Dan Bickley:
The Diamondbacks are no longer considered underdogs to LA, thanks to their late-season success against them this year.
LOS ANGELES – There are no outward signs of panic in America’s most disaffected sports town.
But there’s something in the air besides smog. It feels like respect. And in a city that rarely concedes anything to an Arizona team, that’s a big victory for the Diamondbacks.
“People can portray us (as) underdogs or that we have a chip on our shoulders, whatever,” relief pitcher Archie Bradley said. “But we know how we played them in the regular season. LA is going to be ready for us, and we’re going to be ready for them.”
The Diamondbacks arrived in Los Angeles on Thursday, wearing the glow of their magical triumph in the
wild-card playoff. They have become the toast of the Valley, treating their fans to one of the best baseball games we’ve ever witnessed.
Their rollicking triumph over the Rockies transcended the narrow confines of sport. They have energized an entire community. They have morphed from a buttoned-up clubhouse with little personality to a group bursting with likable characters.
It’s getting so crazy that one fan vowed to have Bradley’s face tattooed on his back if he drove in a run during his legendary at-bat on Wednesday. That fan is having serious Twitter remorse, while Bradley is pressing him to make good on the promise.
It’s all great stuff. Our baseball team is threatening to take the torch from the Cardinals, an NFL franchise that has reigned over the desert for some time. Best of all, they have already stamped their season as a tremendous success.
Playing the Dodgers is a triumph by itself. The gauntlet of a one-game playoff is over, and now fans can settle into the rhythm and flow of an actual series. We have enjoyed many wonderful moments against Los Angeles teams in the past, from Raja Bell’s clothesline hit on Kobe Bryant to Mike Bercovici’s Hail Mary pass against USC. But they are mostly just moments.
Beating these Dodgers in the NLDS would trump everything, while losing to the Dodgers would change nothing. And that makes Arizona very dangerous.
“In our clubhouse, we’re saying it’s our time,” third baseman Jake Lamb said. “This is our year, and we feel like we’ve got the best chance to win the World Series. At the same time, that’s what’s being said in every clubhouse (in the postseason). So we have all the confidence in the world that we can go in and have a good series.
“That’s a great team. You’ve obviously seen the year they’ve had. They’ve got a great team over there. But in our clubhouse and with our guys, we know how good we are. And we have a lot of confidence going in.”
The magic numbers are currently 11 and 8. That was the final score of their wild-card win over the Rockies and the regular-season advantage they owned against the Dodgers.
But those statistics hardly explain the journey in full.
When the Dodgers rallied to beat Fernando Rodney in early July, completing a devastating series sweep, they believed they were the team of destiny. Somehow, the Diamondbacks flipped the narrative.
They became the first to derail an alleged dynasty in the making, a team that had 91 victories entering the month of September. They finished with successive sweeps against the Dodgers. And on one glorious evening, they even turned fans at Chavez Ravine against the home team.
Unlike the Diamondbacks, the Dodgers need to win this series to save face, to prevent another ugly collapse.
“I think the biggest thing is just a lot of familiarity,” Diamondbacks slugger Paul Goldschmidt said. “You wipe the records clean individually and collectively, and you start out 0-0 right now. You know what they have. They know what we have. It’s just going to come down to execution.”
A few months ago, the Diamondbacks wouldn’t have raised any concerns in Los Angeles. This is a place where residents are notorious for not needing sports. They don’t need the NFL. They don’t want the Chargers. The Clippers will never be more popular than the Lakers.
But this series feels a little different. The Diamondbacks feel like equals, not underdogs. The Dodgers haven't won a World Series since 1988. And you can only imagine the civic humiliation if little brother takes down big brother again, when the stakes have never been higher.