Jordan Spurgeon
Well after a weekend with more than a dozen scenarios for the Arizona Diamondbacks to punch a playoff ticket, the D-backs finally won a game to help the cause.
But there is now only one path remaining for Arizona to sneak in with 89 wins. It involves watching two games tomorrow before potentially boarding a flight or clearing out lockers.
The New York Mets beat the Milwaukee Brewers today and the Atlanta Braves lost to the Kansas City Royals. That leaves both teams with 88 wins heading into their makeup double header tomorrow.
Since both teams own tiebreakers over Arizona, one would have to sweep the other in order for the snakes to secure the final wild card spot. If the games are split, Arizona is out.
The problem: The winner of game one in the doubleheader tomorrow clinches a playoff berth, so that gives the other team a chance to beat a “B lineup” and lesser pitching. That’s the “cup half empty” way of seeing it.
However: As fans saw at Chase Field this weekend, a team “playing for nothing” doesn’t just back down. And as divisional foes, the winner of game one may take pride in ending the other team’s playoff dreams in game two. It is baseball so anything can happen. That’s the “cup half full” way of seeing it.
If the cards fall in Arizona’s favor, a trip to Milwaukee will be on deck tomorrow night. Zac Gallen and Merrill Kelly would be slated to start games one and two on normal rest. Those games would be played Tuesday and Wednesday.
Sunday’s 11-2 win over the Padres showed some promising signs for a potential playoff push.
The snakes exploded for six runs in the 4th inning, capped off by an upper-deck blast from team MVP Ketel Marte.
This upper-decker was unreal pic.twitter.com/xffoCp6rXP
— Jordan Spurgeon (@spurge_) September 29, 2024
The offense kept churning after that. Yes the Padres weren’t using their best arms, but a few innings strung together like that might’ve “fixed” the offensive woes this team was dealing with.
“That is our game,” Torey Lovullo said after the game. “It was great to see us do what we do best today.”
Brandon Pfaadt once again proved his ability to perform in must-win games. His afternoon ended with 5.1 innings pitched, nine strikeouts, three hits and two earned runs. Game three in a wild card series on Thursday could go to him on short rest.
Eduardo Rodriguez was great on Saturday night and would also be in the running to start game three.
Tomorrow might be a call out of work day… Braves-Mets play game one at 10:10 a.m. AZT.
