Diamondbacks Gameday Thread, #154: 9/21 @ Yankees

Roster moves

The Arizona Diamondbacks made the following roster moves:

• Placed RHP Miguel Castro on the Paternity List.
• Recalled RHP Slade Cecconi from Triple-A Reno.

I have to say, Castro has been one of the most pleasant surprises of late. He had a horrible outing in Cincinnati, where he allowed three hits in extra innings without retiring a batter. That came not long after his 2024 option vested, and fans were almost unanimous in being unimpressed. But since then, he had tossed 9.1 scoreless innings of six-hit ball, with three walks and a dozen strikeouts. He is one of the reasons - though definitely not the only one - why the Arizona bullpen is top five in the majors this month, posting a 2.16 ERA over 79.1 innings. The resulting fourth place is quite a turnaround from their rankings in August (24th) and July (26th).

5-4

Since the D-backs walked off the field at Chase on Wednesday afternoon, the Cubs have lost twice. Arizona now holds the second wild-card spot by a clear two games from the Chicago and Miami. That pair are tied for the third and final place, half a game in front of Cincinnati. While the first wild-card spot is still probably a pipe dream for the D-backs, their overall post-season position is considerably more secure, with the number of games left now able to be counted without the removal of socks. Indeed, the “need” to win five games is probably no longer the case, though it’s still going to be better for the Diamondbacks to over-perform. Presuming 86 wins, here’s what our rivals need to do to pass us.

• Cubs: 8-1 - need 87, due to losing the tiebreaker, though this figure does not include their win over the Rockies this afternoon.
• Marlins: 7-2
• Reds: 7-1

The Giants can do no better than 85 wins, and they also lost the tie-breaker, so I do not consider them a threat at this point. The odds of TWO of the above happening seem fairly slim. It feels like going 4-5 over this remaining trio of series would be fine. Possibly even 3-6 might be enough, though I’d be far from comfortable at that level of play. But at this point, it feels as if there are, realistically, three teams competing for one remaining spot, with the Phillies and D-backs looking very likely to reach the playoffs. Still, the sooner it’s no longer mathematically possible to be pushed out, the happier we will all be! A win this evening will be another big step towards that contented and relaxed day.

Here’s your list of scoreboard watching. Surprisingly with Arizona playing on the East coast, they are still one of the latter games today.

• Colorado Rockies 0, Chicago Cubs 6
• Pittsburgh Pirates @ Cincinnati Reds 3:40 pm
• Milwaukee Brewers @ Miami Marlins 3:40 pm
• Arizona D’Backs @ New York Yankees 4:05 pm
• New York Mets @ Philadelphia Phillies 4:05 pm