PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - D-backs After Dark: Is It Over?

Episode Date: September 14, 2026

The Arizona Diamondbacks let a very winnable series slip away against the Texas Rangers, and now the pressure is officially mounting with the postseason race heating up. The Mayor of PHNX is SPIRALING, and Derek and Rok are here to break it all down. We discuss what went wrong against the Rangers, the brutal schedule waiting for the D-backs, and whether Arizona still has enough time to turn things around—or if the playoff dream is starting to slip away. Is it officially OVER for the D-backs?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.

You are now listening to PHNXD back after Dart. Rock, I'm going to need you to talk me off the ledge because I'm on the ledge. I'm on the ledge. I'm on the ledge and I'm ready to just jump off of this building. Don't jump, brother. It's not over yet. How is it not over? It feels like it's over after losing to the Rangers. I feel it feels like a rap. It reminded me of the 2020 B World Series and how, infuriated I was that we lost to them.

So there's that. Yeah, them deciding to lose two or three this weekend to the fucking Rangers is infuriating. It's like, come on, guys. Like the Padres refused to lose baseball games. By the way, thanks San Francisco Giants for fucking nothing. And I'm disgusted with them. They were playing their best baseball of the season. And then in the middle of the series, they decided to put Raphael

on the 60 day IL. Yeah. Fuck off. Yeah. You pieces of shit. Thanks for the, thanks for nothing. Thanks for nothing.

Yeah. It's just not ideal. You know, this was not a great weekend for Diamondbacks baseball. They tried mightily to come back and win that game today. But to see the team fuck up in the field the way they were today is so uncharacteristic. It's so frustrating. Especially because that one.

that Nolan botched. Nolan Aronado makes that 100, 101 times out of 100. And today, for whatever reason, he decided not to make that play. And it extended the inning. And then, Blakata.

So, Erod didn't look sharp, even though he struck out seven, like ERAD didn't do himself no favors. Yeah, it's scary, man. But hey, we're not jumping yet, brother. We're not jumping. Not to mention the fact

I have a bunch of nerds attacking me. in my mentions on social media because in game two we had the call by bill miller oh fuck that guy right where he said that brandon fought didn't touch first base on the double play liar they challenged it new york for some reason upheld the call because they couldn't determine even though i could very plainly see with my low quality pictures and images and pausing on my television screen i could see that a cleat was touching the base and the ball was in the when the in the glove um bro but it's in it's infuriating because in two thousand and 26 there's like satellites and cameras that are like so good they can be in air space and they

can see the wrinkles on my face and you're telling me they couldn't and there's so many wrinkles on the fucking bag i know i know man and like again i know that like I phrased it in a way where I said like basically it felt like this missed call by Bill Miller and the lack of backing it up by the challenge was it. Like it just felt like it was it, right? Like so many runs scored in that inning based on them not turning that double play. That game completely falls apart because of that inning. And we lose and we lose that game. lose tonight, we lose a series, right? So I basically tweeted out, it's hard to not think of that

miscall by Bill Miller being the end of the Diamondback series. And I even have old ass Barry Bloom in there fighting with me about that, who I love Barry Bloom so much. But like people so took it out of context. Like I wasn't saying that that missed call is the reason why the Diamondbacks don't make the playoffs. No. You'd be insane to ever focus just merely on one missed moment or one, you know, missed opportunity being the reason why a team doesn't make the playoffs. It's a collective, you know, grouping of things that persists throughout 162 game season. I just felt like that particular call by Bill Miller being missed.

And then the review not backing up that Brandon Fott made that double play. it's just it's just like i don't know in my soul rock being that moment where it's over and yeah i so i so don't want it to be like i so like i've had people honestly attack me for that tweet more than most tweets i've put out on social media i don't i'm not i'm not damon i don't want to fight with these people i i want to be i want to be liked by everybody so much but my point being is that like it was just my true feeling like it just felt like in that moment that call and then that call not getting reversed was it like was the end of it i'm not well yeah it's frustrating too because there was a play in sunday's game that was similar in review status and and texas challenged

it because why wouldn't they why wouldn't texas challenge yeah yeah yeah they lost yeah today when they should have lost yesterday, but I mean, you know, yeah, it's, I don't know, man. Like, we got a, it's not getting to get an easier. We got three with the Marlins, three with the Yankees. We got the Dodgers and the Padres. We don't got the Dodgers. This is not. The Padres got the Dodgers.

We got the Rockies. We got the Rockies. We don't have the Dodgers anymore. Goders are done. That's like, we beat the ass. But, I mean, the Rocky series is not a guaranteed win for us, sadly to say. Very true. You're not wrong about that.

We don't match up with them well. We don't match up with the Marlins. Well, I don't know. The Yankees, obviously the Yankees are playing, you know, for their own social or their own playoff,

you know, destiny. I mean, the only team that we're playing to close out the season that doesn't have any, like, chance of the postseason is the Rockies.

And why wouldn't they want to play spoiler? Like, we literally finish the team, the season out against teams that are like in the hunt, except for the Rockies. I really wanted the Giants to have a better showing against the Padres, but they very much did not. No, if they were to won one or took the series, it looks like they're going to get swept.

Yeah. I believe that game is still going on. It might be over right now. I don't know. I stopped looking. It is as we speak, but it definitely feels like it's going to end up going the Padres way for it. And I'm just like all of a sudden, this is all of a sudden the Padres are red hot. the giants can't beat nobody

eight in a row yeah the potter is fuck yeah yeah it doesn't make any sense man and I mean it really like I don't know I mean I don't fall to Diamondbacks I don't really think that they did much

to lose this I mean it was a difficult road ahead the Rangers are in their own fight for a playoff position we were in a playoff fight but man the Rangers are a game out of first place in the AL West. That's how shitty

that division is. I know right. I know. It's crazy. Not to mention the fact that the Padres just can't seem to lose. It's fucking crazy. No. Right? I don't know. I've never been more disheartened.

I've tried to stay positive throughout the majority of the season. But after, you know, this weekend, it's hard. It's hard to stay positive. It's hard to imagine this team making the playoffs. There's a few ways they could get in. And quite frankly, Rock, I don't even want to fucking address those ways. I don't know. Like, I feel like I'm just going to do harm by bringing

up the fact that there are certain teams that could fall out of the race potentially based on how they're performing lately. Or I could say that the certain teams from the East Coast might have a much more difficult road ahead still than we do. So you never know what could happen. There's still, what, 12 games left in the season. So there is enough time for the Diamondbacks to somehow find their way in the postseason. I feel like honestly, they're going to have to win each and every one of these series. Not flat out sweep them because, I mean, listen, I'm not going to be crazy and say they're going to rattle out 12 in a row. But they literally need to win all four of these remaining series coming up.

They have no choice. The Marlins, the Yankees, the Rockies, and then the most important series of the year. Against squadres. Yeah. And it's like if they don't, it's going to be like last year where I'm going to be sitting there on day one of the wild car playoffs watching every other team except mine in the fucking playoffs. And the other part about it is too, they don't make the playoffs.

I know what also happens next season. Dad's gone. Don't. Don't even. Don't even start talking to me. Yeah, no, 100%. If this team doesn't be. make the playoffs. And I don't even know if that is necessarily enough to extend Tori Lavolo,

right? Like it almost feels like it, they not only need to make a, make a playoff run, but they need to actually like perhaps make it out of the wild card round. Yeah, I feel like, if they get in and they lose in the wild card round, I think he probably still gets fired. If they get in when the wild card get to the DS, yeah, you bring them back, whether it's a one-year extension, two-year extension. It's not a matter of being fired, right? His contract is up. Well, I mean, yeah. It's a matter like just simply not bringing it back after his contract.

It's the wrong word, but I mean, yeah. Yeah, I mean, they're going to have to do so, they're going to have to show improve. And I'm going to miss the Sunday dinner so much. Oh, man. It's so, it's so like, this team has glimpses of greatness. Like Friday night, J. Mark, Immaculate, ending. Immaculate?

Just filthy stuff. It really felt like they were going to dominate the Rangers after that game one. Oh, right? When the way they, the way that game went. Yeah, and then yesterday it was just no. And then today, damn, I thought they were going to, I thought, I thought they were going to pull off the fuck. I thought they were going to walk them off. I really thought they were going to pull a walk off today.

And no, they got right there. They got within a run with guys on. The deficit today was just too big. Seven runs is just too much to overcome. You can't expect the offense to do more. Yeah, Erod, yeah, Erod gave up, what, five earned, I think, five or six earned. Oh, which is, I mean, for him. Just so uncommon, right?

It is very uncommon. On a day where they needed Erod the most, he goes out, I don't think he gave up five, he gave up three earned runs. Was it three? Yeah, he only gave up, but he gave up six runs total. That's what it was. It was six months total, but three were earned because three were earned, right? And he still only goes out and gives five and a third, right?

Yeah, and I mean, him going to go on five and a third, he had been going a little bit deeper in the games of past few outings for us. So that's, yeah, it's concerning, man. Like, they just, I don't know, they just were not executing, like the tiny things, the fundamental things, like the fielding. Like, watching that replay of Nolan Aronado, I don't know what the hell he was doing. Yeah, I know. A platinum glyphine basement doesn't do that. It just doesn't do that. doesn't happen it's like of all things you just don't think that are not those

defense is going to be the thing that fails you in such a big moment in such a big game and I mean the crazy part is like when it happened like the way he reacted you could tell he was like what the fuck because he didn't there was like no like the ball like kicked away he just stood there like oh what the hell just happened like because that's very uncharacteristic for him he's not that doesn't happen in all our Nolan Aronado. It's just, it's just hard.

It's hard, man. It's hard not to look at the road ahead. It's hard not to look at everything that's happened and think that this is it. But let's hope it's not. Let's hope it's not. Because I feel, I feel drastic, you who usually has very little hope in anything,

still have hope, which is shocking to me. It, trust me, It's one of those things where I'm like, I just feel like maybe I'm setting myself up for disappointment. You give me life, though. I need that. You know what, though?

This has literally been the last two seasons. This is how it's felt the last like two weeks of the year where we're like, are we going to get in? Well, we got to, we got to do our part and then hope their other teams do theirs. And we're literally back in that same spot again. We have to do our part. And we have to hope other teams lose. Yeah. And it's not happening.

Yeah, the Padres just don't lose a fucking baseball game. It makes me sick. It makes me sick. It's gross. But if you have hope still, follow him on social media. He's at Rock Knowledge. That's right.

Our own knowledge. If you've given up completely, you can follow me on social media. A cap underscore caveman with a K. That's right. Our show is at PHNX underscore D-Backs, but as always, all roads lead to at PHNX underscore sports

on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, Rock, I am not well, but at least my football team won. Nobody cares about that. I know. Don't bring that bad juju in here. We'll see you guys next week. I remember kids, baseball is fun, but it's so much more fun when your fantasy football team wins football games, not baseball games. And oh my God, when you still have hope, the way that Rock still has hope.