San Fran has eyes on rivals

SAN FRANCISCO — Fresh off an NL West crown that took 107 wins for the Giants to 106 by the Dodgers, San Francisco’s Brandon Crawford and Buster Posey couldn’t help but envision a potentially epic playoff matchup against rival Los Angeles.

Now, the Giants get to wait until after Wednesday’s NL wild-card game between the Cardinals and Dodgers to see if that matchup will materialize.

“It’ll be fun no matter what,” said Posey, who caught five of the final six games and 10 of 13 down the stretch. “When it comes down to the postseason, the intensity’s there no matter what, but there’s no doubt that it would be heightened if we play them.”

San Francisco is holding optional workouts Tuesday through Thursday in preparation for hosting Game 1 of the NL Division Series on Friday night at Oracle Park, though manager Gabe Kapler expects the sessions to be well attended.

The Giants finally got to catch their breath after the division went down to the final day and they edged out the reigning World Series winner and eight-time defending West champion.

“Well, that’s what it’s like to be in the division against the Dodgers,” Crawford said. “They always have a great team. To be able to hold them off for most of the second half is pretty great for us.”

Kapler hadn’t decided on a Game 1 starter, equally confident in his two options: right-handers Kevin Gausman and Logan Webb.

The break this week especially mattered for Posey and the taxed bullpen, which took on a greater load last month as starters Johnny Cueto and Alex Wood were out.

“It was a grind. You think about winning 107 games, you think that you’re going to get to relax a little bit the last 10 days or so at least of the season,” Posey said. “It makes it all the more special coming down to the last day and to play as well as we did.”