Battle of the slumps…
It feels like a bit of a race to the bottom in the NL Wild-Card race. This series pits two teams that just got swept, at home, by the Florida Merlins – who, despite that (indeed, they’ve won seven in a row, more than twice the next longest winning streak), still have only the 24th-best record in the major leagues. These problems seem minor compared to those of the Mets, who have lost thirteen of their last sixteen, and haven’t won any of their last five series. Over that same time, the D-backs, Cubs, Giants and Padres are all also below .500. With a 7-8 record, Arizona has actually gained ground on all those teams. We went 2-4 against the Marlins and White Sox. The Giants went 1-5; losing both series at home.
Remember when the NL West had the three best records in baseball? Ah, those were the days. Right now, the only playoff team out of our division would be the Dodgers: the Padres and Giants have both dropped out of post-season spots. It’s not the NL Central which would send three teams into October, with the Brewers and Cardinals currently occupying the second and third wild-card spots. If the D-backs can win this series, or better yet sweep it, it is going to be a big blow to San Francisco. The Giants have already seen their playoff odds slump by more than the D-backs over the past two weeks. They’ve dropped from 65.0% on June 16, to 41.7% now. Arizona has gone from 35.0% to 17.9%.
Certainly, their big trade for Rafael Devers hasn’t moved the needle much. Over 12 games, he has been worth just 0.1 bWAR, with a OPS+ of 109. Respectable offense, yet not the game-changer for which San Francisco was looking, or anywhere close to the 152 figure he produced this year while a member of the Red Sox. Helpfully, the D-backs will not see in this series the Giants’ MVP to date in Matt Chapman, who is on the injured list with a hand injury. Well, we can certainly relate to losing our best player to that kind of ailment, can’t we? All told, definitely a good time for this series. It may give one team a chance to get right again: hopefully, that will be the Diamondbacks.