The Diamondbacks enter Thursday facing an important game they need to win. In the National League Wild Card race, both the St. Louis Cardinals and San Diego Padres are starting to separate in the pack. Additionally, the New York Mets have leapfrogged Arizona by a full game in the standings. With those three teams winning at an incredible rate, each of them picking up at least seven wins in their past 10 games, each series now becomes important for the Diamondbacks to stay in the race.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!While they remain in striking distance of a Wild Card spot, the distance between them and the teams they’re chasing is starting to get larger. Holding serve and playing .500 ball may no longer be an option to stay in the race. To stay close, they will need to start rattling off series wins. They’ll especially need to make up ground against teams they have a chance to play against, with games against the Padres, Mets, Giants, Cubs, and Pirates remaining on their schedule.
The first big test will come in the series finale against the Twins, which the Diamondbacks can ill afford to drop. After winning the first game of the series, they were blown out in the second game in a noncompetitive game. This is following a similar pattern to the Philadelphia series, in which Arizona lost the final two games after winning the series opener. The good news is veteran left-hander Jordan Montgomery takes the mound, with three solid starts in a row entering the game.
The health of their starting rotation could also determine the outcome of their season. The Diamondbacks will get Zac Gallen back on the weekend, assuming his final bullpen session goes well. Eduardo RodrÃguez’s timeline to return in the rotation remains in the air and Merrill Kelly is targeting a mid-August return. In the meantime, they’ll need better outings from Ryne Nelson and Slade Cecconi while they wait for reinforcements in the rotation.
The next four weeks will determine their chances of staying in the Wild Card race. Between now and the MLB Trade Deadline on July 30, they take on the Padres, Cubs, and Pirates. Winning those series will be paramount, as it’s a chance to either close ground on teams ahead of them or put more ground ahead of teams behind them in the race. Failure to do so very well could spell the end of their season.
Should the Diamondbacks stay in the race over those next four weeks, the question then becomes where can they upgrade their roster sufficiently. With a seller’s market at the trade deadline, unless the next four weeks start pushing teams out, the cost will currently be too prohibitive to land starting pitching. Where they can improve their roster without destroying what’s left of a farm system that lacks the right type of prospects will be with their bullpen. There will be more on that in a future article.
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Michael McDermott covers the Arizona Diamondbacks and more for Burn City Sports. You can follow him on X via @MichaelMcDMLB
