The Diamondbacks have an opportunity to firmly establish themselves as potential buyers ahead of Major League Baseball’s July 30 trade deadline. They’ll face a pretty tough schedule over the next two weeks against other teams in the Wild Card hunt in both leagues. The next five series will be critical for them to create some separation in that race.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!They’ll begin with a road trip that features three games apiece in Chicago and Kansas City. Both teams have a winning record at home, with the Cubs holding a 25-21 record at Wrigley Field and the Royals 31-18 at Kauffman Stadium going into the All-Star break. The Diamondbacks have shown the ability to win a series in a hostile road environment as evidenced in their last road trip, with series wins against both the Dodgers and Padres. If Arizona is able to capture both series against the Cubs and Royals, you can put them firmly in the buyer camp.
Following the road trip, the team returns home to play the Pittsburgh Pirates and Washington Nationals at home. The Pirates represent the most dangerous team in this stretch, especially with last year’s No. 1 overall pick Paul Skenes being as good as advertised. Combined with fellow rookie Jared Jones and the ever-reliable Mitch Keller, the Diamondbacks have their work cut out against that team.
Winning as many of the next five series as possible will be the key for Arizona to put themselves in a strong position in the Wild Card race. Not only would it create separation, but it would establish potential tiebreakers against other teams in the race.
A series win against the Cubs pushes the season record to 3-3, sending the tiebreaker to intradivision record, where they have a huge advance over Chicago. The Diamondbacks already have a head-to-head tiebreaker over the Reds after winning five of six over them in June. They’ll have a chance to establish more tiebreakers if they can win their lone remaining series against the Padres and Mets, but that’s much later in the season.
Over the next two weeks, the Diamondbacks will show what the direction of their season will be. If they handle this stretch well, they’ll be in a great position to buy at the deadline. If not, it will continue the pattern of frustration that has followed them throughout the 2024 season.
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Michael McDermott covers the Arizona Diamondbacks, Arizona Cardinals, and more for Burn City Sports. You can follow him on X via @MichaelMcDMLB
