The Windup Newsletter ⚾ | This is The Athletic’s MLB newsletter. Sign up here to receive The Windup directly in your inbox.The Giants narrowly avoided unfortunate history … in the weirdest way possible. Plus: We’re grading the pennant races, and an endangered baseball species is back.I’m Grant Brisbee, pinch-hitting for Levi Weaver (returning to your inbox tomorrow) — welcome to The Windup!Brooms (Finally) Out: At long last, Giants sweep a seriesThe last team to go an entire season without sweeping an opponent in a series of two games or longer was the 2022 Washington Nationals, and there have been just eight teams in the expansion era (1969 to present) to do it. Consider that the 2024 White Sox and the 2025 Rockies lost 240 games between them, yet even they swept series. Even the worst teams can accidentally get hot for a week. In theory.Enter the 2026 Giants, who entered Monday without a series sweep, winless in their last six attempts at closing one out. The last time they tried, they had the worst ninth-inning meltdown in franchise history. The entire team is haunted, it would appear. Only thing to do is start over.After beating the first-place Braves 7-3 last night, the Giants (57-81) finally have their sweep. Because they are incapable of passing the Be Normal For Five Seconds Challenge, however, it wasn’t as simple as winning three games in a row against the same team. They won the first two games of the series in June, with the final game postponed by rain. Back then, the Giants’ lineup featured four players now likely out for the season and two players who got traded at the deadline. For the clincher, they needed a zombie roster, a ragtag band of misfits who could defy expectations, possibly after training in a montage set to ’80s music.If you haven’t been following the Giants this season, first, good for you. However, you might be interested to know that even though roughly three-quarters of the Giants’ Opening Day lineup is on the IL and the team has a decent chance of losing 100 games, the zombie lineup still might be able to hit. Turner Hill led Triple A in batting average, and Jonah Cox was hitting over .400 and might have been the Double-A leader if he hadn’t been promoted — and both have been just as much fun in the majors so far. Rafael Devers became the Giants’ second 30-homer player since Barry Bonds retired.Runs haven’t been the problem for this team, even with all of the calamity and unpleasantness. When the pitching is normal for five seconds, the Giants even have a chance at a series sweep, as disjointed as it might be.Pennant Races: What’s still worth caring aboutIt’s almost September, and you know what that means! Hot pennant-race action, the kind your grandpappy used to tell you about. Why, I’ll bet that Braves loss really threw a wrench into the NL East. The Cubs shellacked the Brewers 17-3 last night, which means Milwaukee fans must be getting nervous. There’s only one cure for pennant-race fever: more pennant-race action. (Warning: pennant-race action should not be taken internally.)