Reds enter play Tuesday with the NL’s final wild-card spot, holding head-to-head tiebreaker vs. Mets.
Diamondbacks gutted their roster at the trade deadline but are alive in the final week.
Mets had the best record in baseball in mid-June but have been flailing since.
PHOENIX — The Arizona Diamondbacks really have no idea how they’re still alive.
They’ve been slammed by injuries, losing their $210 million ace to Tommy John surgery.
They completely gave up at the trade deadline, shipping off five players – including their best starter, best reliever and best power hitter – and half of their current roster began the season in the minor leagues.
Yet somehow, someway, they are still standing in the playoff race.
If they pull this off, well, as one player cracked, the New York Mets can expect a bouquet of flowers to come their way.
The D-backs (79-77) will open the final week of their season Tuesday trailing the Mets (80-76) and Cincinnati Reds (80-76) by just one game. They would win a tie-breaker against the Mets if they finish with the same record, but lose the tiebraker against the Reds.
“I still think that a lot’s got to go right for us,’ said D-backs All-Star right fielder Corbin Carroll, who became the first player in franchise history to hit 30 homers and steal 30 bases in a season. “We’ve got to show up, and each one of these games, obviously, matters a ton. We just got to take it one game at a time.
“But at the same time, not let it create unneeded pressure and just still play free like we’ve been playing these last few weeks.’
The D-backs were left for dead after going 1-8 in their final nine games before the trade deadline, and once they traded staff ace Merrill Kelly, All-Star third baseman Eugenio Suarez, first baseman Josh Naylor and reliever Shelby Miller, the D-backs front office reluctantly waved the white flag.
“I wish we had those guys,’ D-backs starter Zac Gallen said, “but we did it to ourselves. We forced the front office to subtract.’
The D-backs were just 51-59 on Aug. 2 but they have since gone 28-18 – the third-best record in the National League. Their starting rotation has a 2.67 ERA since Aug. 27, with an MLB-leading 15 quality starts.
And now, with six games remaining, with three against the Dodgers beginning Tuesday night and three against the Padres in San Diego, well, here they are.
“We never shut down, we never stopped believing in one another, and we never stopped staying connected,’’ D-backs manager Torey Lovullo said. “When you’re connected, you’re capable of doing a lot of special things, and you’re dangerous.
“We had every right to feel sorry for ourselves. We had every right to say ‘why us?’ and let’s chalk it up to a learning experience and go get them next year.’ But that clubhouse did not allow that to happen, and they stayed together. …
“It wasn’t pretty for a long time here, whether it was injuries, or style of play, lack of play, but they continued to hustle, continued to believe, and focus at the right times. … We put ourselves right in the thick of things because we stuck together.’
The D-backs still have only a 6.4% chance of reaching the playoffs according to FanGraphs, and their biggest obstacle now is the schedule. They not only play the defending World Series champion Dodgers for three games at Chase Field, but the Dodgers are throwing their three best starters – Shohei Ohtani, Blake Snell and Yoshinobu Yamamoto. The Dodgers also are motivated to win with a magic number of 3 to clinch their 12th NL West title in 13 years.
“I’ve been playing baseball long enough to know this is not impossible’’ D-backs starter Eduardo Rodriguez said. “You’ve seen a lot of teams do this over the years. We’ve just got to keep winning games.’
The Mets had the best record in baseball on June 12 at 45-24, but have since gone 35-52. It could be a brutally long winter in Queens if they miss the playoffs with their $340 million payroll, rivaling their 2007 collapse – blowing a seven-game lead with 17 to play.
Reds in NL wild card standings: ‘Can’t kill us’
The Reds are the only team among the three remaining NL wild-card contenders who control their own fate. They have the tiebreaker advantage over the Mets and the D-backs, and if the three teams end in a tie, they would win out.
It’s hard for them to believe they’re still in the hunt, too, considering they had lost 16 of their last 24 games before their five-game winning streak, including a four-game sweep over the Chicago Cubs.
“Go back seven days ago and it looked like we were packing up and going home,” Reds catcher Jose Trevino told reporters. “You fast-forward a week and look at where we are.”
Yep, in the driver’s seat, even after being swept a week ago by the Athletics, and falling to fourth place in the wild-card derby.
“You can’t kill us,’ Reds pitcher Nick Martinez said Sunday.
The Reds finish the season playing three games at home against the Pittsburgh Pirates (67-89), who have the third-worst record in the National League, and three against the Brewers in Milwaukee, who already clinched the NL Central title.
Just like that, they smell their first postseason in a full season since 2013.
“We deserve it, we’ve grinded it out and we’re seeing the rewards at the end of it,’ Reds infielder Gavin Lux told reporters, “but we’ve got to finish it. We’re in control of our own destiny, which is great, but we’ve still got to finish out these last six games strong.”
If the Reds pull it off, it will be manager Terry Francona’s 12th playoff team, after already winning two World Series titles and three pennants.
“Damn, man, I’m not a big drug user,’ Francona said Sunday, “but I’m guessing this is probably what it feels like.’
Mets collapse nearing completion
Meanwhile, for the first time since April 5, the Mets aren’t in the postseason field. They may be tied with the Reds, but just lost back-to-back games to the Washington Nationals (64-92) at Citi Field. Their schedule also provides no comfort, playing their final six games on the road against the Chicago Cubs (88-68) and the sizzling Miami Marlins (76-80), who have won six consecutive games and 10 of their last 11. The Marlins even pushed back Sandy Alcantara to assure he’d face the Mets in their season-ending series at home, which could be his final start in a Marlins uniform.
“We’ve put ourselves in this position,’ Mets All Star shortstop Francisco Lindor told reporters Sunday, “so we’ve got to find a way to get out of it.
“And that comes down to winning.”
The Mets haven’t done a whole lot of that for months now, going 4-11 in their past 15 games, 7-12 in September, and 18-29 since Aug. 1. The only teams with a worse record than the Mets since June 13 are the Nationals, Minnesota Twins and Colorado Rockies.
“Everybody here knows where we’re at and what’s ahead of us,” Mets starter Clay Holmes told reporters. “But as a player, I think there’s still the opportunity to make something special happen. …
“It’s still there. It’s just up to us to go out and see what we can do with it’
It may not be a race to the wild-card finish line, but simply a matter of survival at this juncture. The losers go home. The winner will have an all-expense trip, most likely to Los Angeles, trying to beat the defending champions in a best-of-three series at Dodger Stadium.
October will never feel so good after what these teams have endured.
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