PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - D-backs Make BIG Coaching Change, Will Not Bring Back Brian Kaplan in 2027

Episode Date: October 7, 2026

The Arizona Diamondbacks just made a surprising change to a coaching staff that wasn't necessarily failing in 2026. The pitching improved, the bullpen became one of the team's biggest strengths, and young arms emerged, yet the D-backs have decided they will not bring back pitching coach Brian Kaplan next season.  Plus, we recap the latest NLDS action and look at what’s happening around the MLB postseason. And while the big-league season is over for us, the D-backs’ future is already playing in the Arizona Fall League. We check in on the Salt River Rafters and the Arizona prospects to watch, including Demetrio Crisantes, and Joe Ariola, as they get valuable reps against some of baseball’s best young talent.0:00 - Intro1:30 - D-backs Make Pitching Coach Change21:40 - Now what?48:00 - Arizona Fall LeagueBECOME A DIEHARD: gophnx.com/joinJOIN THE SUPPORTERS CLUB ➡️ https://tinyurl.com/yc6km2r4An ALLCITY Network ProductionSUBSCRIBE to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/phnx_youtubeALL THINGS PHNX: http://linktr.ee/phnxsportsMERCH https://store.allcitynetwork.com/coll...ALLCITY 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/ACE HVAC: If you are having an AC, Plumbing or electrical issue, call our friends over at ACE: [phone] , tell them PHNX sent you, they’ll take great care of you!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/?ut...Gametime: 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.

The Arizona Diamondbacks make a surprising change, making a new pitching coach. Bringing a new pitching coach here is Brian Kaplan will not return in 2027. But was pitching really the problem for this team? We are talking about it right now. Don't you go anywhere. Presented by our friends at Circle K. It is your mayor of the H&X. Occasionally known as Derek Montya.

Welcome in Friends. Great to see you here. Glad to have you here. I'm not alone. I got my guy Shane on the ones and twos today. Bark, part to you, Shane. I don't love having this U of A. or behind me, but there's a few things I can do about some of this stuff that goes on around here.

Welcome in to the PH-Nex Diamondbacks podcast. Of course, this show is brought to you by our friends over at GameTime. Go download that app right now, create an account, and use our code of PHNX to get $20 off your first purchase. Terms do apply. And of course, maybe you make out to some postseason games if you're not here in the Valley. And if you are here in the Valley, perhaps you make it out to some Arizona Fall League games, which don't require the discount from game time because those tickets are already $14 a piece as far as I ever remember there.

But Shane's coming in to help me out. Thank you. Thank you, Shane. Thank you. Oh, God, that's so much better. That's that's so much better. Those guys aren't even here today. I don't want to put up with those guys having that behind me today.

Anyway, welcome in to all of you guys. Flea Ball, great to see you. We got big news, of course, that broke yesterday. And that was, according to a source from Steve Gilbert over at MLB.com. the Arizona Diamondbacks are moving on from Brian Kaplan, who will not return for the 2027 season. Kaplan's contract did expire after the 2026 season, and the organization has decided not to bring him back. Again, the move was first reported by our guy Steve Gilbert. A Kaplan spent two seasons with the debacks after being hired to replace Brent Strom.

He had an interesting path to coming here. Kaplan wasn't your typical pitching coach that had a history of, you know, working as that profession at a major league level. Before Arizona, Kaplan spent three seasons with the Phillies as their assistant pitching coach and the director of pitching. And then his reputation coming in was heavily centered around pitching, develop, development, individual plans for pitchers. And, you know, a lot was about the body health and about the players' health being a definite, you know, a definite factor. In fact, part of his expertise based on what he is a career path involved. prior to becoming that assistant pitching coach and director of pitching for the Phillies, which is odd because the Diamondbacks experienced a ton of injuries in his first season here as pitching coach.

So that became part of what a lot of people started to inexplicably blame Kaplan for. The amount of injuries, it was just so odd for this team to have so many pitching specific injuries when the coach that they hired specifically was an expert in health when it came to pitching and players, you know, health. It was just wild. It was wild. But overall here, the results got much better in 2026. Now, we did credit, and I'll say this, honestly, we did credit Jeremy Blyche coming in from the Pittsburgh Pirates as a, you know, their pitching, head of their pitching development. coming here as a assistant GM and now also having that background

in developing so many good pitchers over there in Pittsburgh. It felt like there was a change in the overall philosophy this season. It felt like the Diamondbacks pitchers, both relievers and starters, were pitching more to contact versus trying to put up impressive power numbers, even though Michael Soroka did put up some amazing numbers in his first couple of starts. But that was it.

It was, I think this season, It was more about how good everybody kind of was. It was about how Eduardo Rodriguez turned things around and had his best season in an Arizona Diamondback uniform. It's how Michael Soroka comes in as kind of this reclamation project who has experienced every injury a pitcher could possibly experienced, including the glute injury that he experienced this year. And signed for $7.5 million ended up being one of the best pitchers on this team.

in the National League, quite frankly. Soroka was outstanding. He just missed that time due to that injury. Then you have the bullpen. And what happened this year with the Diamondbacks bullpen? We can't even explain it. I felt like we were constantly waiting for it to kind of regress to the means and be bad again. I know we had a couple of guys that were overused like Taylor Clark and Kevin Ginkle that did have kind of a, you know,

they kind of got gassed out there at the end. But for the most part, this bullpen was outstanding. So overall, Shane, got a question? I'm going to start doing that when I want to talk. What exactly makes somebody good at preventing injuries as a pitching coach? Oh, God. I mean, yeah, no, I think it's just more about you understanding how the arm works. Where arm works.

No, I'm saying more of like, he was like a biometrics kind of guy. So like it went into like almost like analytical stuff for the body, right? I think it had to do a lot with knowing, you know, again, there's things like this. You know, it's a, I don't know, I want a well-known thing, but it's something that's discussed in major league baseball that relievers don't usually go over 70 innings pitched, right? It's things like that that we as fans might sit there and say 70 innings isn't that much. Look at how many innings starters put on their arm throughout a season. And you'd be right about that, right? But it's, again, it's the science and the medicine, I guess the medical science, you could say.

combine those two in the one thing, the medical science behind, you know, athletes and knowing exactly how much you can push an athlete before not only are you risking injury with that person, but how much you are risking them, again, not being able to perform and make it through the entire season. Then you have the fact that if you do have guys that get overused in the way that Clark and Ginkle got overused there close to the end, what are you supposed to do, just not pitch him at all? again, with pitching, you can't do that because then they're not warmed up, then they're not ready to go, they're not still stretched out, they're not still like viable, you know, relievers that you can use at some point if you need them. But again, I think the idea here is that Kaplan overall struggled with a lot of things. I think the pitching staff was underperformed in 2025 and there was a lot of disappointment specifically with bringing him in. And again, the sentiment was that people did want to move on from him. now the Diamondbacks pitching staff this year was improved.

I mean, we still experienced injuries. We had setbacks with guys that had those bigger injuries and those Tommy John surgeries. We also had, you know, the loss of AJ Puck for the entire season. I don't think any of the medical stuff is on the pitching coach, honestly. And that's to go back to answer Shane's question. I don't think any of this is on the pitching coach. But because of the anomaly and how many, you know, pitchers we had that we lost to Tommy John surgery or various seasons, and ending injuries, it just got to the point

where in 2025 people couldn't help but start blaming. Tori for the injuries, the pitching coach for the injuries, the medical staff for the injuries, all of that. This season, it was much better. And in general, the results under Kaplan might have been mixed, but 2026 was arguably a much better season than 2025. The Diamondbacks posted a 4.49 ERA in 25,

a 4.18 ERA in 26. and the debacks overall, I mean, again, with the injuries that they had and everything that they experienced, they still ranked 22nd in MLB over those two years. The bullpen, of course, was a bright spot this year. Like I said, they finished fourth in MLB in win probability added. The Diamondbacks, that's how good the bullpen was. That's why the Diamondbacks were the comeback kids this year. The Diamondbacks bullpen finished fourth in Major League Baseball in win probability added. And that's guys like Brandon Garcia, Juan Morillo, obviously J-Mart coming back. They all emerged not only as important pieces at the end of the season, but very, very valuable pieces that will be here next year and beyond. Right.

But four Diamondbacks relievers made at least 57 appearances or more. And those guys had under three ERAs. So the bullpen was fine. And the starters, you know, you probably have a mixed result there of feelings. You have Erod and Soroka that were outstanding. You have Merrill Kelly and Zach Allen that had some of the worst years of their careers at a time when we needed them to be good the most.

But again, the real positives during Kaplan's tenure is the way that Erods bounced back, the way that Brandon fought continued to develop and became the pitcher that he developed. And the organization got actual meaningful innings from young arms when they needed it. Guys like Mitch Bratt, you know, came up. Cole Drake, these guys are guys that, you know,

that there wasn't an intention. for these guys that these guys would see major league playing time this year, but they did. So I don't know. I mean, I again don't know how much of the injuries disrupting the staff and the starting pitching being inconsistent. I don't know how much of that responsibility falls on Kaplan. But I also understand that, you know, you feel at times like this team cannot get the three things they need running on all cylinders all at the same time.

Offense still felt like it was far more to blame this season for so much of the Diamondback struggles, especially considering how often they were down, but they were also down because the pitchers gave up early runs. So I don't know. I mean, overall, I think that some change was needed with this team. And I know many people felt that that change needed to be Tori Lovela. I know that was a weird way to say it. Toy Loblo.

I'm having problems with words and reading today. You are. I apologize to everybody. Watch this, ready? Yeah. I'm going to do something. Ready? I'm ready.

Thank you. You've just been lobotomized. I feel good now. I feel ready. I feel like I can actually read and talk now. But the change obviously was more than that. I mean, some people felt like Mike Hazen needed to be replaced. But Tori is staying, and Mike and Tori's contracts now align for two more.

years. I wouldn't be surprised to see a pitching coach brought in that is signed on a two-year deal and takes over here to maybe have a different approach. Because, I mean, I don't know if this is more about Brian Kaplan specifically or more about the Diamondbacks looking for a completely different approach to developing and managing its pitching staff. One thing we know for sure is this team is terrible, terrible historically at developing pitchers. And right now, they have some pretty good arms. And David Hagamon, Cole Drake, Mitch Bratt,

those guys could be the future of the starting rotation, but that development is still needed. And again, they can't be rushing their development due to the panic of not having enough starting pitching arms at a major league level. I do think it was good that those guys got, you know, starting pitching experience this year.

But I also feel like in one of the most critical games of the season, we had Jose Cabrera in there eating, innings up in a bullpen game in what could only be described as a complete disaster for this team, right? That decision and that whole situation also doesn't fall on Brian Kaplan, which again makes his you know, makes his firing or I guess non-renewal. Again, this is not just like Steve Berthume and just like it would have been with Tori. This isn't a firing. This is the end of a contract where they are not bringing back that individual. But whoever replaces Kaplan, and will become the fifth different pitching coach

during Lavello's tenure. So there comes a point where you do have to ask, is it the pitching coach's fault constantly? I don't know. But again, if you're the debacks, the goal can't simply be to find another pitching coach. You need to figure out why the organization has so much difficulty, getting consistent production from its pitching staff,

and developing the homegrown guys that are our prospects. Okay, Derek. At some point, do we just look at this? non-rationaly. Oh, absolutely. I love looking at things unrationally. Again, take a shot.

I am here. Much like the Mariners, there is nothing really to explain other than the weather for the hitting woes. The weather doesn't make somebody retire from baseball who was once an all-star candidate.

Sorry, Colton Long. But things like that happen. And it's just been too long, Derek. there's something, you know, either parent normal or some type of curse or hex, if you will. That is very true. Going on there. Damon has the whole thing about a burial ground underneath Chase Field. Yeah, I mean, there's, Phoenix is built on a burial ground.

I know. I know. There's a war. It's a lot about our sports teams. There's a war that historians do not know about, apparently. Anyway, at some point, we just have to look at it like that. And so what's the fix? Yeah.

Chad? Holy water? I need something. It's probably not bringing in a new pitching coach, unless he's a religious individual. But there's the 27 implications here that there's a bunch of pitchers that are going to be potentially leaving. Soroka, Ginkle, Taylor Clark, Zach Gallen, they are all among guys with the free agent decisions ahead of them. but again, I do have to ask the question, why make this move after the pitching staff actually improved in 2026? Perhaps the improvements weren't enough.

Or perhaps Brian Kaplan was just seen as being ineffective. I mean, you got Tori's assessment of him, plus you are bringing in Jeremy Blyche, who is very, once again, very in tune to pitching. So there's a good chance that perhaps they just felt like a different direction was needed. And now is the time to do so, considering Kaplan is no longer under contract, right? but I don't really blame Kaplan for a lot of the inconsistencies with this team. I do think that Brian Kaplan hasn't necessarily been the guy that goes out there and can get a pitcher like fired up. But I do feel like at times when he goes out there to do a mound visit, we have seen positive results.

And, you know, I feel like his managing overall as a pitching coach has been fine. I don't really even feel like there were many complaints from even the most active members of the Diamondbacks fan community on social media about Kaplan this year. I felt like far more of the blame went towards Mike Hazen and Tori Lobello than it did at Kaplan. And that was a change from 2025 where I did see a lot of people that were very quickly upset with Kaplan and wanted to do something else, especially considering the way that the pitching went. Debra asks if they're cutting costs.

I don't think it has anything to do with that. I think, again, changes needed for this team, Deborah, in some way. And if you're not going to change Tori, then some of the coaches might need to be changed. I don't know if that involves Joe Mather. I still think even the idea of Joe Mather being replaced might be a knee-jerk reaction, considering what he has done with this offense over his entire tenure here. However, you know, like I said earlier, the offense is far more to blame for the way the 2026 went than the pitching staff. So, I mean, I wouldn't even be surprised to see some changes there, right?

But I do think overall what this is is that, you know, they feel like they need to bring in a new pitching coach to do something differently. That's what the desired result is. Now, they could still promote internally if they want to do that. They have assistant pitching coach Owen Doe, who I don't know if he's being retained or whatever, but he could be an eligible replacement. you also have bullpen coach, beef Wellington, Sopeda, and I don't hate the idea of him getting a chance either. However, I do have a better idea. I do have a, that might be crazy, right?

Shane, see if you're with me on this one. After what he did with Erod in the WBC, we convinced Salvador Perez to see if he wants to retire, wants to hang it up, come over here, because he's not even catching anymore. He's like the Royals DH now. Just come over here, hang it up, and be our new pitching go.

and get what you got out of Erod out of everybody on the staff. Or come D.H in a situation where you probably shouldn't be DHing. We love that here. Okay, okay, okay. Now I love that. Now we're solving two problems at once. Can we have a pitching coach that's also our D.H? Oh, man.

Player managers. I love this. We are, see, there we go. There's the cost cutting that we were talking about, Deborah. We're going to solve two problems by hiring one man. And yes, we'll overpay him, but he deserves it for taking on both of those roles. So I don't know, but overall, again, I think that it is needed. I think change is needed.

I don't know if necessarily the pitching staff is where I would have started. However, you know, again, we'll see who the Diamondbacks bring in here. And of course, we'll be covering that whenever that happens. So make sure to keep it locked right here to PHNX at all times. We're going to take a quick break on the other side of this break. We're going to talk about the excitement of what the offseason holds next for the Arizona Diamondback. Spoiler alert. Nothing because we're going into a lock.

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So what's next for the Arizona Diamondbacks? A lockout. That's what's next. We got a schedule of things. And at least if the lockout gets in our way, we know that's going to happen. But obviously right now what's happening is all of the exit meetings are currently occurring. If they have not already occurred or will be occurring this week, we have, you know, Tori getting the thoughts from a lot of the players.

I'm sure that will potentially impact decisions being made with the coaching staff and also exit meetings with the coaching staff as well. Those guys are all going to be under kind of a scrutiny. you know, end of season situation with Tori perhaps making some changes to his staff. Tori being retained and having that, at least that contract extension and not needing to search for a new manager does make the offseason process much easier for the Diamondbacks. Again, that's probably why this felt like the move to make regardless of how the season ended. But Tori being here does expedite their process when it comes to what's next for this team

during the off season, right? Front office has some evaluation to do. Again, that evaluation plays into the decisions to bring back members of the coaching staff or members of the roster, right? Free agency needs to be addressed and the evaluation does take into consideration those guys that are now free agents if there is one, if a discussion wants to be had to bring them back. I mean, Kevin Ginkle, Taylor Clark, there's several guys there. Michael Soroka expressed interests and wanting to return to the Diamondbacks, and he could be definitely a valuable addition to this starting rotation that could make the Diamondbacks six men strong

and, you know, again, deeper than we were at any point last year, pretty much. But we know what happens when we go into a season with six starting pitchers, so we won't even get into that. But again, free agency is important because there is a very limited window from the time that the season ends until the CBA expires, where teams can actually still pursue free agents. Now, with baseball, it's usually a dreadfully slow offseason when it comes to the pursuit of free agents.

You'll have one or two big names drop, and then that kind of can help dictate how the market is going to go, but a lot of those signings don't come until the end of January, middle January. Well, we don't know when we're going to get back to baseball once that CBA expires in December. So teams like the Diamondbacks are, they do have an incentive here to get those free agent deals done as quickly as possible. I also wonder how grandfathering some of those deals in the way that the Dodgers seem to try to do so so much last offseason with Kyle Tucker and Edwin Diaz,

I wonder how much the new CBA is going to be impacted by that overall. it still feels like if nothing else, even if it's a soft cap, that we're going to get some sort of change to the way that the structure is for baseball. So I do think that if there is going to be any kind of cap at all, there's also going to have to be a salary floor implemented in baseball with how little some teams spent. That's just a fact. And by implementing that floor,

not only is it going to completely change baseball and completely change how some of these star players are made available after their, you know, initial rookie contract expires with whatever team, you know, they are on. But it's going to change how the Diamondbacks approach free agency, despite what Ken Kendrick said about spending less, there's a good chance that, as we talked about, when we discussed his comments, that the salary floor could change everything that he's saying. Right now, the proposed salary floor would put the Diamondbacks at the very bottom of it, meaning that they could spend some more money a little bit more freely without being penalized in the same way that

they would have last year for going into the luxury tax apron tier crap that they have set up now that the Dodgers figure out a way to circumvent every single year. But again, that free agency is one of those things that because of the CBA expiring, we could see that free agency market move really fast here in November once the season ends after the World Series. It could be fun. Could be exciting. Could be a disaster. I don't know.

But beyond that, we have arbitration. Yeah, it's arbitration time. Diamondbacks have four guys, four guys that are going to be under arbitration or facing arbitration going through their final, at least Lars Neubar going through it for his final time. And Lars Neubar is one of the four players of Diamondbacks have. Those four players are Lars Neubar,

Gabriel Moreno, Nelson and Pavin Smith. Look, I'm not going to do this. Damon's not here. We all have to do this with Pave and Smith, you guys. But it will be interesting because as it stands, the other three players there very much seem like guys that the Diamondbacks are going to absolutely tender contracts to

and probably most likely will just settle without needing to go to a hearing and, you know, have it be amicably. Lars Neupar is projected for his salary to go up to about 6.4 million, somewhere between 6.1 and 7 million. Gabriel Moreno is expected to have a huge bump, and let's be honest, he deserves it. His salary is most likely going to double, going from roughly about 3 million right now to maybe 3.9 to 4.

excuse me, from 3.9 to like 5.8, maybe even into six. And again, when you win the National League batting title, you're probably going to win that arbitration case should it go that far. I mean, there are some staggering stats when it comes to the Diamondbacks record with Gabriel Moreno in the lineup versus without this season. And again, if the if the Diamondbacks don't want to offer Gabby what he wants, I think they're just going to lose anyway and whatever. I mean, it doesn't need a hearing because you're going to lose.

Whatever, if Gabby says he wants $7 million, pay him $7 million. I literally don't care. He deserves every penny of it. In fact, sometimes we talk entirely too much about how, like, contracts sometimes are paid to guys as one Vladimir Guerrero Jr. said in regards to his Blue Jays contract.

sometimes that contract is paid for what you've done in the past. And with Gabriel Moreno, I would definitely say that is the case, considering how good his season was last year. Pay that man. Pay that man his money. We got Dotson spamming the chat, and I see that Dotson is, in fact, has to be Roger Bession. So Roger, chill out.

We know, yeah, we got it. But anyway, speaking of pitching, we got Ryan Nelson, who again, Ryan Nelson had the injury this year. but he still made 15 starts. He still threw 87 and a third innings pitched. The missed time does limit, you know, some of Nelson's case for, for, you know, obviously an increase in his salary,

but he should still get somewhere in the range of an extra million dollars. And again, with the importance that he is going to have to this team going forward, I also think Ryan Nelson deserves it, and I think he'll be tender to contract, and the case should absolutely be settled without needing. to go to hearing. Last but not least, though, there's Pave and Pave and Smith obviously struggled to stay on the field. He did not have, he hasn't had a good career with the Diamondbacks. He didn't have a good season. He was designated for assignment. He was cleared waivers,

came back to the team, started raking in Reno and then came up here. And as I will say and have said and we'll defend Pavin. He was not part of the offensive struggles for this team. team. I mean, he had a couple of, I guess, not great, you know, defensive miscues. He also had some really good defensive plays that he made over there at first base. But overall, I don't really blame Payvin for, you know, the team's offensive struggles. And in fact, like I said, I think he was one of the better offensive players. But again, Damon would actually murder me if I sat here and said that Pave and Smith should be tender to contract. So what I will say is he certainly should not be.

He was already DFAed by this team. I do think that he did a great job, in my opinion, of proving his worth and showing that he can still play at a major league level. I just don't know if that should be for the Arizona Diamondbacks anymore going forward. And I'm not saying that in any kind of way of disrespect. I'm just saying I feel like internally, the team after designating him for assignment probably feels a similar way that they've given him enough chances. And at this point, it feels like, you know, unfortunately, his time with this team is done.

Right. But I wouldn't be surprised considering how well he's played, how well he played in Reno and how well he played there down the stretch, that he goes somewhere else. and absolutely rakes the way that rake McCarthy has for Colorado and makes us all look foolish. But again, at this point, probably a non-tender. And again, the Diamondback should stay away from that terrible, terrible process of arbitration where you don't even, as Archie told us, you don't even go to a real courtroom.

There's no judge. It's at a ballroom at a hotel in downtown Phoenix. And we just have to sit here at tables hastily set up next to each other while an arbitrator listens to me, tell that person how much you suck the last year so that I can pay you less money than you want. There are so many things in sports that are awful, but arbitration might by far be the worst. So, but hey, it is what it is. All right. Well, we're going to take a quick break.

And on the other side of this break, we have playoffs to talk about, once again, playoffs that we don't get to be involved in. We get to be Squidward in the event looking out and watching everybody else have fun. But we're going to do that here in a moment. Don't you go anywhere? You're watching the PHNX Diamond Duck Show. Well, if you've ever, if you're ever involved in an accident or serious injury, you must do your research because the lawyer you hire does matter. That's why you should contact the husband and wife law team first.

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and tell you the strengths and weaknesses of your claim so that you can make informed decisions. You've had a serious injury called the husband and wife flaw team first at 602-783-841 or visit their website at the link in our show notes and tell them PHNX sent you. And of course, I've been talking about how much I love Chestnut Sports Club, and that's for good reason. Chestnut Sports Club is a light beer that actually has flavor. And yes, I am one of those IPA snobs. I am one of those guys that does not drink light beer because they don't have enough flavor for me.

At least that was me until I tried Chestnut Sports Club. It is a light citrus logger and it's an Arizona-born logger that people are calling the playable beer for multiple reasons. Not only does it play well out when you're hitting 18 holes on the links or, of course, doing any other kind of activity, but it's a great, beer for barbecues and anytime, especially when you're looking for something light. It's only 90 calories. It's light enough to enjoy during the game without weighing you down. And it is brewed with real lemon zest. It's crisp. It's refreshing. And it actually has flavor. Real flavor. I promise you. I am in love with Chestnut Sports Club. And for good reason, this is one of those beers and you will experience the it's actually good moment when you try it.

It is available all around the valley. You can pick it up at fries, total wine, AJ's, fine food, and more, or you can get it on tap. It's spots like cold beers and cheeseburgers, postinos, grass clippings, and of course all sorts of wonderful locations around the valley. So next time you're out at the store or out on the town, grab a chestnut sports club, the great tasting light beer you've been looking for. Look for that beautiful green can and welcome to the club. Gilbert in the chat says Archie Bradley could be Bert's replacement in the booth as a play-by-play

commentator. Absolutely not. No, he can't. I can guarantee you that Archie Bradley could not be the play-by-play guy. I will say that that Twitter user Logan, his idea of putting Chris Gersiola and Archie Bradley together as the new booth, that sounds electric. That sounds exciting. If you want something different, if you wanted a younger vibe in the booth, that's going to bring it 100%. However, I caution you, Archie is going to DJ the whole time during every single game.

He's going to be shirtless. He's going to have headphones on. And he's going to just be playing some EDM while Chris Geregiola has to deal with that trying to do play-by-play. So I don't know if that pairing is going to necessarily work out. Also, again, he's currently lost in Abiza or somewhere. He's supposed to be here for the Phoenix Raceway Freeway Insurance 500. And he's definitely not going to make it back in time for that. But anyway, we got postseason baseball happening.

And yesterday, once again, just. reminded me that if the American League is this land of whimsy and fun and excitement every postseason where anything can happen and rainbows really do lead to pots of gold and unicorns are real, then the National League is a harsh reminder of how terrible life truly is in the reality that is our modern world in 2026. All the bad things happen. Bad guys win. they continue to win. And right when you think things are going well, life's there to remind you that the Dodgers are up to one on the Braves

and the Padres are still alive. Yes, the Dodgers took a two-to-one series lead with a strong pitching performance by Yamamoto, who allowed one run on four hits over seven innings and struck out 10. The Braves had some few opportunities against him, but they could not really get that big hit. They had a basis-loaded situation in the first. fifth where they got their one run in, but that one run is the only one that they would score

in the entire game. The Dodgers, I literally turned on the game and watched the Dodgers just start scoring. Zero, zero, and I put on the game, and it's Kiki Hernandez hitting a two-run home run, and then Freddie Freeman, who had got robbed, I believe, earlier in the game, or was, yeah, earlier in this game, he followed that up with a solo home run. So it was Freddie Freeman's first post-season home run. in Atlanta since leaving the Braves, and I think it might have been his first home run

in like 70 games or something. I don't know. He hasn't been playing great, but Atlanta went 0 for 6 with runners in the scoring position. They also struck out 12 times total, and now they have a chance to, even the series before leaving Atlanta and going back to L.A.

So meanwhile, the Padres, they fend off elimination, and they cut Milwaukee's series lead to two to one. Jake Croninworth broke up a two-two tie with a solo home run in the fifth inning. And then the Padres would add another run in the sixth on a defensive error that allowed Zander Bogartes to score. Meanwhile, William Contreras, that's for you, Bert, had a big night for Milwaukee. He went three for four with a home run.

He also had a huge walk late to put the tying run on. But then I think this was Christian Yelich in the ninth, just first pitch, right? just first pitch out done i i couldn't believe it like the brewers really had something cooking there late and then uh it just suddenly went nowhere with michael king on the mound who was only out there because mason miller actually was unavailable due to being on paternity leave so michael king had to go out and be the hero that uh recorded the final six outs and helped the san diego padres win and i really hate that i really hate that when i saw mason miller was unavailable due to being on paternity leave. I was like, you

wringless bums are cooked. And of course, of course, they have Michael King come out of nowhere and give one of the best performances out of the bullpen of a starter. But anyway, the Brewers still lead the series two to one, but the Padres get game four at home here on Wednesday. And then

Padres win would force a decisive game five there in Milwaukee. Yeah. Port Sport says, yeah, that was insane. Good hit by Yelich, but straight to Bogart's. And And, ugh, sucked. But today could be historic, according to the one and only Sarah Lang's.

Here's what she had to say about the four games that are being played today. Today, here is the first time since 1996 where we could have all four division series games ended on the same day. And that was on October 5th, 1996. this could be on October 7, 2006, where today essentially the White Sox, the Dodgers, the Brewers, and the Rays could all advance. And again, let's take a look here at our postseason bracket, because like I said earlier, this once again is the reminder of how much fun the American League continues to be. Last year it was like this, this year it's like this.

And Shane, the thing I hate about it is no matter how much fun the postseason can be any year, I feel like once the Dodgers win it, they just like, it's like all, everything that happened just is whatever. It's like just all the fun's dead. It's just dead. And we don't remember it. We don't even think about that postseason anymore

because the Dodgers went on to win it and ruined everything. Yeah. I mean, you guys were like the white socks last year almost. Like the Mariners were like the team, everybody was rude. But also the Js were fun. The Jays were fun too. That was a win-win matchup for America.

It really was. Toronto. Yeah, I mean, Matt Olson save us. Like, yeah, we need it. Somebody. We just need something. You know, Matt Olson has 41 bombs. I hated to even say the fact that I would get so much more joy and I think it would be so much more fun to watch the Padres win it. Wow. Then the Dodgers. And I hate that those words came out of my mouth. What about the brew crew? That's great. No, brewers are obviously, brewers are who I'm rooting for there in that series. The point I'm making, though, is it's literally whoever faces the the Dodgers from now until the end of the world series. And once they get booted, if they can get booted, then we can have fun. Then we can just root for whatever and let's enjoy baseball.

But I feel like that's inevitably what's still going to happen after watching yesterday's game. I just, I hate that feeling that, you know, you watch the Dodgers win a close game and have some great pitching and you're just like, I don't really know how this team was going to be beat. I don't know. You know, their offense has not been very good.

Their bullpen has been unreliable, yet, you know, now they're locking games down and they're playing their best baseball when they know they need to, which is, again, probably the benefit to them

having been here so many times is they know how to lock in when that time is right, especially Kike Hernandez. But, man, I just, I get this feeling of dread watching them, come over, come back and take that two one series lead

against the Braves, that it's like, oh shit, here we go again, you know. But let's hope that doesn't happen and let's hope that we can avoid that terrible, inevitable reality of the Dodgers once again being World Series champions.

Let's take a quick break. And on the other side of this break, we have some local fun to be had. Arizona Fall League is in full swing. I'm going to give you all your updates and why you should be out there watching these guys and being fall guys like the rest of us. Don't you go anywhere.

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Celebrate the big wins and enjoy everything Heela River Resorts and Casinos has to offer. Heela Riversorts and Casinos all the ways you do you. Visit play atheela.com for more details. Flea ball here in the chat has a good question before we move on to Arizona Fall League talk. He says, don't the guardians have the worst logo, worst name, worst uniform in all of MLB? It feels like it's not even close. you know it's that's that's such a weird team theme to me because i do very much like things that are like i like i like names and themes that are based locally on the city that the team is in right

and in some cases other people that don't live in that city might not really get it and i think that the guardians is that so the guardians if you may not know the the tale of where this name came from, not only does it have a similar ending to it than the franchise's historic name of being the Indians, but it also has the guardians are giant-like statues that are on a bridge, a prominent bridge there in the Cleveland area. And again, it's one of those like things locals know about

and things people know about it. I don't know if it's called Guardian Bridge, but the statues themselves, by whoever designed them, named Guardians. So the name comes from that. The look comes from that. They have like a kind of a weird art deco kind of thing going on. Again, to go with the everything that they have going on with that. And like first, when you talk to Cleveland fans, they love it. I was surprised considering that I kind of feel a similar sentiment. I just didn't think that it was that exciting of a name. But it was also like a choice. It was different. You know, I do like different names as well.

That's why I wasn't trying to judge it too harshly at first, but I'm kind of with you. I'm not in love with their uniforms, not in love with a lot of stuff they're doing. And it also sucks that their, you know, previous identity is one, such a big part of baseball's history, including some really funny movies that I love, but also just such a terribly racist thing that I think we all felt was kind of vaguely racist since even like the late 80s. like their old logo was something that has been joked about for a long time as being just overtly kind of, you know, racist and terrible. So I don't know. But I'm with you there a little bit on the new stuff. But hey, if their fans love it and they get it because it's their local thing,

then I'm all for it. I'm all for it. But Ernesto says Guardian should have leaned a little bit into the Art Deco style of the statues. They kind of did. But again, they didn't go full with it. So that's why like the G logo and stuff is so weird looking. It's like a building and it's like, I don't know. But yeah, you're right. They should have just gone more just overtly over the top with it. And I think it would have been maybe a little bit more fun and unique. I also think that now that the angels have new ownership,

they should absolutely go back to being the California Angels and stop getting big brood by the Los Angeles Dodgers. Now then and forever. But that's Major League Baseball stuff. We're here to talk about Arizona Falls. League, baby. It's fall guys time. It's time for us to become fall guys. And the Arizona Fall League, the 2026 season opened up on October 3rd. It runs through November 14th. And there are six teams if you are unaware made up of prospects from all 30 MLB teams. Our team is the Salt

River Rafters. That's who you root for. That's who you die for. You bleed teal and black, I think is what our primary colors are. But regardless, you bleed those colors. DeBack's AFL team is also joined by prospects from the Washington Nationals, Colorado Rockies, Minnesota Twins, and the New York Yankees. And the league is loaded this year. There are 15 of MLB Pipelines' top 100 prospects playing in the Arizona Fall League this year, including three on the Salt River Rafters, National pitcher, Harlan, Suswana. We got D-Backs infielder, Dimitrio Chrysantis, and then we got Yankees shortstop,

Dax, Kilby, which is an incredible. credible name. Dax Kilby? We talk about Lars Newbar being a Star Wars character. Dax Kilby is obviously from the Star Trek next generation. Dax Kilby was sent to kill Lars New York. Yeah, he was. He is an assassin from the future. The rafters are currently 3 and 1. They did have a loss to surprise, but they also beat surprise and on opening day, they beat Glendale

Desert Dogs and Peoria. They are again, they had an October 5th win over Peoria. 10 to 7. They followed that up with a 7 to 2 win over surprise on October 6. So that's where we sit right now. Demetrio Cresontes enters the AFL as Arizona's number one overall prospect and MLB pipelines number 74 overall prospect. He had a great, great season in AA Amarillo. And he reached AAA Reno here at just 22 years old. So very exciting prospect for the Diamondbacks organization on Peoria or against Peoria the other day on October 5th. He went three. for five with a double an RBI, a run scored, and a stolen base in that win. And again,

looks amazing. I think his batting average right now is 444. Not a lot of it bad. Small sample size, but still, four games. And again, as has been as advertised so far in this young Arizona fall league season. Shane, there's also a pitcher that I'm very excited about, but I feel like there's no way that I'm going to not mess up and say his name wrong, but I'm going to, I'm going to try really hard to say it as far away from what his last name sounds like I'm saying. And that is Joe Ariola, uh, who struck out 45.7% of the batters he faced across four levels this season. Uh, he is the, he has the highest strikeout rate in the minors. And he's part of the Arizona Diamondbacks organization.

And look, his name is spelled in a way where, I mean, I don't want to disrespect the man's name. So, Ariola is, uh, you're not disrespecting it. I, it's, it's, I just feel like I'm going to say the wrong thing. I mean, Arriola entered the, what if it's the, what if that's how you pronounce it? I, I'm not going to say it that way. I'm not going to say it there with. That's disrespecting the man.

Yeah, I know, you're right, but I'm going to continue to mispronounce it. You're right. I'm bad with names. Look, we've already decided that. We have Steve Zinsmeister come on this show. just to reinforce how bad I am at names. But again, he's very exciting. He entered that game against Peoria on October 5th with runners on base.

He threw two thirds of an inning, struck out a batter, and didn't allow a run to score. He ended up picking up the victory there in the Salt River Raptors 10 to 7 victory, 10 to 7 win there. Among 2,394 minor league pitchers who qualified throwing at least 30 pitches last season, and he had the highest strikeout rate in the minors. We should be talking about this guy more. I guess that's my job to do, huh? I'm to blame. It's me. Hey, get out and go see yourself some Salt River Rafters games

or any Arizona Fall League game. They are taking place at spring training facilities all around the valley. And I will say this as we begin the Arizona Fall League season. As I have, I think every single Arizona Fall League season, and that's this is what spring training used to be, like for me at least when I was a kid back in my day 150 years ago right they weren't all expensive a lot of games happened at night and there was a lot of fun to be had when you would go out there and see like the future of baseball you know it's a great chance especially in this kind of environment

to go into some you know some really fun games meet some really fun guys get get autographs learn about these guys now because just like corbin and heraldo and every other guy this. I mean, Ryan Walshman, we were just covering Ryan Walshman that not that long ago. We were covering some of these guys participating in the Arizona Fall League not that long ago. And now here they are contributing at a major league level, hitting walkoff home runs and doing all of this stuff that, you know, all of this, this exciting stuff at a major league level. So tickets, again, think are like $14. I think kids under 12 are free. There's no reason to not get out there and enjoy it.

The kids get in free. The kids get in free. But the kids aren't free. Oh, kids under 12 aren't free. Okay, no, that's actually, you're right. The kids get in free. That's a bad way to phrase that. Yeah, children under 12 get in free.

No, the children are not for sale or they're not for free either. They're neither. No, they're not on the market. All right. That's the important part to remember. But we thank you guys so much for, of course, being big fans of the Arizona Diamondbacks and joining us today. We'll be back tomorrow with another 12 p.m. show. I'm sure some breaking news will happen this afternoon.

Can't wait to see what? The new change is going to be that we miss three minutes after we go off air. But again, we thank you guys so much for your time. Be back here at 12 p.m. tomorrow. Until then, follow me on social media. I am at cap underscore caveman with the K. Our guy Shane is at Shane D.F. Big shout out to him for his help today.

Of course, our show is at P.HNX underscore Dbacks. But as always, all roads lead to at PHNX underscore sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Thank you guys so much for your time. Love you. I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day. See you back here tomorrow. Until then, enjoy your evening. And remember, kids, baseball is fun, but it's so much more fun when you maybe don't blame your pitching coach

when your pitching actually gets better while he's here.