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Archie Bradley
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Clay Buchholz
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| Jean Segura - 2B | Dustin Pedroia - 2B |
| Michael Bourn - CF | Xander Bogaerts - SS |
| Paul Goldschmidt - 1B | Mookie Betts - RF |
| Jake Lamb - 3B | David Ortiz - DH |
| Rickie Weeks - DH | Hanley Ramirez - 1B |
| Yasmany Tomas - LF | Travis Shaw - 3B |
| Chris Owings - SS | Sandy Leon - C |
| Oscar Hernandez - C | Brock Holt - LF |
| Socrates Brito - RF | Andrew Benintendi - CF |
The sweep of the Mets and the resulting four-game winning streak has had a significant impact on the Diamondbacks' chances in Tankapalooza 2016. At one point tied for second in the standings, they have dropped back to fifth, though there is still not much daylight among the leading contenders. Here are the current top ten, going into play on Saturday.
| Tm | W | L | | Strk | Rdiff | pythWL | last10 | last20 | last30 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ATL | 44 | 72 | .379 | W 1 | -1.1 | 44-72 | 7-3 | 11-9 | 15-15 |
| 2 | MIN | 46 | 70 | .397 | L 4 | -0.7 | 50-66 | 4-6 | 10-10 | 16-14 |
| 3 | TBR | 46 | 68 | .404 | L 2 | -0.4 | 52-62 | 4-6 | 9-11 | 12-18 |
| 4 | CIN | 47 | 67 | .412 | W 1 | -1.1 | 46-68 | 5-5 | 12-8 | 17-13 |
| 5 | ARI | 48 | 67 | .417 | L 1 | -1.0 | 47-68 | 5-5 | 8-12 | 11-19 |
| 6 | LAA | 49 | 66 | .426 | L 8 | -0.3 | 55-60 | 2-8 | 6-14 | 14-16 |
| 7 | SDP | 50 | 65 | .435 | W 1 | -0.4 | 53-62 | 5-5 | 9-11 | 13-17 |
| 8 | MIL | 51 | 63 | .447 | L 1 | -0.6 | 50-64 | 4-6 | 11-9 | 14-16 |
| 9 | OAK | 52 | 64 | .448 | W 1 | -0.8 | 49-67 | 5-5 | 10-10 | 15-15 |
| 10 | PHI | 54 | 63 | .462 | W 2 | -0.9 | 47-70 | 6-4 | 10-10 | 14-16 |
A strong surge from Minnesota has now pushed them into second-place, two games behind Atlanta. One game back are Tampa, with Cincinnati a further game down, and Arizona one-half behind them. But watch out for the streaking Los Angeles Angels, who have lost eight in a row, and have the worst record of any contender over the last 20 contests. They're on pace for 69 wins, which would be a 16-game drop over their 2015 record, but they have completely fallen apart on this road-trip, and have lost the first two against the Indians by a combined margin of 27-7. However, to that point, they'd only been outscored by ten runs, and were underperforming Pythag by 6.5 wins.
This afternoon at Fenway, the D-backs face someone whose struggles have been very real and painful this year. Especially if you're one of those unfortunate people who missed their fantasy draft and ended up with Buchholz on their roster. Not that I'm bitter or anything... Tomas returns to the line-up, after missing the past few games with an Olympics-related injury. Yep, his stiff neck was, it appears, caused while he watching the games from his hotel bed, during Monday's off-day. However, it is Rickie Weeks Jr who gets the designated hitter duties this afternoon, which seems an enigmatic decision, shall we say.