Diamondbacks didn't let bad stretch define them
To learn how to win on a consistent basis, the Arizona Diamondbacks had to figure out how to lose.
A terrible six weeks back in the middle of the summer threatened to derail their season, but the Dbacks persevered and came out stronger. Now they're on their way to an NL Division Series against the Dodgers after finishing a two-game sweep of the Milwaukee Brewers in the wild-card round on Wednesday.
Game 1 is Saturday in Los Angeles.
“I think the guys that we have are built for the moment,” Arizona center fielder Alek Thomas said.
It hasn't always been this way for the D-backs, who are back in the playoffs for the first time since 2017. They're just two years removed from losing 110 games in a dismal 2021 campaign that tested everyone's patience.
Those days seemed long gone by midway through the current season. The D-backs had a 50-34 record on July 1 and climbed to the top of the NL West, 3 1/2 games ahead of the Dodgers.
Then, the bottom dropped out.
They were 7-25 over the next six weeks, falling to 5759 by Aug. 11, basically undoing all the hard work they had done over the first three months. Arizona's players and coaches insisted there was no panic, but it was hard to believe them. An overwhelming “here we go again” feeling hung over the franchise.
It turned out those were some of the biggest character-building days of the season.
“For me, it was about not losing our identity,” first baseman Christian Walker said. “I think in those moments, it's easy to pull back and say, `What are we missing? What should we be doing differently?' Looking for one specific thing about why things aren't going well.
“Sometimes, that's valid and warranted. But other times, it's just keeping your head down and keep plugging away. You're just in a funk.”
Eventually, the funk receded.
Sensational rookie Corbin Carroll and Walker started hitting again, Zac Gallen and Merrill Kelly anchored the rotation and a handful of trade-deadline moves — like adding closer Paul Sewald and outfielder Tommy Pham — provided a spark.
A handful of under-theradar relievers, like lefty Andrew Saalfrank and righty sidearmer Ryan Thompson, gave a shaky bullpen a huge lift in the middle innings. Both of them were prominent during the sweep of the Brewers.
“I just tried to tell people that if you have five good months and one really bad month, you're going to be able to play in October, no matter how bad the month is,” Sewald said. “But that was a pretty bad six weeks.”
But it didn't break the Dbacks.
These days, no deficit seems too big for them to erase. They trailed early in both wild-card games against the Brewers before roaring back to silence the Milwaukee crowd.
“Looking back, I'm glad we didn't do any big kneejerk reactions to rewrite how we're going to win,” Walker said. “I think we're a better team now because of that. We've learned how to come out of something like that, we've learned how to endure a tough stretch and not panic, freak out and lose our minds.
“That's just as important as knowing how to win.” EPPLER QUITS AS METS' GM ❯❯ Billy Eppler quit as New York Mets general manager, three days after David Stearns was hired above him as the team's first president of baseball operations. Eppler's decision continues an overhaul that followed a fourthplace NL East finish for a team with playoff expectations and World Series aspirations. Mets owner Steve Cohen fired manager Buck Showalter on Sunday, saying Stearns deserved to bring in his own manager. VERLANDER TO START GAME 1 FOR ASTROS ❯❯ Justin Verlander will start Game 1 of the AL Division Series against the Minnesota Twins on Saturday. It will be the 35th career postseason start for Verlander, who returned to the AL West champion Astros in a trade from the New York Mets this summer.