SF Giants cap spring with MLB-best 21st win vs. Tigers. Does it matter?

SAN FRANCISCO — Not long into his first spring training as the Giants’ new manager, Bob Melvin was mad. Even though the games didn’t count, his team had played six of them and had yet to enjoy a postgame handshake line. He wanted to win.

“No one’s going to remember it, but we remember it right now, and every game you suit up for, you go out there to win,” Melvin fumed to reporters last February. “So no, (I’m not happy). We need to play better.”

There was no such issue this spring...