Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across the MLB. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Arizona Diamondbacks fans and fans across the country. Sign up here to participate in the weekly emailed surveys.
There are currently 14 games left in the season, and once again, the D-backs will be playing meaningful baseball in the second half of September. Really, I tend to think that’s all you can ask for. We are almost in a post-season situation already: it took 12 games for Arizona
to reach the World Series in 2023, and that was with two of the three series being sweeps. And as we all know, almost anything can happen over that number of contests. The bulk of the teams in the major leagues would happily swap places with the D-backs right now: per Fangraphs, 17 of them have lower playoff odds than Arizona.
But expectations are clearly that it’s going to come down to the last three games, against the Padres in San Diego, the weekend after next. Here’s how you voted.
Brought to you by FanDuel
Nobody thinks it will be a meaningless series. Everyone thinks that we will go into the series with San Diego and Arizona still locked in a battle for a wild-card spot. The great majority think the Diamondbacks will need to win the set to make it through, with relatively small but equal numbers thinking one and three wins will be required. Of course, anything can happen between now and then, and as Snake_Bitten pointed out this morning, “They have some games to win before the season finale series.” There are tough contests remaining, most obviously the trio against the New York Yankees next weekend.
However, if you go over and lurk on Gaslamp Ball, you’ll see a fanbase who are perhaps more like us than we want to admit. Read the comments, and a lot of them might well seem familiar in tone. Padres fans are both excited about a potential post-season, and concerned about the team’s obvious deficiencies bringing it all crashing down. The recency bias both there and here is almost impressive. Confidence surges up and collapses back down, with each victory or defeat. It’s increasingly true as the number of games remaining is reduced, making each win or loss that much more significant.
Part of me, naturally, wishes that the Padres collapse, and the D-backs cruise into the playoffs, able to rest their best players over three meaningless games in San Diego. Because, on the one hand, it doesn’t matter in the slightest how you reach the post-season. 2023, and all the snarky “backing into the playoffs” comments, laid that myth to rest. But everything coming down to a win or go home series – perhaps even a win or go home game – is the stuff of legend. It’s the kind of thing which is great if your team wins. But defeat, and it’s a long, dark winter of quiet recriminations and pondering all of the “what ifs?”. It wouldn’t be something to forget in a hurry, either way.
