Baseball is a cruel and humbling game.
No one is more aware of this than the Arizona Diamondbacks who’ve seen their lead in the National League West vanish quicker than a summer Phoenix rainstorm.
From the top looking down to the outside looking in.
“You’ve got to beat up on teams who are in last-place…I think that pretty much seals the Diamondbacks’ fate.”
The Dbacks won’t be catching the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League West and their NL wildcard chances aren’t much better here in early September.
“It’s that time of year,” ESPN baseball insider Pedro Gomez told Pros2Preps.com in a recent phone interview. “The teams that were kind of in it, on the fringe like the Diamondbacks, know that their chances are next to nothing at this point.”
The breaking point may have been Labor Day afternoon at Chase Field where Arizona lost for the fourth time in the last five games falling to the AL East cellar-dwelling Toronto Blue Jays 4-1 and in the process slipping seven games out of the wild card race.
The listless offensive performance, which included four double plays, irked manager Kirk Gibson.
“He knows that losing a game like that,” Gomez explained. “That’s pretty much it. Yes, there’s still a month left but you have to win those types of games. You’ve got to beat up on teams who are in last-place…I think that pretty much seals the Diamondbacks’ fate.”
Arizona has been resilient all season bouncing back when many believed they were left for dead. The team has overcome key injuries to the starting rotation, blown saves by the overworked worked bullpen and stretches of offensive inconsistencies (just eight runs scored in their last five games entering Tuesday).
“It’s always interesting to see how those types of teams and players react to these last 30 days or so,” Gomez said.
Time will tell if they have one last playoff push left.
Regardless, it may be too little, too late.
