A 65-97 season apparently wasn’t enough punishment for the San Francisco Giants.

MLB.com decided to pile on to the rubble, placing the club 27th in its way-too-early power rankings for 2027. Only the Athletics, Los Angeles Angels and Colorado Rockies sit below San Francisco, putting the Giants in a miserable neighborhood for a franchise that once had much bigger ambitions.

It’s a sobering assessment, although calling it an unfair one would require ignoring nearly everything that happened this season. The Giants finished 32 games below .500 and spent much of the year demonstrating how little their collection of expensive veterans resembled a competitive baseball team.

There is one encouraging detail about being ranked near the bottom of the league. Moving in the right direction shouldn’t be all that difficult when there are only three teams left to pass. Of course, that’s probably not the sort of optimism Buster Posey had in mind when he took charge of baseball operations.

A Familiar Problem With an Expensive Price Tag

The Giants have been stuck somewhere between rebuilding and contending for several years. Their roster includes Rafael Devers, Matt Chapman, Willy Adames, Jung Hoo Lee and Logan Webb, hardly a collection of anonymous players earning the league minimum. Devers at least delivered the offensive production San Francisco expected. Too many others failed to meet expectations.

Pitching was another mess. The Giants finished 23rd in baseball with a 4.33 ERA, and the rotation was stripped of depth by trades and a string of injuries. Multiple pitchers are facing long stints away from the game, leaving the organization with some uncomfortable decisions about who will actually take the mound next April.

Posey has a full offseason to address those holes. Free agency, trades and a few healthier, more productive veterans would change the outlook. There’s also the sport’s unresolved labor situation, with the current collective bargaining agreement expiring in December and the possibility of a work stoppage hanging over next season.

A Ranking That Says Plenty

The rankings aren’t a prediction written in stone. Nobody knows what San Francisco’s roster will look like in March, much less how 162 games will play out. A few smart moves could make MLB.com’s forecast look silly by midsummer.

But that sort of turnaround requires more than a handful of optimistic press conferences and familiar promises about improvement. The Giants have spent years trying to convince everyone that the next version of the team will finally be different, leaving the rhetoric spewed out by the organization somewhat moot, regardless of the positive intent.

For now, 27 is where the national perception has landed. After what happened in 2026, the Giants haven’t given anybody much reason to argue.