SAN FRANCISCO -- A little over a week after they all gathered at Scottsdale Stadium for the start of spring training, more than 20 Giants made the short drive to a laser tag facility in Phoenix for what ended up being an intense competition. During an early round, many of them learned a lesson.
Sean Hjelle's height seemingly made him an easy target -- and Hjelle knew it. He was happy to draw all the attention from an opposing laser tag team as Mike Yastrzemski, his teammate, picked them off one by one. The rounds kept going, with laughter filling the air as All-Stars, future Hall of Famers and prospects took turns facing off in a game that many had not played since they were teenagers.
If anyone else had been at the facility, it would have been a stunning sight. For the Giants, it fit right in with a camp that had a running theme.
Just about to a man, the Giants say this as close a group as they have seen in February and March. It wasn't just the laser tag or the wheelchair that was brought out for Justin Verlander on his 42nd birthday or the funny photos that were posted on the clubhouse TVs every morning of the player who had thrown the most strikes the day before.
It was seen during the first live BP session, when so many players filled the dugout at Scottsdale Stadium -- all wearing their full jerseys -- that the media and some team employees had to be moved to the visiting dugout. The camaraderie could be seen on the field during those early days, too. Logan Webb, Verlander and Robbie Ray stood behind the mound, essentially serving as extra pitching coaches for their young teammates. It was there at team dinners, including one smaller gathering between members of ownership and some of the team's veterans.
As the Giants look for ways to surprise the rest of the league, this is where they start. Chemistry alone will not lead you to the postseason, but they have seen the past couple of seasons what can happen when there's sometimes a lack of accountability or internal drive. The team's leaders feel there's a different vibe this season, and they feel strongly that it will matter.
"Everybody is together, we're a team. It doesn't matter who is in that room, we're counting on each other and believe in each other," Matt Chapman said on Monday's "Giants Talk" podcast. "I think that's going to go a long way. We're a good team and we're going to be able to get the best out of each other and be the most consistent team possible when we're doing those things right.
San Francisco Giants
"That's the way you play the game of baseball. As stupid as it sounds, the little things are the things that add up, and if we're taking care of all the little things, the big things are going to happen."
The Giants gave Chapman a massive extension last year because they believe he can do both. He's a Gold Glove Award winner who hit 27 homers in his first full season in orange and black, but he also quickly took on a leadership role in the clubhouse. When Buster Posey stepped in to help get negotiations across the finish line, he saw a player who easily would have fit on his three championship teams.
Get a weekly recap of the latest San Francisco Bay Area housing news. Sign up for NBC Bay Area’s Housing Deconstructed newsletter.
The same can be said of Willy Adames, the only free agent added on a multi-year deal. Adames has as strong an off-field and clubhouse reputation as anyone in baseball, and this spring, the Giants saw it firsthand. They actually saw it first in January, when he made a long drive to their facility in the Dominican Republic to hang out with 16-year-olds who were signing as international free agents, something he wished a veteran had done on his own signing day. And later that month, when he moved into a house in Arizona so he could get to know teammates before camp started.
"When you watch him play baseball, that's how he is all the time. He's smiling all the time," Webb said. "He kind of brings people together."
Webb is about to begin his seventh big league season, and he was one of the many who said this spring that the clubhouse was closer than he had seen in previous seasons. The important thing, Webb said, is that it happened organically.
"We're not forcing it to happen," he said. "Which is great to see."
If there was a sense at times this spring that a cloud had been lifted, it's not hard to see why. Two years ago, the Giants became so discombobulated that they fired their manager. Last season's struggles led to the firing of president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi, who paid not just for mediocrity on the field, but also the sense that the organization lacked cohesiveness and identity.
Zaidi was replaced by Buster Posey, who gave a speech to the entire team early in camp that Webb said had him "ready to run through a brick wall." Over and over again in Scottsdale, players mentioned the word "trust" when asked about Posey. As both Verlander and Adames said after signing, it mattered to them that the new boss is a former player, and they're not alone in that.
"It's just nice to have a guy like Buster who is so in tune with the game," closer Ryan Walker said. "He hasn't been out of the game for very long, so he's still got that player mentality, as well. I feel like everyone is a bit more comfortable and at ease a little bit, I would say."
There were subtle changes all spring, many of which seemed to have Posey's fingerprints on them. Former Giants standouts were brought back to camp, including Spanish-speaking players like Yusmeiro Petit and Marco Scutaro who could connect with the team's young contributors from Latin America. The hallways at Scottsdale Stadium were adorned with photos showing off the history of the franchise, and when the Giants return to Oracle Park tonight, they'll see changes to the clubhouse, which was stripped of any mentions of the championship era by the prior regime.
Ultimately, Posey will be judged on wins and losses, but he saw during his playing days that positive vibes can go a long way in a sport that grinds you down for six months. Posey's second championship came after Hunter Pence's famous speech in Cincinnati. His final season included a shocking division title after players looked around in the spring and essentially asked, "Why not us?"
That 2021 team was a close-knit group that came together quickly and exceeded all expectations. Webb was a huge part of it, but four years later, the challenge might be even tougher.
It's hard to envision a scenario in which the Giants, who open their season on Thursday in Cincinnati, can even keep within shouting distance of the historically loaded Los Angeles Dodgers all summer, but they believe they will be right in the thick of the playoff race. Chapman and Webb were both in touch with Posey over the offseason as he contemplated moves, and while it was a small group of additions, they believe it will be an impactful one.
"I think we've done a great job of just bringing the right guys in, the right players in, the right coaching staff," Webb said. "There are a lot of winners, I would say. I think it starts with that."
Webb came up with Bruce Bochy, who often would talk about how it was easier to look like you're having fun when you're winning. Nobody did more of it this spring than the Giants, who won 19 games in Cactus League action and had the best winning percentage in baseball.
Now comes the difficult part.
Can the Giants stay on the same page when they hit their first losing streak? Will they find a way to connect when injuries hit the roster? If they're once again hanging around .500 in August, will the finger pointing start again, or will they fight their way into October?
Webb has faith that the vibes, at least, will last. He has seen highs and lows since breaking through as one of the faces of the franchise in 2021, but he's confident in this roster, one that gelled early in camp.
"I think that's led to us playing better, right?" he said. "I think you're playing for the guy next to you, the guy behind you. I think that's how you build chemistry."
