SAN FRANCISCO >> It appears the die has been cast in terms of the San Francisco Giants’ playoff hopes for this season.

The Giants had just 27 games left on the schedule going into their date with the Miami Marlins on Friday, and a just-completed 2-4 road trip left them 6½ games back of the National League’s third and final wild-card spot.

FanGraphs listed the Giants’ playoff chances at a less-than-robust 1.0% as they began a six-game homestand.

With that in mind, perhaps it’s time to start wondering which Giants players will be back in 2025, and that speculation probably has to start with two-time Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell.

Snell took the mound Friday for what figured to be one of his final starts of the season at Oracle Park. Looking to bounce back from his outing last Saturday in Seattle, in which he lasted just three innings, Snell struck out eight in seven innings before the Giants rallied for a 3-1 win over the Marlins before an announced crowd of 33,606.

Snell’s season has been the definition of up-and-down.

Before he went on the injured list with a groin strain in early June, Snell was 0-3 with a 9.51 ERA (25 earned runs in 23.2 innings), 31 strikeouts, and a 1.94 WHIP in six starts.

But in his last nine starts since returning from the IL on July 9, Snell, before Friday, was 2-0 with a 1.30 ERA (eight earned runs in 55.1 innings pitched), 75 strikeouts, and a 0.76 WHIP. Opposing batters have hit .111 over that span.

Snell figures to get at least four or five more starts this season if he stays healthy. Then it’ll come down to whether he wants to play out the final year of his contract with San Francisco, sign a longer-term deal with the Giants if one is available, or opt-out, become a free agent, and sign elsewhere.

The two-year, $62 million contract Snell signed with the Giants in March calls for him to make $38.5 million in 2025, with $15 million of that deferred to 2027 without interest.

USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reported on Aug. 18 that Snell, who is represented by Scott Boras, is expected to opt out, something that Giants president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi seemed to acknowledge in an August 16 interview on KNBR.

“His representation is known for taking things into the offseason,” Zaidi said on the ‘Tolbert and Copes’ show when asked if the Giants would be willing to extend Snell now. “That’s not a commentary or critique. It’s just the way it is. And I think he recognizes that there’s going to be a healthy market for his services.

“And we’ve got some young pitching, we’ve got other guys in the rotation, but everybody could use Blake Snell at the top of the rotation.”

Snell said he’s trying to stay focused on the present, as the Giants remained 6 1/2 games out of a playoff spot.

“I don’t think about it,” Snell said of the offseason. “I’m really big on where I’m at is where I’m at, and my feet are here, and I’m not going to look at what ifs or what could happen possibly. It doesn’t matter right now. It’s I’m here, we need to win, I love this team, and that’s all I’m focused on.”