Diamondbacks Post-season Gameday Thread, #2: 10/4 @ Brewers

Until Xerostomia mentioned it in this morning’s Snake Bytes, I had not realized that last night was the Diamondbacks first playoff win on the road, since finishing off the Cubs in the 2007 NLDS. In the post-seasons thereafter, we got swept by the Rockies in 2007; saw the 2011 NLDS against the Brewers go with serve; and beat the Rockies at Chase, then got swept by the Dodgers in 2017. Indeed, even after last night, Arizona are still only 6-14 all-time, in post-season games away from home. That win ended an 0-7 streak covering sixteen years, and there’s a chance to end another streak tonight in Milwaukee, as that 2007 NLDS was also the last playoff series - rather than game - won by Arizona.

They have two opportunities to do that, but as Samath pointed out, there would be a huge advantage in the Diamondbacks clinching tonight. It would save us the need to use Merrill Kelly in the decider tomorrow, and he could then go in Game 1 of the NLDS against the Dodgers on Saturday instead. There’s another off-day after that on Sunday, and with the travel days, we could have Zac Gallen and Kelly start four of the potential five NLDS contests. That would be huge, as I think the top of the rotation is an area where Arizona has an edge over the Dodgers, who have Kershaw (and even he has a 4.22 ERA post-season ERA), then... um... hard to say. Seems they might not use starters at all.

Driving a stake into the heart of the Brewers at the first opportunity is probably best. They are staggering, on the ropes and wondering if anyone got the number of that truck after last night’s contest. But Milwaukee still won the NL Central, and I would rather not end up going to an elimination game, especially in front of their home fans. We need to see good Gallen showing up, and over the last month, that has been a bit ephemeral. We had his complete game shutout of the Cubs, but he followed that with a stinker against the Mets. At least the home/road thing seems to have settled down, with an ERA over his last three road outings of 2.70. Something around that - seven innings of two-run ball - would be good.