The San Francisco Giants are hoping they can find some late-season magic to get into the playoffs.

After deciding to hold onto the majority of their tradeable pieces instead of moving them, the front office still clearly felt this team had the capability of getting hot down the stretch to earn themselves a Wild Card spot.

Their work is cut out for them, though.

Entering Tuesday, the Giants trail the Atlanta Braves by 3.5 games for the final spot in the playoffs as only the New York Mets have a better record among those National League teams who are on the outside looking in.

But as San Francisco gears up for their final 35 contests of the year, they have been dealt a huge blow to their pitching staff.

According to Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic, the Giants are shutting down reliever Randy Rodriguez for two weeks after he was diagnosed with a a flexor strain over the weekend. Following this stretch of not throwing, he will be “re-evaluated” to see how his elbow feels.

San Francisco called up their former Top 30 prospect to the Majors on May 4, and even though he’s ridden the rollercoaster of promotions and demotions, the right-hander has put together a solid rookie season with a 3.93 ERA and 52 strikeouts across his 33 outings and 50.1 innings pitched.

Unfortunately, Rodriguez now faces the possibility that his year is now over.

Getting shut down for two weeks before getting checked to see how his injury has progressed doesn’t inspire much confidence they think he’ll be ready to return.

San Francisco. Harvey Milk. MC Hammer. Maya Angelou.

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San Francisco. Harvey Milk. MC Hammer. Maya Angelou.

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Who will win today’s cage match?

Welcome to The Smackdown! For the next several weeks Brittany is hosting debates in cities and regions across the United States to find out who and what are the most influential things from those places.

This episode Brittany lands in San Francisco, California, the Bay Area, and debates with KQED reporters Pendarvis Harshaw, host of Rightnowish, and Olivia Allen-Price, host of Bay Curious. There will be winners. There will be losers. There will be surprises.

And that’s just the start of a long list of San Franciscans who will be involved at this week’s convention. 

It comes as no surprise: The city’s liberal bastion has long been a springboard for politicians to launch their careers from local and state politics to the national stage. That includes Harris, who first cut her teeth as San Francisco’s district attorney before eventually becoming a senator. 

Other speakers this week with San Francisco roots include Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, who is said to have played a role in President Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the race, and Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is suspected to be plotting a bid for the White House during the next election cycle. Pelosi is set to speak during prime time on Wednesday, while Newsom will deliver California’s delegates to Harris, officially ending the nomination process at the convention.