The San Francisco Giants will find themselves staring at a potential difference-maker in their future when Paul Goldschmidt and the St. Louis Cardinals visit Friday night for the start of the final three games of the regular season.

Neither the Giants (79-80) or Cardinals (81-78) will be participating in the postseason next week, so each team enters the head-to-head with the same goal: Finish above .500.

Coming off a remarkable 7-2 road trip to Baltimore, Kansas City and Arizona, the Giants find themselves needing to sweep the series to finish over .500 for the first time since 2021.

Meanwhile, the Cardinals still need just one win to finish north of the break-even mark for the 16th time in the past 17 years.

Goldschmidt hasn’t contributed much to the Cardinals’ 7-3 surge, going just 6-for-32 over the past eight games. He launched his first home run since Sept. 3 in Thursday’s 10-8 loss to the Colorado Rockies. He finished 1-for-5 with two strikeouts.

The timing of the slump couldn’t be worse, with the 37-year-old now just three games away from becoming a free agent.

Goldschmidt enters the series hitting a career-low .241 with 22 homers, his lowest in a non-COVID season since 2014. His 62 RBIs are his fewest — again, excluding the 2020 shortened season — since his rookie campaign in 2011.

The 14-year veteran hasn’t addressed particulars about his pending free agency, other than to say he’s hopeful someone offers a contract.

“I want to play next year,” Goldschmidt said. “Actually, I haven’t let any of my thoughts get past that statement right there. I owe it to this team and organization to give everything to this year, and that’s 100 percent where my thoughts are.”

Given his history in San Francisco, it’s possible Giants management would be willing to throw out the 2024 numbers. After all, he’s hit .331 with 26 doubles and 15 home runs and 62 RBIs in 82 visits to Oracle Park.

Since Goldschmidt debuted in 2011, he leads all San Francisco visitors in doubles, home runs and RBIs. His batting average is the highest among all visitors with more than 125 plate appearances.

According to Giants All-Star pitcher Logan Webb, perhaps the best thing his team could do in the final series is give up a triple to Goldschmidt, where friendly third baseman Matt Chapman awaits.

“I don’t know if you’ve noticed it, but (Chapman) is saying ‘Hi’ to everyone who gets to third base,” Webb said of his recently extended teammate. “Every player is going out of their way to say something to him. Maybe that’s a small thing. But I think that’s important for us in future offseasons.”

The Giants enter the series tied with the Chicago White Sox for the fewest home runs in the majors hit at home this season with 64. Their first basemen have hit just 14.

Attempting to continue the Giants’ home power outage in the series opener will be Cardinals right-hander Miles Mikolas (9-11, 5.35 ERA), who will be seeking double-digit wins for the third time in his career. The 36-year-old has gone 4-1 with a 2.88 ERA against the Giants in nine career appearances, including five starts.

The Giants will oppose Mikolas with fellow righty Landen Roupp (1-1, 2.70), who has been brilliant since becoming a starter earlier this month.

Roupp, 26, has allowed just two runs and 10 hits in 15 innings. He has yet to face the Cardinals in his career.

–Field Level Media