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Diamondbacks post-season magic number: 17
That’s coming into play today: at time of writing, the Brewers are trailing in the sixth to Cincinnati. A defeat there would take one off the magic number, as would a twelfth consecutive win, against the Dodgers in Los Angeles. We’re going to have to do it without Paul Goldschmidt again, at least in the starting line-up, but it appears he will be available to come off the bench if necessary. Mind you, the team seemed to survive without him, “somewhat adequately” last night... Also, no Jake Lamb or David Peralta. Perhaps the result of a left-handed starter, but with the wild-card all but secured, perhaps we might see Torey Lovullo resting regulars again down the stretch.
Greinke returns to Dodger Stadium, so we’ll see how this works out. The two previous starts there, since leaving Los Angeles for Arizona, have not gone very well at all. In September 2016, he allowed eight earned runs, including five home-runs and didn’t make it through five innings. This past April, he did just get to five IP, but was charged with five runs. The overall line across those two starts: 9.2 IP, 19 H, 13 R, 13 ER, 3 BB, 10 K. Not pretty. And that’s one of the reasons why I’d be perfectly happy with Robbie Ray starting Game 1 of the NLDS, after Greinke wins us the wild-card game. But we’ll see if that opinion changes tonight.
But I’ve already immunized myself against the winning streak ending tonight. I accept that it’s going to happen eventually, and have already gone through the five stages of grief for it, coming out at acceptance. It has been an incredible ride - the longest Arizona has had in the history of the SnakePit - and just another reason why this season is one of the greatest I’ve ever experienced as a Diamondback fan. Considering the post-season hasn’t even started yet, that’s quite an accomplishment! If Arizona were to make it to a dozen wins in a row, I wouldn’t complain though: I’d be perfectly happy to put my acceptance off for another day...