I’ll keep this short
I’ll keep this brief, because it is way too early. I should not need to be starting Gameday Threads before eight a.m. here in Arizona, but here we are. The D-backs go into the final game of the series with a chance to win it. Given how the first two contests have gone, I’ll happily settle for that. The first saw the D-backs behind the eight-ball from almost the start, and the second saw them desperately cling on to win by the narrowest of margins. But both results count equally in the standings, and the Arizona has a chance to complete the New York series sweep, and win both sets in the Big Apple this year, and beat both the Mets and the Yankees on their home turf. That has never happened before.
Of course, there is the little matter of winning to achieve before that feat can be achieved. Kodai Senga has been stellar so far, allowing only four earned runs over his 28.2 innings pitched. and has yet to be scored on at home in New York. He doesn’t quite have enough innings to qualify (that should be fixed by the end of the day), but his 1.26 ERA would put him second in the NL, behind only fellow Japanese starter, Yoshinobu Yamamoto of the Dodgers, with his 1.06 ERA. Senga’s FIP is, of course, significantly higher. But even that 2.83 would still represent a tough challenge. Both our hitters and Zac Gallen will need to be on their best. I’m less confident about the latter, I would say…