giants for David McCarty.

## Regular season
### Opening Day starters

* Rich Aurilia
* Barry Bonds
* Shawn Estes
* Darryl Hamilton
* Stan Javier
* John Johnstone
* Jeff Kent
* Bill Mueller
* J. T. Snow

### Season standings

vteNL West :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| San Diego Padres | 98 | 64 | .605 | — | 54‍–‍27 | 44‍–‍37 |
| San Francisco Giants | 89 | 74 | .546 | 9½ | 49‍–‍32 | 40‍–‍42 |
| Los Angeles Dodgers | 83 | 79 | .512 | 15 | 48‍–‍33 | 35‍–‍46 |
| Colorado Rockies | 77 | 85 | .475 | 21 | 42‍–‍39 | 35‍–‍46 |
| Arizona Diamondbacks | 65 | 97 | .401 | 33 | 34‍–‍47 | 31‍–‍50 |

### Record vs. opponents

1998 National League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | AZ | ATL | CHC | CIN | COL | FLA | HOU | LA | MIL | MTL | NYM | PHI | PIT | SD | SF | STL | AL |
| Arizona | — | 1–8 | 5–7 | 4–5 | 6–6 | 6–2 | 4–5 | 4–8 | 6–3 | 2–7 | 4–5 | 2–7 | 6–3 | 3–9 | 5–7 | 2–7 | 5–8 |
| Atlanta | 8–1 | — | 3–6 | 7–2 | 5–3 | 7–5 | 4–5 | 8–1 | 7–2 | 6–6 | 9–3 | 8–4 | 7–2 | 5–4 | 7–2 | 6–3 | 9–7 |
| Chicago | 7–5 | 6–3 | — | 6–5 | 7–2 | 7–2 | 4–7 | 4–5 | 6–6 | 7–2 | 4–5 | 3–6 | 8–3 | 5–4 | 7–3 | 4–7 | 5–8 |
| Cincinnati | 5–4 | 2–7 | 5–6 | — | 4–5 | 9–0 | 3–8 | 5–4 | 6–5 | 8–1 | 3–6 | 4–5 | 5–7 | 1–11 | 2–7 | 8–3 | 7-6 |
| Colorado | 6–6 | 3–5 | 2–7 | 5–4 | — | 6–3 | 6–5 | 6–6 | 4–7 | 7–2 | 3–6 | 5–4 | 5–4 | 5–7 | 7–5 | 3–6 | 4–8 |
| Florida | 2–6 | 5–7 | 2–7 | 0–9 | 3–6 | — | 3–6 | 4–5 | 0–9 | 5–7 | 5–7 | 6–6 | 3–6 | 4–5 | 0–9 | 4–5 | 8–8 |
| Houston | 5–4 | 5–4 | 7–4 | 8–3 | 5–6 | 6-3 | — | 3–6 | 9–2 | 7–2 | 5–4 | 7–2 | 9–2 | 5–4 | 6–3 | 5–7 | 10–4 |
| Los Angeles | 8–4 | 1–8 | 5–4 | 4–5 | 6–6 | 5–4 | 6–3 | — | 5–4 | 5–4 | 3–5 | 5–4 | 7–5 | 5–7 | 6–6 | 4–5 | 8–5 |
| Milwaukee | 3–6 | 2–7 | 6–6 | 5–6 | 7–4 | 9–0 | 2–9 | 4–5 | — | 6–3 | 1–8 | 4–5 | 6–5 | 3–6 | 5–4 | 3–8 | 8–6 |
| Montreal | 7–2 | 6–6 | 2–7 | 1–8 | 2–7 | 7–5 | 2–7 | 4–5 | 3–6 | — | 8–4 | 5–7 | 2–7 | 4–4 | 3–6 | 3–6 | 6–10 |
| New York | 5–4 | 3–9 | 5–4 | 6–3 | 6–3 | 7–5 | 4–5 | 5–3 | 8–1 | 4–8 | — | 8–4 | 4–5 | 4–5 | 4–5 | 6–3 | 9–7 |
| Philadelphia | 7-2 | 4–8 | 6–3 | 5–4 | 4–5 | 6–6 | 2–7 | 4–5 | 5–4 | 7–5 | 4–8 | — | 8–1 | 1–8 | 2–6 | 3–6 | 7–9 |
| Pittsburgh | 3–6 | 2–7 | 3–8 | 7–5 | 4–5 | 6–3 | 2–9 | 5–7 | 5–6 | 7–2 | 5–4 | 1–8 | — | 5–4 | 2–7 | 6–5 | 6–7 |
| San Diego | 9–3 | 4–5 | 4–5 | 11–1 | 7–5 | 5–4 | 4–5 | 7–5 | 6–3 | 4–4 | 5–4 | 8–1 | 4–5 | — | 8–4 | 6–3 | 6–7 |
| San Francisco | 7–5 | 2–7 | 3–7 | 7–2 | 5–7 | 9–0 | 3–6 | 6–6 | 4–5 | 6–3 | 5–4 | 6–2 | 7–2 | 4–8 | — | 7–5 | 8–5 |
| St. Louis | 7–2 | 3–6 | 7–4 | 3–8 | 6–3 | 5-4 | 7–5 | 5–4 | 8–3 | 6–3 | 3–6 | 6–3 | 5–6 | 3–6 | 5–7 | — | 4–9 |

### Notable transactions

* April 6, 1998: Jalal Leach was released by the San Francisco Giants.
* May 11, 1998: Jalal Leach was signed as a free agent with the San Francisco Giants.
* June 2, 1998: Cody Ransom was drafted by the Giants in the 9th round of the 1998 Major League Baseball draft. Player signed June 4, 1998.
* July 23, 1998: Joe Carter was traded by the Baltimore Orioles to the San Francisco Giants for Darin Blood (minors).
* September 14, 1998: Alex Diaz was released by the Giants.

### Roster
## Player stats
### Batting
#### Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in
| Pos | Player | G | AB | H | Avg. | HR | RBI |
| C | Brian Johnson | 99 | 308 | 73 | .237 | 13 | 34 |
| 1B | J.T. Snow | 138 | 435 | 108 | .248 | 15 | 79 |
| 2B | Jeff Kent | 137 | 526 | 156 | .297 | 31 | 128 |
| SS | Rich Aurilia | 122 | 413 | 110 | .266 | 9 | 49 |
| 3B | Bill Mueller | 145 | 534 | 157 | .294 | 9 | 59 |
| LF | Barry Bonds | 156 | 552 | 167 | .303 | 37 | 122 |
| CF | Darryl Hamilton | 97 | 367 | 108 | .294 | 1 | 26 |
| RF | Stan Javier | 135 | 417 | 121 | .290 | 4 | 49 |

#### Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in
| Player | G | AB | H | Avg. | HR | RBI |
| Charlie Hayes | 111 | 329 | 94 | .286 | 12 | 62 |
| Rey Sánchez | 109 | 316 | 90 | .285 | 2 | 30 |
| Marvin Benard | 121 | 286 | 92 | .322 | 3 | 36 |
| Brent Mayne | 94 | 275 | 75 | .273 | 3 | 32 |
| Ellis Burks | 42 | 147 | 45 | .306 | 5 | 22 |
| Joe Carter | 41 | 105 | 31 | .295 | 7 | 29 |
| Chris Jones | 43 | 90 | 17 | .189 | 2 | 10 |
| Alex Diaz | 34 | 62 | 8 | .129 | 0 | 5 |
| Shawon Dunston | 36 | 51 | 9 | .176 | 3 | 8 |
| Ramón Martínez | 19 | 19 | 6 | .316 | 0 | 0 |
| Doug Mirabelli | 10 | 17 | 4 | .235 | 1 | 4 |
| Wilson Delgado | 10 | 12 | 2 | .167 | 0 | 1 |
| Armando Ríos | 12 | 7 | 4 | .571 | 2 | 3 |
| Dante Powell | 8 | 4 | 2 | .500 | 1 | 1 |
| Jeff Ball | 2 | 4 | 1 | .250 | 0 | 0 |
| Jacob Cruz | 3 | 3 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |

### Pitching
#### Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
| Mark Gardner | 33 | 212.0 | 13 | 6 | 4.33 | 151 |
| Orel Hershiser | 34 | 202.0 | 11 | 10 | 4.41 | 126 |
| Kirk Reuter | 33 | 187.2 | 16 | 9 | 4.36 | 102 |
| Shawn Estes | 25 | 149.1 | 7 | 12 | 5.06 | 136 |
| Danny Darwin | 33 | 148.2 | 8 | 10 | 5.51 | 81 |

#### Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
| Russ Ortiz | 22 | 88.1 | 4 | 4 | 4.99 | 75 |

#### Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | W | L | SV | ERA | SO |
| Robb Nen | 78 | 7 | 7 | 40 | 1.52 | 110 |
| John Johnstone | 70 | 6 | 5 | 0 | 3.07 | 86 |
| Rich Rodriguez | 68 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 3.70 | 44 |
| Julián Tavárez | 60 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 3.80 | 52 |
| Steve Reed | 50 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1.48 | 50 |
| Jose Mesa | 32 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 3.52 | 28 |
| Jim Poole | 26 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 5.29 | 16 |
| Chris Brock | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3.90 | 19 |
| Alvin Morman | 9 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5.14 | 7 |
| Dean Hartgraves | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9.53 | 4 |
| Cory Bailey | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2.70 | 2 |

## Award winners

* 1998 Jeff Kent 2B, Willie Mac Award
All-Star Game

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Fresno Grizzlies | Pacific Coast League | Jim Davenport |
| AA | Shreveport Captains | Texas League | Mike Hart |
| A | Bakersfield Blaze | California League | Frank Reberger |
| A | San Jose Giants | California League | Shane Turner |
| A-Short Season | Salem-Keizer Volcanoes | Northwest League | Keith Comstock |
LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: San Jose, Salem-Keizer