Rookie of the Year Corbin Carroll remains a key contributor for the Arizona Diamondbacks as they push for a wild-card spot. (Photo by Daniella Trujillo/Cronkite News)
Christian Walker takes batting practice as the Arizona Diamondbacks focus on securing a wild-card spot in the MLB playoff race. (Photo by Spencer Barnes/Cronkite News)
PHOENIX — During his playing career, which included seven seasons in the Major Leagues, Torey Lovullo saw the worst of a manager following a tough loss. Sometimes, Lovullo would take the frustrations to heart. There were also instances where there was no true message being sent, and he paid no mind.
Above all, those experiences have provided the eighth-year Arizona Diamondbacks manager with the knowledge of the right moment and circumstance to try and send a message to his group. There is a time and place, but if done right, a common sense of urgency is felt. And after suffering an 11-0 blowout to the San Francisco Giants on Tuesday amid a tight wild-card race, he didn’t rip into his team, but tough conversations needed to be had.
“I did say some things to the team last night,” Lovullo said before Wednesday’s contest. “Everybody was engaged, everybody was listening to me and everybody was locked into what I was saying … I care about you guys, but we’ve got to figure some s— out.”
Message received.
Arizona flipped a switch Wednesday night, riding 11 hits and a season-high 11 strikeouts from starter Zac Gallen to defeat San Francisco 8-2 and snap a three-game skid. For the 88-60 Diamondbacks, the National League’s third wild-card team that is battling two other squads for only two playoff spots, time truly is of the essence.
The Diamondbacks are a game ahead of the Atlanta Braves and have one more win than the New York Mets, who occupy the second Wild Card spot, with three regular-season games left. The Braves and Mets have two games in hand on Arizona, partially due to their contests Wednesday and Thursday being canceled due to weather.
The bottom line? The Diamondbacks need to keep winning, and Wednesday’s performance was a promising start.
“(I’m) proud of the guys for sure,” Gallen said following the win. “This was a big one.”
Arizona will welcome the San Diego Padres, who are 91-67 and have already locked up a playoff berth, to Chase Field for their final series of the regular season Friday. While they aren’t fighting for a spot in the postseason, the Padres are still figuring out their playoff positioning but got some clarity. A loss on Thursday in Los Angeles locked up the NL West for the Dodgers, meaning the Padres don’t have a ton to play for this weekend.
Diamondbacks catchers Gabriel Moreno, center, and Jose Herrera, right, chat at Chase Field, as Arizona aims for a strong finish to secure a wild-card playoff spot. (Photo by Dylan Wickman/Cronkite News)
On the other hand, the Diamondbacks’ magic number to clinch the postseason is three. Several potential clinching scenarios can play out this weekend, the simplest being Arizona sweeping the Padres, which could potentially propel them to hosting a wild-card series. Focusing on the big picture isn’t what the Diamondbacks aim to do, though. Instead, they look to take things one game at a time.
“Go 1-0 today, that’s kind of been (Lovullo’s) message,” right-handed reliever Scott McGough said Wednesday. “He said it again last night. Just go 1-0 today, and that’s all we can control and so that’s our focus today, is to just go 1-0 today.”
Playoff races aren’t anything new for Arizona. Only last year, it clinched its first playoff spot since 2017 in the second-to-last game of the season before marching all the way to the World Series. However, one difference exists between the current scenario and the one in 2023.
After each finishes their last three-game series of the season, the Mets and Braves on Monday will make up the two head-to-head games they missed due to weather, once every other team has concluded its regular season. This means that if the Diamondbacks don’t go 3-0 to end the season, there is a scenario where they would have to wait a day after they play their last game Sunday to find out their final positioning in the playoff race. A game 163 is also on the table.
The prospects of what could happen in the next four days are present in the minds of everyone across the organization, and Lovullo doesn’t shy away from that. But his confidence in his team’s abilities — which ultimately got it to this point — is also unwavering.
“We’re all curious about it,” Lovullo said. “I’m a human being. I go to bed thinking about it, I wake up thinking about it. But what gives me peace is when I walk in that clubhouse, and I see the boys getting ready, I see the boys standing up for one another, I see the boys getting after it between the white lines, that’s what gives me comfort.
“So I’m betting on this team. It’s a good team.”
