PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Are the D-backs CHOKING AWAY the NL Wild Card? Postseason Hopes SLIPPING After Royals Loss

Episode Date: September 10, 2026

The Arizona Diamondbacks are officially running out of time. With just 15 games left in the regular season, the D-backs are now a HALF GAME out of the final NL Wild Card spot. Can Arizona finally finish strong and punch its ticket to the postseason? Or are we headed for another heartbreaking September collapse where the Snakes fall just short once again? For the first time all season, the D-backs are nearly back to full strength. We break down what the returns of Corbin Carroll and Ryne Nelson mean for a roster that is finally starting to feel complete and whether this team has enough to make one final push for October. Plus, it’s THROWBACK THURSDAY! We celebrate the GOAT Randy Johnson on his birthday and look back at some of the historic moments he created on this day throughout his legendary career. We also head down to the Snake Farm to check in on the D-backs’ top prospects in Triple-A Reno as their season winds down.BECOME A DIEHARD: gophnx.com/join JOIN THE SUPPORTERS CLUB ➡️ https://tinyurl.com/yc6km2r4An ALLCITY Network ProductionSUBSCRIBE to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/phnx_youtubeALL THINGS PHNX: http://linktr.ee/phnxsports MERCH https://store.allcitynetwork.com/collections/phnx-lockerALLCITY Network, Inc. aka PHNX and PHNX Sports is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by the City of PhoenixPHNX Events: Get your tickets to PHNX events and takeovers here: https://gophnx.com/events/ALLCITY — including us here at PHNX — is teaming up with Big Brothers Big Sisters of America for an exciting three-year partnership. To learn more, visit https://www.bbbs.org/allcity/Branded Bills: Use code BBPHNX15 at https://www.brandedbills.com/ for 15% off your first order!Husband & Wife Law Team: If you’ve had a serious injury, Call The Husband & Wife Law Team first at 602-783-8841 or visithttps://husbandandwifelawteam.com/?utm_source=allcity-padcasts&utm_medium=digital-phx&utm_campaign=allcityShowNotesGametime: Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code PHNX for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply.Shady Rays: Head to https://shadyrays.com and use code: PHNX for 40% 2+ pairs of off polarized sunglasses. Try for yourself the shades rated 5 stars by over 300,000 people.Circle K:  Join Inner Circle for free by downloading the Circle K app today! Head to https://www.circlek.com/store-locator to find Circle Ks near you!New DraftKings customers sign up with code PHNX, spend just five bucks, and get two hundred in rewards within 21 days. That’s code PHNX. In partnership with DraftKings. The Crown Is Yours. Gambling problem? Call one eight hundred NEXT STEP. Twenty-one plus. Arizona only. Eligibility restrictions apply. Fifty dollars in non-withdrawable Bonus Bets issued every seven days via click-to-claim for twenty-one days. Bonus Bets expire seven days after issuance. 1 football Boost per customer. Maximum bet limits and restrictions apply. Tokens expire at the end of the final select game each day when offered. Terms at d k n g dot c o slash offer.  Limited time offer.When you shop through links in the description, we may earn affiliate commissions. Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Are the Arizona Diamondbacks choking away the National League wild card spot? There are reasons to have hope, especially with the schedule ahead. Plus, it's throwback Thursday, and we are celebrating the goat himself, Randy Johnson. Don't you go anywhere? We are starting right now. Friends at Circle Pay, download that game time app right now. Of course, create an account and use our code off your first person. Very aesthetically pleasing out that will hopefully get you tickets to watch some of these last 15 baseball games.

of the season that the Diamondbacks have ahead of them. My name is Derek Montaia, as I said before, occasionally known as your mayor. We got Damon Dog, aka Damon Farrell, on the ones and twos today. Glad to have him back because I felt like I had faux rage last night. I was upset, but I just couldn't muster up the energy that Damon normally brings in regards to how angry we should have been

about losing not only last night's game, but losing our playoff spot to the Padres. Yeah, I could feel you trying to channel your interdain in last night, Derek. I tried. I just couldn't get it. I just couldn't get it up there. I mean, I know, again, it's not every win is important, every loss is important, but it was hard to really be that mad considering what the debacks did the prior two games. And considering they won the series, you know, it's hard to imagine them, you know, sweeping anybody, considering they only have four sweeps this entire season.

Which is baffling. It's baffling. Actually, you know what's wild too? Looking at the sweeps across baseball, I figured the Diamondbacks had to be at the bottom as far as four sweeps were concerned. There are multiple teams that only have four sweeps this season. And then there are a lot of teams that have three and two and even one sweep this year. And it's the usual candidates that you would expect, the angels,

all the bad teams across baseball. I think the Toronto Blue Jays only have three sweeps this year. So, yeah, it's a lot of the teams that, aren't in the postseason, which the Diamondbacks currently aren't. That hurt to say. That hurt my liver, I think, just now to hurt say that. They fell half a game last night behind the San Diego Padres after losing the finale to the Royals, five to two.

And again, they just went one for nine with runners in scoring position. And that makes me, that that's probably the angriest that I was going to get at this team last night. One for nine with runners in scoring position is inexcusable. hitting into that double play to end the game was inexcusable, wasting so many opportunities with runners in scoring position with less than two outs, also inexcusable. They only scored two runs last night, and that is something we've seen far too often lately

over the past two weeks, and the offense just continues to feel like the biggest concern at the worst possible time. I don't know if that's something new either. I mean, the starting pitching is starting to become whole again, right? Like, it felt the, like, in this game, the additions of Michael Soroka and Zach Gallen were the final infinity stones, or at least one of the two infinity stones and a cute little pebble that looks like the infinity stones. But it did feel like this team was finally complete and finally at full strength. And unfortunately, I mean, they're still not there on the offensive side.

And there's not a lot of pieces missing. Corby and Carroll right now being the only guy that's not in the lineup. So it continues to be a bit baffling, you know, as to how this team is struggling. Gabriel Moreno was not in the lineup. He did come in as a pinch hitter late in that game, but that is perhaps part of it. I mean, Moreno has been one of the Diamondbacks, you know, most consistent best hitters all season long without him out there. You know, you are going to see perhaps the offense struggle. Maybe this is the last off day for Gabby between now and the final stretch with 15 games left in the season.

season, and I wouldn't be surprised to see a lot of him and James McCann, both in the lineup, considering that's like our number one and number two hitter right now. But the Padres are suddenly the team applying the pressure, though, aren't they? They definitely reverse the figure four leg lock by turning things over. And now the question remains, are the Diamondbacks good enough to make the playoffs, or are they simply the best of a mediocre wild card pack, right? I mean, that's a whole other question. And I think that we will all be thankful if this team makes the offs, right?

If they make the postseason, that is a win. And it is hard to complain about what happens after that point. Yes, I'm sure if they have a bad showing in the wildcard round, we'll have plenty to complain about. But again, with the way that this season has gone, with the way injuries have gone for this team, with how poorly this offense has performed all season long, it's going to be a small miracle if the Diamondbacks make it into the postseason. And the Padres are coming. They just swept Washington and they're playing their best baseball

at exactly the wrong time as far as we're concerned. They do have, you know, a big series against the San Francisco Giants who are also playing their best baseball of the season. They've just been a bad baseball team all season long. Padres have been mediocre, but they've underperformed all year long, especially when you talk about their offense as well. Both the debacks and the Padres are vastly underperforming, but you could argue that the Padres are underperforming much more

than the Diamondbacks are with Fernando Tatis and Machado and Bogarts and all the names that they have over there, all those superstars that they have in that lineup. But meanwhile, the Diamondbacks offense is becoming a legitimate problem. They couldn't cash in last night, despite all of those opportunities. And, I mean, I don't know. I think that, again, we have seen this team over this last stretch just when we were in Las Vegas

put up 10 runs against the San Francisco Giants. And they needed to because that was a 10-6 win. But it's hard to wonder if this is a slump or if this, you know, inconsistent performance, which has lasted all season long, is just who this offense is this year. I think we've continued to wait for the. this offense to wake up, Damon. And it just never has happened. It's never happened. At the very least, you could say, like, there were times where we were waiting for the starting pitching to get going. And then they did. And the starting pitching staff, even without the pieces that they

were missing, had stretches where they were incredible, you know, incredible. Remember how good they were back in, what was it, April or May when they had that stretch of. Yeah, just to start the season. Yeah, it was amazing, you know. And again, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, had its hits it's taken you know obviously the injuries have impacted it quite a bit that gallon's poor performance as well as merrill kelly underperforming both have kind of impacted things but you've even seen those guys even zad galen have some good starts this year and merrill kelly at times has felt like you know you can see him getting back on track and being the consistent mainstay that we know him to be right the bullpen has overperformed all season long the bullpen has been a pleasant

surprise and that has been a consistency throughout this year. But the main problem right now is the offense and how many games this team has lost this season where the opposition has scored three runs or less. You know, the pitching reinforcements are here. Finally, like I said, that Mindstone being added to Thanos's, you know, infinity gauntlet is here. But is it too late? There's only 15 games left in the season. Can they actually save this team from missing the playoffs? once again for the third year in a row. I mean, Burns looked excellent in his return, and now Gallin and Soroka have returned.

And I mean, Soroka looked incredible outside of that first inning of him coming in. And mind you, Soroka's a starter. So asking him to come out of the pen is already a weird, you know, part of his process. Pitchers, baseball players, they're creatures of habit. So it's hard. He's been out of the pen before, though. Tori said that's part of why he brought him out of the pen. Oh, yeah, no, no, no.

I'm not saying that it's not something that he could do. he obviously wasn't opposed to it. And if that was the case, they could have swapped him in Gallen or whatever the case. I think that Soroka right now is more valuable. So if I was managing this team, I would let Soroka have a first choice as to what he wanted to do in that piggyback situation. Right. But Soroka is Canadian and he's just the nicest guys. He's going to go along with whatever you ask him to do.

But also, isn't that exactly what people hate Tori for? Like deferring too much to the players and whatnot. I'm just talking about in the case of Soroka because of his value overshunders. Zach Gallon. I'm not really giving Zach Gallen like much of a say in that particular. I don't think Tori gave Zach Gallin a say in that situation. I think he chose Soroka to come out of relief because he had experience coming out of relief in the past. Sure, sure. And it didn't work out at all. That that past was, it didn't work out, right? But again, as far as the bright side of Soroka's outing, he was really, really good after giving up that

home run of Bobbywood Jr. You know, and, you know, after he lost the game for us. He was awesome. I'm not saying that that's like, again, the main point here, he just returned from injury. I mean, the main point is that him and Gallen both got in there and threw as many pitches as they did, including Soroka going to the bullpen after the outing, right? But I'm definitely more encouraged by what Soroka did honestly after giving up that home run than I was about Zach Gallen only using his fastball like 13% of his outing, if that's fair to say. And his fastball even hit 94.1 miles per hour, Damon. So it's not even like his fastball wasn't.

The velocity wasn't there. But the command, I'm guessing, definitely wasn't. I'm guessing he did not have the feel for that pitch, which obviously has been a big problem his entire season. But he stayed as far away from his fastball after the first inning as he could. So in regards to those two pitchers, I'm definitely more encouraged by Soroka, even though he had the worst line. And like you said, he lost the game for this team.

There's no other way to say it. I'll just say that, you know, again, Seroca is not a reliever. He doesn't come out of the pen. He hasn't come out of the pen this season. So I'm going to forgive him for having a shaky, you know, inning. It sucks that we lost the game, though, and it sucks that that lost the game for us.

Also, what lost the game is the offense only scoring two runs and wasting so many opportunities. But the Gall and Seroca unconventional piggyback situation, I mean, the big question is if that is going to continue for another outing and perhaps beyond that. I mean, I don't imagine it going past the regular season, but they could do this for the rest of the year. I mean, both guys will be stretched out after the next outing enough for both of them to be starters once again. And then other decisions have to be made.

But we also do have the return of Ryan Nelson that is on the horizon and is going to factor in here. But we have the Padre series looming huge. As somebody said, Grutenberg said in the chat, it's really going to come down. of the final series, isn't it? Yep. And I feel like we've been saying that all year long. I feel like from the time the schedule dropped, we were like, are you kidding us?

You're playing the Padres again in the final series of the year? Neat. Neat. And Michael Rokickey, aka Evil Michael, he says, can we talk about how Bert willed the Witt home run into existence? He tends to do that. I don't know if he's trying to like, frame it poetically from an

announced perspective, but you do feel like he tends to almost root for those things at times. Also, fun fact, I learned today of a story where someone who used to have a fake Steve Berthume account approved a fan

coming up to the broadcast booth to meet Steve Berthium and that fan, I think it was an away game, made it all the way to the broadcast booth at the same time that Todd Walsh was in there during the game this was a Colorado Rockies game and uh apparently there was a lot of confusion how that man and his family made it all the way to the booth to meet Steve Berthume who is not on Twitter and that's uh that's something hilarious the person that used to run that account told that story on reddit and uh i

was delighted by it but again yes the series with the Padres is huge it's a playoff series There's no other way to look at it as far as, you know, where we are at and how things are lining up unless some sort of something wonderful happens where the Padres lose a lot of games. Then, you know, that series is going to decide who makes it in, right? And both teams, their schedules are something. I mean, the Diamondbacks, it's kind of no surprise right now that the Diamondbacks have kind of dropped back at this particular time. because, you know, they have a little bit more difficult of a schedule than the Padres. It's like when the Padres were playing the Yankees and the Diamondbacks had a little bit easier of a stretch. This is going to go back and forth as we come down to the final, you know, games of the season.

But for now, they have a three-game series that starts tomorrow with the Texas Rangers, followed by a three-game series against the Marlins that Damon and I... That might be the true time of death. I know we've done like seven time of deaths this season. We are very worried about that Marlins series. Couldn't be more worried about it. Something about the Marlins, man. They own us.

I don't get it. I mean, at least based on the laws of recessing to the means, right? Regressing to the means. Maybe perhaps we get those wins back now at a very important time against the Marlins team that's kind of dominated us all year long. And then we have three games with the Yankees. I mean, this is tough. This is a tough schedule.

Beyond that, we have three games with the Colorado Rock. who are no pushover, even when Hunter Goodman doesn't work, right, doesn't properly operate. His controller got disconnected on a throw by Jake McCarthy to home base the other day. But we, you know, we struggle with those guys. They're, like I said, there's no automatic dub. And then we end the season against the Padres. The Padres, they do have a little bit easier of a stretch right now, but they do have games against the Giants who, like I said,

the Giants have been, are currently playing their best baseball. And even though they have been a lousy team this year, you know that they would love to mess up the Padres season. This is something Damon and I discussed the other day. Not trying to help the Diamondbacks out. Let's not get that confused. They're not doing it for us. They're doing it for themselves because they hate the Padres so damn much.

And the Dodgers. They hate both of those teams. So I feel like they would do that. then the Padres also have a three-game series against the Rockies and a three-game series against the Marlins, who let's hope the Marlins take care of business in that series. And then after that, they have a three-game series with the Dodgers, which is pretty much the most daunting task ahead of them in the same way that the Yankee series is the most daunting task ahead of the Diamondbacks. I mean, those are kind of a push for both teams, how difficult those series are going to be.

You have both teams playing, you know, the Marlins in there. You have both teams playing the Rockies in there. And outside of that, it's the Diamondbacks taking on the Rangers and the Padreys taking on the Giants. San Francisco, you are our only hope, basically. So I don't know what I need to. I'll send you whatever you, whatever money, human monies you want, I will send to you in order for you guys to get the job done.

But the Diamondbacks playoff odds have been something this year, Damon. If we could take a look at that chart courtesy of fan graphs, you'll see where we stand, which isn't great. They currently have a 46.2% chance of making the postseason. But as you can see here, there have been times even recently where those odds were much lower. And yeah, this is a whole thing right here, Dana. Meanwhile, I mean, it sucks how much one result can change everything. It's crazy, right? Did you see how much they dropped?

And it's, yeah, what were we at? Like 57% before that game or something? Just based off of kind of eyeballing this graph. Yeah. Unreal. Yeah. What happened? We lost in the Padres one.

That's what happened. One game? One single stupid baseball game. There's 162 of these things. Ernesto in the chat says, Jake McCarthy save us. Maybe he'll be the sleeper agent that we need to get the job done. But this has been a wild. season. That would be massive.

And I mean, again, the Diamondbacks, look at at one point, dropped down to as low as I believe 18, 17% chance of making the playoffs at one, you know, so credit to them for fighting back after having a rough month of June where things just sunk like a rock. And that day right there where they're odds skyrocketed from one day to the next is, you know, the sweep of the Dodgers. and then everything they did from July 9th beyond that. Is it over? Are we back?

This entire graph the whole season has looked like that, Derek, as you pointed out. Yeah, like I see, I see a lot of its overs and so many we're backs in here. Very many ebbs and flows. Meanwhile, the Dodgers is just a straight line of 100% all the way across the graph. It's the funniest thing you can imagine. That's not funny to me. It's hilarious. Me and you have better,

have different senses of humor, clearly. Yeah, because I think what's happening to Otani is hilarious, and you don't because he's on your fantasy baseball team. Come on, man. See? That's where we're at. But the good news is that

Semi-finals right now, Derek. Damon adding to his fantasy baseball team is probably why his season has been the way it has been. So you can all thank Damon. Yeah, you're welcome, guys. I've ruined Otani. What do you want me to say? I did my job this year.

Yeah, I did my job. That was the assignment from the beginning, and you understood the assignment and got the job done. All right, well, we're going to take a quick break. On the other side of this break, we have more to discuss, including what is going on right now with our injury port that has become shockingly small. Can you believe it?

I can't. I couldn't even believe it looking at it. We're going to talk about it on the other side of this break. Don't you go anywhere. You're watching the PHNX Diamondback Show. Well, the wait is over. Football is here. It was here last night.

And it was great to watch. Shout out to everything. All of the excitement that we had last night. Watching baseball and football at the same time, it felt great. And of course, since football is here, Draft Kings is on. And this September, Draft Kings is giving all customers the opportunity to get boosted

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no pouring, no waiting, just a good tasting high whenever you want. So go find yourself some pure edible products from one of over 150 dispensaries across Arizona, now including Truloof. And Damon, it is time. we have to take a look at the, I guess, size of the injury report. And this is the injury report brought to us by the husband and wife law team. And it was shockingly small.

We have looked at this injury list all season long and it has read like a CVS receipt. But instead, it is down at least as far as the players who are returning this season to just Corbyn Carroll and Ryan Nelson. And again, let's take a look here at where those guys stand. Corbyn Carroll still on day-to-day, not actually on the IL, but could be if this lower-back discomfort continues. That is something that's kept him out of a few games so far. And according to the latest report, he was going to undergo imaging when the team returns home. So that imaging is most likely taking place today.

or has taken place already or will take place tomorrow. We'll see. But it seems like there's a good chance that Corbyn Carroll may not be in the lineup for Friday's game one against the Texas Rangers, though that has not been decided. Should he miss any more time, there's a good chance that they could add him to the 10-day IL and make it retroactive to September 8th when he was a late scratch from the lineup against the Royals. Meanwhile, Ryan Nelson, he is doing well. Nelson missed time to a right flexor strain, right UCL sprain.

And he just pitched the other day on September 8th one inning for the AAA Reno Aces and looked incredible doing so. He threw 11 pitches with his velocity hitting 96 miles per hour, Damon. Is that good? Is that good in a return? Sounds pretty good. And he got two strikeouts in that inning of work with no hits, no runs, no blocks, no nothing. He may have one more outing before rejoining the team at a, minor league level, but according to reports, he is possibly going to join the Diamondbacks

during this homestand that starts tomorrow. So we could have Ryan Nelson back. And honestly, with the way he pitched, I definitely would love to see his arm in the bullpen. What other moves are made, what things are adjusted due to that would still remain to be seen. But again, Nelly could be a huge weapon for this team coming down the stretch out of the pen. And again, that's it. Unbelievable enough, that is the only two players that are still set to return this season on the injured list. Outside of that, you got Ryan Thompson, who isn't due back until next year, AJ Puck, who isn't due back next year.

Christian Manna, who is still, it's up in the air as to when his throwing program or when any of his rehabilitation is going to start. And then Andrew Saul-Frank, who underwent surgery on his left shoulder to remove a bone spur. he is also out until next season. So we just have those two guys coming back. And again, this is why it's, you know, it would be great if Corbyn came back and was at 100%. I know a lot of people suspected Corbyn not being healthy. I don't know how long this low back discomfort has lasted for or has been there for. I know that we've probably seen a few swings where Corbin's kind of grimaced during the slump that he's in, which caused some concern.

you know so again maybe this time off that he's taking is long overdue when he comes back if he can come back and be you know the Corby and carol that this team needs you know he could he could have a huge impact on the offense he could definitely have a huge impact on the offense meanwhile like I said Nellie could have a similar impact on the bullpen with his with the addition of him not only can he continue to get stretched out perhaps give them two innings plus down the stretch that they will need, he could prevent the need for a piggyback game again with Soroka and Gallen. The Diamondbacks have made so many transactions over the last week.

It's been insane. Dating back to September 4th, the Diamondbacks have made 12 transactions starting on September 4th when Tommy Troy was reinstated from the 10-day IL and Jorge Barroso was designated for assignment. Two days later, they recalled Adrian Del Castillo from, AAA Reno and they designated Max Kepler for assignment. Two days later after that, they reinstated Corbin Burns from the 60-Day IL and called up Cade Stroud from Reno. They optioned Herardo Carrillo and Jose Cabrera down to the Aces.

And then one day later, they optioned Walston and Stroud back to AAA and called up Michael Soroka and Zach Gallen. What are your feelings, Damon, overall, on, you know, this roster essentially now being at 100%. I feel like we're still in a similar position where you almost wish there was more players that were position players on that IL that were returning that could help this offense get kick started than just Corbyn. Carol. And not to say Corbyn isn't a huge addition to come back, but that's with the caveat that he is, you know, is swinging the bat better and able to help this offense. Yeah, I mean, Corbyn Carroll need him back.

yesterday. Yeah. Need him back immediately. Yeah. Him and Gabby not being in the lineup definitely felt like we lacked the power of friendship for sure, let alone about a 300 and 240 batting average. Yeah, definitely. When you looked at that lineup yesterday, Derek, and I obviously was not working,

but I did, in fact, watch some of the game, at least, you know, before it was delayed and I wanted nothing to do with it anymore, as many people, I'm sure, did. Oh, it was, yeah, the delay was gross, make me wait an hour for a game to start, and then also for it to be that game. Just when you looked at that lineup yesterday and you saw no Gavin, no Corbyn, you're like, man, we lack a lot of firepower. Yeah. Yeah. That's not a team that looks like a playoff team. When you start removing some of our star players, we had the same conversation when Kattel was not in the lineup.

This team, frankly, with how bad the offense has been, needs each and every one of its. starters to be in the lineup, playing ball, and playing decent, or else we're really going to struggle on offense. And every time that, you know, you see Corbyn Carroll, I mean, he's been on the downturn for months now. But Cote, obviously, hasn't had his best season. Jerry hasn't had his best season. Yeah. It's just been, it's kind of been a disaster on O. It really has. It really has. And I, I see flea ball's comment, which he makes a great point. And I, This is a good question, I guess, to discuss. He says, I feel great about this roster.

There's just not enough time in the calendar. Would you feel better if there was more time versus there being? No, because I think that this, you know, us being so close in this small amount of time left. I think it's inevitable that the Padres are just going to be within a game of us, no matter. You could make the season 18 more years from now. And the Padres and beatbacks will have the exact same amount of wins going into the final game

of whatever 18-year season we're talking about. So, yeah, I mean, I just, it feels so inevitable that the Padres and the Diamondbacks are just bound to this final series of the season is bound to decide who goes to the postseason or not. You just want to have a leg up before you get there so that you can give yourself a little bit of slack. You don't have to sweep the Padres to make the playoffs. That's it.

Yeah. Yeah. You want it here, right? Like, you want to come into that series at the worst, a half a game back or it will be needing two to one yeah like like maybe one game back at the most you can't go in needing to sweep the entire

series a sweep would be a tall task I think you know two one it's not easy especially on the road yeah but you can convince yourself we can win one more game than them in this series 100% we can win the series we can go win the series two one but a team that's only got four sweeps this year you're expecting them to go into the most important This team ain't sweep in anybody in the final season series of the season.

We have the pitching for it. We have the pitching for it, but kind of so do the Padres too. They're getting pieces back that they've been missing all year long. And it's, you know, again, it's, it's amazing how these two teams are like destined to do this forever. It feels like we are destined to be lockstep with each other. And this, it sucks that it comes down to this series, but it makes it exciting. Let's just hope it still comes down to that series. Yeah, that would be if you're out of it before then

It's a disaster. Yeah, for sure. I would find that hard to believe again. I think that there is a world where you need a sweep going into that series and that probably is a nail in the coffin as well. Obviously wouldn't count you out completely, but again, this this team just can't they can't complete the S-Fords For all season is insane for a team that's fighting for a playoff spot. I probably shouldn't be saying the S-word as often as I am right now. I probably ruined it. I probably ruined it. when we were at our dinner, Derek, and I looked over at you and I said, you know, it would be nice. If we got a sweep, we never get sweeps. Yeah, you did. You did. I blew it. We cheers to our little old fashions and had a good laugh like we were like.

This is so funny. Cigars up. Ernesto says pray for a cubs collapse. I mean, honestly, that's something that we're not talking about nearly enough because the cubs are the cubs. And while we're sitting here fighting tooth and nail with the Padres, it would kind of be hilarious to just see. both teams find their way into the playoffs. DCA MVP while his team sits at home while he's on the couch watching the postseason. I mean, is it that out of the question for the Cubs?

I mean, as it stands right now, right, they're two and a half games up on the Padres, I believe. Let me, let me, let me actually do my job and look at this instead of just actually being like, oh, I think they're that. But like the Cubs, I think they do they, that was, that was their last series against the, the brewers. I knew it was going to be bad when they faced the brewers. I just knew it. They were talking all sorts of tough and they were going to go in and win the division

and all this other things with the many games left against the brewers. And they did not. They did not do any of those things. And, you know, it's not out of the question for them to slip out of this. I mean, it's still not very likely, but you never know. You truly do. There's enough games left for sure. Rollafati says, Derek, now say the Phillies are going to win.

it all to reverse the curse. Yeah, Phillies, they're in. They're in. In matter of fact, Phillies might not just take this, their four games back from their division. Maybe they beat the Braves for the NL East. Philly's World Series champs this year. They're probably going to get the job done. I think the Phillies deserve a buy. Yeah. I think that Rob Manfred should step in and say, this is a team, let's look at their first month record. This is a team that if you subtract the first month would be in one of those spots for a buy. And so they deserve it. They deserve to go down to the second round of the postseason without having to play anybody. And congrats to the Phillies. All right. Let me be the first to congratulate the Phillies on winning

the NL pennant. Can I be the first to congratulate them on that? Please do. Congratulations, Philadelphia. That's huge. You guys got a shot at the World Series. Yeah. Clap it up. And I'm going to do what Rola Fadi said. I'm going to say the Phillies are going to finish the season so well. And quite frankly, I wish them well. I'll wear like my little Benjamin Franklin Roosevelt shirt next time I get a chance to do so. Anyway,

Cubs, maybe, maybe, maybe Phillies too. Who knows? Guys, Michael, evil Michael. The Phillies just lost. They did it on purpose. You don't, you guys don't realize the, the Phillies are playing chess

while all the rest of the Major League Baseball is playing checkers. Yeah, it's all part of their, it's all part of their game plan. But we're going to take, the Phillies. We're going to take a quick break on the other side of this break. You know what day it is and you know we're going to do around here. Don't you go anywhere? You are watching the P.HNX Diamondback show on a Thursday. Well, shout out to the husband and wife law team, of course, for always taking care of our injury report. And of course, if you are ever involved in an accident

or serious injury, you should contact the husband and wife law team first. Mark and Alexis Breyer are the husband and wife law team. And their team brings hundreds of years of combined trial experience along with multiple certified specialists in personal injury and wrongful death litigation. Their practice is 100% dedicated to injury and wrongful death, experienced and specialized. They are equipped with the expertise to handle every aspect of your case. And of course, nobody can guarantee the outcome of any case, but they can make promises to you as their client, including that you can cancel your fee agreement with them at any time for any reason that you may speak with one of their lawyers as often as you choose about anything you want to discuss, including

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So let's, if we could, let's brighten up these colors and make things look a little bit more festive in honor of not only throwback Thursday, but in honor of the goat, Randy Johnson's birthday. That is right. Randy Johnson, happy birthday to you. And it's amazing how much history on this day Randy Johnson has set considering this man was supposed to be washed. washed when he joined the Diamondbacks, which is still a hilarious thing to look back on and think about considering everything we've seen him do as a member of this team.

But it is his 63rd birthday today, and in honor of that, we were talking about all the stuff he did this week or on his birthday in history. On September 10th, 2000, Randy Johnson records the 3,000th strikeout of his career, and it was against the Miami Marlins slash Florida. Marlins. I don't even know what they were at the time. I think Florida

Marlins at the time. So that's got to be a good sign, right? That's, it's the Marlins and we're playing the Marlins soon? I don't know. I'm just trying to look for positives here. And there's always positives when we look back on these days in Diamondback's history that involve Randy

Johnson. It's amazing how peppered he is through our history and just what an incredible player he was. That was on his birthday. This man recorded his three thousandth strikeout on his birthday at Miami. That was in 2000. So what a guy. What a guy. September 9th, 2002, he recorded an MLB record fifth straight 300 plus strikeout season. He also tied Nolan Ryan for the most 300 plus strikeout seasons in a career with six. September 14th, 2003, Randy Johnson tossed a one hitter against the Rockies.

and on September 10th, 2004, Randy Johnson earned his 100th win as an Arizona Diamondback. On his 41st birthday, it was a 2 to 1 victory over the San Francisco Giants. Just shoving at 41 years old, beating the Giants by a score of 2 to 1. Incredible. What a guy. And it was hilarious that even at that point, that was an abysmal season. And still not getting any run support. Still not getting any run support. But a couple other things happened that on this day or this week in Diamondbacks history.

On September 9th, 2018, Paul Goldschmidt recorded his 651st walk in the third inning versus the Atlanta Braves, surpassing Luis Gonzalez for the most in team history. It was fun to watch Paul Goldschmidt from like 15 through 18 get walked a lot. Nobody wanted any of that smoke. Nobody wanted Paul Goldschmidt. to be blasting home runs off of them. And that's exactly what he was doing consistently in those days. Also, it still hurts to see Goldschmidt.

He's going to be on the Yankees, right? When they come here to town and we're going to have to see Paul Goldschmidt against us at Jay's Field right before the season ends, that's going to make us regret going after Carlos Santana, isn't it? Maybe? I don't know. I'm just trying to open old wounds between me and Damon right now. Let's see. I mean, what's there even to talk about?

Carlos Santana was the worst player in baseball for the two weeks he was on the team. The first base position has been a disaster this year. And it has been since the offseason when you were saying it was going to be a disaster, along with the DH. The most obvious disaster ever. The most obvious disaster ever. We have no power hitters on our damn team. Yeah.

That being said, though, you know, I'm going to continue to stay steadfast in my position that I think Paul Goldschmidt hates us. I think he wants nothing to do with us. And when you hear things like the Diamondbacks and Paul Goldchman never even had any talks this off season, I don't think that that's because the Diamondbacks were not interested in Paul Goldchman this off season. Yeah. I think it's because Paul Goldschmidt was not interested in the Diamondbacks.

Very fair. Which goes along with why he wanted to be traded out of this organization as well. Like I just, it sucks because he's such a franchise legend and he should probably have his jersey retired. but it just, I don't feel the love from Polly. I don't know if he wanted to be traded, but I do know that Mike Hazen has confessed that that is the worst mistake he's made as a GM in his history.

Derek, I think that the proof is in the pudding. He wanted to be traded. He took less money from the St. Louis Cardinals than he was asking for the Diamondbacks and an extension. No, no, in all honesty, that was that at the time, the amount that he paid was supposedly too rich for the Diamondbacks blood. But I'm with you on that. I mean, I think most of us.

sorry, I'm confused. What were you saying? The extension the Cardinals gave him, apparently, was at the time, allegedly, more than the Diamondbacks would have been able to give him. I'm not disagreeing with that whatsoever. I don't think that the two things that we said there are mutually exclusive of one another. Sure, sure. I think that he asked the Diamondbacks for a bigger number than he accepted from the Cardinals.

Because he wanted to be not on the Diamondbacks anymore. Right, right. So they might have been closer with the number he signed for or the extension with the Cardinals. Correct. Yeah. Not that far off and still too rich for the Diamondbacks blood as far as they were concerned. The Carlos Santana Purple Glove statue outside of Chase, though. I mean, you can't take that down.

That's forever. The statue is forever. It should be in a case that people can like take pictures with like the like the World Series trophy. Yeah. In the lobby right there, Derek, right next to the World Series trophy. But we can't, it can't happen now. We need that purple glove.

And I've noticed nobody's wearing it. So, I mean, does Carlos really need it right now? What is he doing with it? I'm telling you, man. What is he doing with it? I mean, that's a fair question. What is he doing with it right now? That's a good question.

Rolfadi. Which one? Also, out of the Mariners, have an RJ statue before us. Because the Mariners just make statues all willy-nilly. We don't make enough statues. If we had statues that were made more timely, there would be a Jose Fernandez statue outside of the back outside Chase Field and there would be a statue of hashtag the meeting

with the pitching staff outside of Chase Field. That's true. Tori taking a knee and the four dudes around him. That's damn true. We'd have a lot of statues. On September 9th, 2021, I found this be very interesting Daman. I didn't know this, but Chase Field became the first MLB Stadium where sports fans could place an in-person bet at a betting,

you know, betting kiosk, if you will. Yeah, it was actually the windows out front by the ticketing windows. So, uh, I, like I knew that that was a thing,

but I felt like that was just being coming common at the time. I had no idea that Chasefield was the first to do that. So just found that to be interesting. Uh, but last but not least, on September 12th, 2012, Zach Gallin established a franchise record with a 44 point,

or 44 and a third inning scoreless streak from August 8th through September 12th, surpassing Brandon Webb's previous mark of 42 innings in 2007. His streak was the third longest in baseball since 1988 behind Oral Hirschizer and Zach Grinke, both of who did it for the Dodgers. Man, how good would it be to have that

Zach Gallen right now? Zach Gallen, who in that point was, I believe, named the National League pitcher of the month for August. I want to say is what it was. Incredible. Incredible. And it's amazing how fast, you know, he has become a guy that you honestly can't rely on.

So it's unfortunate. It sucks for Zach. And I wish this wasn't the case. I think we all do. I think we all wish that Zach Galen, you know, was still. Was a stud. Was still this guy. You know, definitely.

I mean, he probably wouldn't be on this team anymore. You stole it out of my mouth, David. I was like, you probably wouldn't be here on this one-year deal this year if that was wouldn't have hurt us and we would have had 20 million more dollars to play with. So it would have been good for everybody. In other words, if he continued to maybe be good at pitching. I'm okay with living in the like the sacred timeline that I live in, right? But I wish I could just get a peek at these other timelines, Damon.

True. I just want to just like the multiverse. Just let me, yeah, just let me look in the multiverse and see what the, you know, Zach Gowan shoved through the rest of his career, Diamondbacks look like right now. The multiverse where Major League Baseball doesn't allow the Dodgers to get a fraudulent media rights deal that allows them to spend at twice the power of every other team in their division. Oh, Shohay is in prison in this time. Oh, my God. The Diamondbacks have five World Series championships.

Yeah. Insane. We're a dynasty. Not that long ago, we revoted one of the best franchises, not just in baseball, but in all of sports. That's crazy. All right, moving on, we're going to take a quick break. And on the other side of this break, we're going to talk about the future of this team and take a look at some of the prospects down on Snake Farm.

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the comment went away on the side but um in the rafters yeah his number in the rafters i think it should just be a picture of the purple glove you know the way that the seahawks unveiled that banner that I see on social media. That's actually just a funny meme. But we'll move on from that. Diamondbacks, of course, don't have a lot of pitching prospects right now at AAA Reno that we really want to discuss. But I did find one, a left-handed starting pitcher who's been having himself a good season with the Aces, at least in a very short stint. But let's take a look once again at our prospects down on Snake Farm. One guy who I feel like we really haven't talked about and who is kind of a conundrum for me as far as what his future holds is Christian Robinson.

He continues to just be very consistent this year. His numbers at AAA Reno don't necessarily blow you away, but they are still pretty good. 271 batting average, 819 OPS. He has 55 RBI this year. He has 14 home runs, and he has 22 stolen bases. And just the thing with Robinson is it's getting to the point where, like,

we really haven't seen him much at a at a major league level or really know what he can do. And, you know, he's 25 years old now. It's going to be 26 by next baseball season. So I just don't, I mean, I feel like it's almost time for the Diamondbacks to make a decision here with Robinson and, you know, at least maybe give him some opportunities at a major league level to see what he can do. You know, I don't, I don't feel like there's a ton of time left. for him to make the majors. So I don't know, but he still had a very, you know, a tumultuous career with the Diamondbacks.

He's, but he's really done a great job of getting things back on track. And it would be great to see him just get that opportunity. Meanwhile, Avery Short is the one pitcher I could find in the organization at a AAA level that had a sub for ERA. So good for him and bad for everybody else. but he does have a 3.97 ERA since being promoted to the AAA Reno Aces, 1.5.00 whip, which is not great. He does have 0.8 home runs allowed per nine innings, which is very good. But he has four walks per nine inning, which is not good right now.

But like I said, he is the only pitcher in AAA arena with a sub four ERA besides Lucan Baker. Who isn't a pitcher? So take that for what it's worth. Last but not least, is Tyler or Locklear the future at first base for this team? He could be. Feels like he's getting much better and his progression is coming along nicely. Plus, let's be honest. I mean, Locklear, it felt like he got called up a little prematurely, suffered an injury,

has had some major league time this year. But it really does feel like, you know, a little bit more seasoning, perhaps a little bit more time. And AAA could definitely get him to that point where, you know, he could be the everyday first basement of the future for the debacks. And that's not that hard to imagine considering right now he's hitting 296 with 10 home runs, 46 RBI, and an 871 OPS for the Aces. I don't know. What do you think, Damon?

About Locklear's future as the first baseman for this team. Do you think it's possible or do we just need to stop kidding ourselves? There's still a hole at that position. So I guess hypothetically he still has a chance. got a chance in spring training next year, but I would imagine that he's going to have to have a pretty damn big spring training to make the team. Not only that, but after this year's failures and 2027 being a mess aside from that. It's hard to imagine that this Diamondbacks team wants to roll the dice again with having such

potential limited production out of the first base. Yeah, you would imagine that they definitely attack that position. in the offseason, but I would have said that last off season, too, and they didn't. And I said that about the trade deadline, and they didn't. So maybe it's time for me to stop trying to guess when they're going to try to make upgrades positions they very obviously need to upgrade. Well, and I mean, they're going to have to address the starting rotation as well. That's something.

They have Brandon Fott. They have Eduardo Rodriguez. They have Ryan Nelson. And outside of that, or Merrill Kelly, too. So, I mean, at least in 2027, things were locked down in Corbyn Burns. So that's five guys. I guess. I forgot. They actually do have five guys. If those guys can stay healthy. But yeah, I imagine that overall addressing the, you know, the lack of offensive production has to be a

priority this offseason. And I hate that we're already even bringing that up. And this is going to be a ridiculous off season in general. I can only hope from a personal perspective, from a professional perspective, and just as someone that loves the game of baseball, that this is not, this CBA negotiation, this offseason does not become as bad as many people are expecting it to be. I mean, perhaps that scary, like, ooh, we're going to lose the entire season kind of thing is just another negotiation tactic to put that fear out there amongst us baseball fans.

But it's working. I'm terrified. I won't lie. And also, you know, I do think that with how good Eduardo Rodriguez has been this year, kind of sucks now to think about perhaps losing 2027. So let's make sure that doesn't happen. That doesn't happen. Rolla Fottie's okay with the starting rotation on paper.

Speaking it out loud into existence, I definitely agree. But again, they do have Mitch Bratt. They do have Cole Drake. Both of those guys got some very important time this year. and that will be, you know, that will be their depth for next season. David Hageman, by the way, continues to look incredible in the minor league. So of all the guys, the Diamondbacks traded for this, that trade deadline last year, Hagamon might end up being the best one of the crop.

So pretty good, pretty good. But it still feels like they did a good job with adding to this team. And outside of that, things don't look really good for their pitching prospects right now currently in AAA Reno. Let's hope that gets better. Let's hope also that this Diamondbacks team finishes this season strong because they need to win every single game and it starts tomorrow against the Texas Rangers. We will be back tomorrow with a 12 p.m. show, a rare Friday 12 p.m. show. So make sure to join us for that. We're going to preview the series with the Texas Rangers as well as screw it. We're going to do a mailbag Friday. We're going to answer questions. We missed Monday. People want to

to ask questions and we want to answer questions. So we'll have a special mailbag Friday episode coming to you tomorrow. I hope you guys all enjoy that. Mailbag Friday, baby. Yeah. And on on every Friday, we go to the mailbag. Yeah. Do I have to come up with a new thing? Can I still say the Shark Week thing and all the other stuff? You might have to, you might have to switch it up. I might have to come with a whole new thing. Well, join us for that. And then when you do, maybe you'll get to see if I have a whole new spiel. But again, Appreciate you guys so much for joining us. Thank you guys for your time.

You can follow us on social media. I am at K-U-K-M-A-Mad with a K. I behave myself on social media. Damon is at Damon Dog with a DAWG. This guy still doesn't work, and we did add new batteries in it, so we're pretty sure the string inside is broken. We're going to have to fix that.

But bark, bark, and he does not behave himself online. He very much does not behave himself online. He thrives on not behaving himself online. So if you if you want some in Damon's word, come get some. Especially. Pause. Cool, cool, bro.

Oh, yeah, I'll fight cool bro. Yeah, he's ready to fight you, cool, bro. Again, love you guys. Thank you guys so much for your time. Of course, our show is at PHNX underscore Dbacks, but as always, all roads lead to at PHNX underscore sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Like I said, come back here tomorrow. We're going to talk about the Rangers.

We're going to talk about how the Diamondbacks are given away at Merrill Kelly Bobblehead that should have a little tiny, Cole Drake and a little tiny Mitch Bratt on it with a tiny David Hagamon on Merrill's shoulder. That's what I would have done for the bobblehead, but that's only because I'm a marketing genius. So we're going to talk about that, the series, and everything else, and answer your questions tomorrow. So make sure to come back. Until then, love you guys so much.

Thank you for joining us. Behave yourselves, unlike Damon online. And remember, kids, baseball is fun, but it is so much more fun when you finish the season strong and don't miss the playoffs for the third consecutive time.