The San Francisco Giants were braced to lose $4 million to $5 million before their playoff run began.

Now, thanks to their postseason success, they stand to end the year $7 million to $10 million in the black, according to team sources.

A good part of the jackpot will come from ballpark concessions, World Series gear and other memorabilia.

Ticket sales will help as well - if the series lasts more than four games. Until then, the revenue pays the players' World Series bonuses.

"But the biggest financial opportunity is the way 2010 can be parlayed into 2011," said Giants' President Larry Baer.

Baer said the Giants have already taken deposits from 3,500 new season-ticket holders, to add to their current base of 21,000. They are also looking to add new sponsorships and charge more for existing ones.

The Giants can certainly use the cash. They are still paying off ex-slugger Barry Bonds' contract, to the tune of $5 million a year, and their payroll has shot up nearly $10 million in the past two years, to $98 million - 10th-highest in the major leagues.

As for team's overall value: Forbes magazine conservatively puts it at $483 million, up $12 million from last year.

The fight is on: A full-blown rumble has broken out in San Francisco's District Two supervisor's race, as big names and big money come together to try to pull off a big upset.

At the center of the fight is Janet Reilly, wife of political mover and shaker Clint Reilly. She's been endorsed by Mayor Gavin Newsomand Sen. Dianne Feinstein; and, until recently, was thought to be the odds-on favorite to succeed her one-time friend, termed-out Supervisor Michela Alioto-Pier.

Alioto-Pier, however, is supporting Reilly's main opponent in the race, Mark Farrell - and has backed it up with a $221,000 independent spending effort that includes a $141,000 contribution from real estate magnate Tom Coates and $50,000 from art philanthropist and socialite Dede Wilsey.

The money will be used in a closing campaign to "educate" voters about Reilly's support for such causes as publicly owned power and ties to Supervisor Chris Daly and former Supervisor Aaron Peskin - none of them big favorites in the moderate-to-liberal district.

"It's nothing personal," Alioto-Pier said of the incoming missile attack. "This is about the future of the Board of Supervisors, and who they may pick to be the next mayor," should Newsom head off to Sacramento.

Reilly declined to comment, but her aides did send us a statement calling the pending attack a "bogus campaign."

Final round: Despite an early lead in both the polls and money, Sen. Barbara Boxer is now in the fight of her life.

To date, Boxer and her allies have spent $19.4 million, compared with Republican rival Carly Fiorina's $15.6 million.

But as they enter the campaign's final stretch, Fiorina is outspending Boxer this week by $1 million, according to campaign insiders.

And the U.S. Chamber of Commerce just made another TV buy for Fiorina.

Boxer is now counting on the pro-choice Emily's List coming through with a final round of TV dollars and phone-bank operations targeting pro-choice women. The group has already put nearly $1 million into an ad buy in the L.A. market.

"This is absolutely a priority race for us," said Emily's List spokeswoman Jen Bluestein.

The other side: Burlingame power attorney and big-time Democratic fundraiser Joe Cotchett is crossing party lines and backing Republican Steve Cooley for state attorney general.

"It's really very simple," Cotchett said. "I believe in the death penalty where appropriate. I also think Cooley would make an outstanding attorney general."

Cooley's Democratic rival, San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris, has made opposition to the death penalty a cornerstone of her political career.

Cotchett would only say he's raised "a few bucks" for Cooley, the L.A. county district attorney.

It's quite a turnaround for a guy who in recent days has played host to a Democratic dinner with Vice President Joe Biden and another for lieutenant governor candidate Gavin Newsom.

Former San Francisco Public Defender Kimiko Burton, as in the daughter of state Democratic Party Chairman John Burton, recently sent out an e-mail with her picks for the upcoming election that also included an endorsement of Cooley.

It's no secret that a chill settled over Harris and the younger Burton, former pals and law school classmates, after Kimiko lost her race for public defender a few years back and Harris won the district attorney's job.

But you won't get much out of Kimiko Burton when you bring up the subject.

"It speaks for itself," she said brusquely when we asked about the endorsement.

EXTRA! Catch our blog at www.sfgate.com/matierandross.