PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - MLB Postseason Wild Card Madness – Former D-backs Make Huge Impact

Episode Date: October 1, 2025

JOIN THE SUPPORTERS CLUB ➡️ https://tinyurl.com/yc6km2r4Day 1 of MLB’s Wild Card Round delivered absolute drama, with three incredibly close games and one demoralizing blowout. We break down the standout performances—and struggles—of former Arizona Diamondbacks players who made an impact today. We also discuss if the Dodgers offensive onslaught against the Red makes us rethink wanting any part of the postseason.Plus, get insights from the final media availability with Mike Hazen and Torey Lovullo. Did the D-backs make the right call keeping Lovullo for 2026? We also look across MLB at all the managerial moves happening after the season. Jesse Friedman from Snakes Territory joins to share his thoughts on the Wild Card Round and whether or not the Diamondbacks need one more season under Lovullo.An ALLCITY Network ProductionSUBSCRIBE to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/phnx_youtubeALL THINGS PHNX: http://linktr.ee/phnxsportsMERCH 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/APS:  Find instant rebates, discounts and special offers on smart thermostats, energy-efficient appliances and more at https://marketplace.aps.com/default/heating-cooling/smart-thermostatsBranded Bills: Use code BBPHNX at https://www.brandedbills.com/ for 15% off your first order!Zen Leaf: Visit our friends at Zen Leaf (http://zen-leaf.store/phnx) for 50% off using promo code ZENPHNXSpencer’s Appliances: Visit Spencerstv.com and use code PHNX5 for 5% off appliances OR use code PHNX10 for 10% off TVs, audio and mattressesChicken N’ Pickle: Family friendly fun awaits! Visit chickennpickle.com to plan your visit today!Phoenix Raceway: Tickets, hospitality and upgrades are still available for the NASCAR Championship Series October 31st through November 2nd! Visit the link HERE to get yours now!Access Auto Insurance Agency of Arizona, LLC (Access Auto) is a renowned agency offering personal and commercial auto insurance options to Arizona residents. If you’re on the hunt for a new policy, call Access Auto today at 1-480-400-0546 or get a free insurance quote by visiting our website.Visit Mountain America Credit Union to learn more about their MyStyle Checking Accounts!bet365: https://www.bet365.com/hub/en-us/app-hero-banner-1?utm_source=affiliate&utm_campaign=usapp&utm_medium=affiliate&affiliate=365_03485317 Use the code PHNX365 to sign up, deposit $10 and bet $5 to get $150 in bonus bets!Disclaimer: Must be 21+ and physically located in AZ.  If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800-NEXT-STEP, text NEXTSTEP to 53342 or visit https://problemgambling.az.gov/Branded Bills: Use code BBPHNX at https://www.brandedbills.com/ for 20% off your first order!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 35% 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!Monarch Money: Use Monarch Money to get control of your overall finances with 50% off your first year at https://www.monarchmoney.com/phnxWhen 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.

Well, we had a whole lot of fun to watch today from the outside looking in. We're going to talk about the wild, wild day of the first round of the wild card round and why I love it. We also are going to talk about the comments made at the final media availability for Mike Hazen and Tori Lavello. All of this and just a little bit. Don't you go anywhere. Another edition of the PHNXD Backs podcast live from Studio K, presented by our friends in Circle K. We are here in beautiful downtown. down Phoenix, Arizona.

I am your mayor of PHNX, occasionally known as a guy that definitely has FOMO about not being in the playoffs. I also got the one, the only Damon Dog on the ones and twos over there behind the Mac, and we'll have our one,

the only Jesse Breedman joining us here short. But of course, just want to let you guys know this show brought me by our friends. As always, by the Bet365 at game time. Go download the Bet365 app. Use our code of PHNX365.

Sign up, follow a few easy steps, get yourself some bonus bets over there. And then at game time, of course, you can use our code PHNX off your first purchase and you'll get $20 off those already low last minute ticket deals. Welcome in to you all. First, I got to give a shout out to my guy. Is it Evan? Bordreau.

Welcome in, Evan. Thank you for becoming a supporters club member. If you guys are not a member of the supporter club, make sure to join us. It's a lot of fun. The emojis are incredible. You get a badge next to your name. And more importantly, you have a special. you have a special place in my heart.

Damon, meanwhile, compiles a list of all of you and plans to send Christmas cards out. So I'm committing him to something. He absolutely doesn't want me. I also have a list of top avatars and Evan is number one. Yeah, number one. I mean, Damon shouts things that Anakin Skywalker said. I hate you. All over.

Every single day in this happens. That's how I react to Otani home runs actually there. That's very true. I saw him do it twice tonight. but welcome into you all glad to have you guys here and of course like I said glad to have our guy from snakes territory the one the only thunderstick Jesse Friedman here to talk about my favorite day Jesse I think it's my favorite day I might just be that might just be because it's the start of the playoffs it might just be because baseball uh despite its 162 game season comes all that can come all down to this for some of these teams right no matter how good of a season they had they are here battling in the wild card round. And I just, it, it feels like anything can happen in these three games series, depending on who's hot and who's not. But it's, uh, my favorite, I think my favorite day of the postseason. Well, everybody loves October baseball, Derek, except it's a not October yet somehow.

It's, yeah, it's my brother's birthday. Happy birthday, Scotty, by the way. September 30th, you're absolutely right. And that is not, uh, something that, again, we're necessarily used to seeing the playoffs here in, but baseball's moving up earlier and earlier. And yes, Jesse is repping the Sons because they need all the help they can get for sure, as does the Diamondbacks. I'm not going to act like they're not in desperate need of help. And I have the answer, Jesse, because the first game of the day was the Tigers beating the Guardians by a score of two to one. Terrick Scoobel was incredible, quite possibly the best start of his career. He had a career high, 14 strikeouts in this game.

He also broke a camera with a hundred mile per hour fastball that was fouled off. And he was unbelievable for the Tigers. I mean, just the kind of postseason performance that legends are made of. Seven and two thirds innings pitch, three hits allowed, one run, three walks, and 14 strikeouts. Just an incredible day from Terrick Scouble. And just that made me that much more want to figure out a way to bring him home. We need to figure out a way.

to get this man home to Arizona. Once again, they did draft him once. That didn't work. So we'll have to figure something else out. Well, he's going to be a free agent in what? A year or two. I think he's done 2027. After 2027, he's a free agent.

Look, we could take all of the super chat money. I have $4.11. He trains here. Fact. Here, you can just have it. Yeah. I don't have a lot of money, but if there's a lot of us that all give a lot of money,

we can all make this happen. Ken Kendrick, please, let's bring Terrick scubble home. I'll take whatever it'll take to bring this man home to Arizona. But more importantly, Jesse, I just can't imagine having an ace on your staff that could go out there on the first day of the playoffs

and step his game up. You know what I mean? Like, he's already been incredible. He's already a sigh young candidate. He's already a saw a young winner. But quite frankly, to see him go out there on a day like this against the Guardians team that kind of snuck up on the Tigers and stole the division title from them. It was amazing for them, him to go out there

and perform the way he did today. Terrick Scoobel is one of my favorite, one of my favorite baseball players to watch in general. Just not only the fact that he's an unbelievable pitcher, but just his antics on the mound, the way that he gets into the game as much as he does, there's a certain intensity about him that I think is really fun. And he average, I mean, he average to 99.1 with this four-seem fastball in this game. Just seeing his evolution here over the past few years has been unreal. And yeah, he's a kingman native. One of my brothers faced him in high school.

And so, yeah, it's the Terrick Scoobel narrative is pretty wild. What an amazing baseball journey it's been for him. And who knows, Derek? Maybe he does return to the state of Arizona at some point. maybe an uphill battle to make that happen. But you just keep that piggy bank going and we'll see what happens. I'll do whatever it takes the swear jar money. Whatever money we need to figure it out, we'll figure it out.

You know, like that's something that we need to make happen. Meanwhile, speaking of other Diamondbacks connections, the Cubs beat the Padres today by a score of three to one. Suzuki was sensational for the Cubs today. The Cubs knocked Nick Pavetta out, who was incredible for the Padres this season after just five innings pitched and just tour and runs allowed. And again, Carson Kelly, former Arizona Diamondback catcher was the big hero for the Cubbies hitting essentially the go-ahead home run that gave the Cubs the lead and they held on in a close game. That's another thing about these games.

We had a bunch of fun close games today that were not offensive, you know, incredibly offensive games except the finale here against the Dodgers and the Reds. But I love myself a good close matchup. I love myself a good pitching duel. And that's what we got out of those first three games today. Carson Kelly's had such a fascinating season this year. I mean, he came out of the gate and was just on an absolute tear. You know, in March, he went five for 10 in April. He went 13 for 40.

He had an OPS of about 1,300 by the end of April. And then he kind of fell off a cliff for most of the rest of the season. I guess he was really good in July. But after the All-Star break, you get a 596 OPS. So not a great second half for Carson Kelly. But if you do it in the postseason, Derek, that's kind of all that matters. And it is. You know, it doesn't matter what the numbers are on the back of your baseball card at this time of year.

It just matters if you're able to come through when your team really needs it most. And yeah, good on Carson Kelly for coming through there. And I think Sean is very right. Sean here in the chat says that apparently the winner of the Goldie trade was the Cubs. I don't know how that works out, but that feels wrong. Also, the Red Sox beat the Yankees. Another close game today. Garrett Crochet dominated the Yankees today.

He was the other outstanding pitching performance. And, you know, that's no slight to some of the other performances that we got today. But Crochet, seven and two-thirds innings, allowing only four hits and one earned run. while striking out 11, just slightly overshadowed by Terrick Scoobles Day. But then you also had that exciting ninth inning where Araldus Chapman somehow got out of a ninth inning basis loaded jam with no outs. And that was very reminiscent. Watching that, Jesse, very reminiscent of watching this Diamondbacks team offense at times, right, where they were able to have runners in scoring position, do something like that.

And then somehow, some way, with less than two outs, not. find themselves plating a single run. There were some rough moments toward the end. I mean, it is strange, but I think big picture the debacks are still pretty much fine in high leverage situations hitting with runners in scoring position by the end of the season. But toward the end of the season, it definitely got worse. And I feel like the best part about this time of year, Derek, for fans of teams that are that are not playing October baseball is just seeing all of the big market fan bases kind of crumble

because as you said earlier, these games, there's a lot of randomness, anything can happen in the three-game series. Obviously, the Red Sox and Yankees are like those are two pretty evenly matched teams, I think. But yes, it can be entertaining to see the reactions of fans when things like this happen. Well, it's interesting because the Tigers and Red Sox are kind of upsets, not really, but overall, like just, you know, being the road teams, they got the upset wins today. Tigers were 5 and 8 this year against Cleveland Guardians. So that's actually a good thing for them to get out on top in the series. But the Red Sox actually had the Yankees number this year.

They were 9 and 4 versus the Yankees in the regular season. So again, it's just an interesting matchup there. And we're going to talk about managers who got let go. We're going to talk about Tori Lavalo staying. and we're also going to talk about if Aaron Boone possibly might be out in New York if the Yankees lose that that series. But we're going to do that later on. The other series or other game that we haven't talked about yet is the Dodgers feeding the crap out of the Reds. They did make it much closer later in the game.

Eventually the game was a 10 to 5 outcome. But man, Jesse, I can't. Oh, wait, I did want to note one main takeaway from the Yankees Red Sox game. and that is that the ESPN audio feed is atrocious. I am very happy that the Yankees only scored one run because every time the home crowd would roar, it would roar to this crackle. Like it was like it was,

I don't know what's the term for in production, Damon, when you like cap out or like when the- Peeking? Peeking, yeah, it's like they was peeking and it was causing like a crackling interference sound. I thought it was like my speakers or something with my home audio until I changed televisions to another. one and it was doing it over there as well early in the game. So I realized it wasn't me. It was ESPN's

terrible audio feed. And this isn't a good start to this new era with ESPN unlimited and all of this stuff. So get it together, boys. Get it together. But all right, Dodgers, Reds, 10 to 5 ballgame. Series really puts a magnifying glass here, Jesse, on the payroll discrepancies in baseball. The Dodgers ruined baseball in every conceivable way. We know that. It's the Dodgers fault that in 2027 baseball. is probably going to have a work stoppage. But a $509 million payroll in this series versus a $121 million payroll. And Otani leads off the game in the first inning

with a lead off home run. I'm sick of this guy. I've had it. I've added up to here. I'm on a Damon level of sick of this guy now. He's pretty good at the baseball, Derek. Oh, my God. He's pretty good at the thing.

Yeah, this was not a particularly compelling game. I guess it was inevitable. that the Dodgers bullpen would at least let the Reds back in the game slightly toward the end. This game is as advertised. Like if you were to tell me what the Dodgers season was, it was exemplified in this game. Amazing starting pitching that dominated the opposing team, incredible offense, and then a terrible bullpen. And that sums this up, like that this is the Dodgers in a nutshell. Yeah.

And it's why I think I'm. still skeptical of the Dodgers being able to go on a run this postseason just because you really can't make it through all the way unless you have two or three relievers that really step up and can get those big outs for you. I just don't know who that is on the Dodgers right now. They're not going to be able to win every game in the playoffs by this big of a margin. Correct. And I mean, Alex Vessia, we saw him struggle in that series against the Diamondbacks. he's had some shaky moments here lately. You know, Henriquez couldn't throw a strike in this game.

Jack Dreyer came in. He struggled to throw strikes as well. I'm just not. Blake Trinen had a really rough, has had a really rough season and of course was injured as well. So they're in a really tough spot from a bullpen standpoint. I guess it's possible that the offense as good as it is and the pitching staff as good as the starting pitching that that team has access to is, you know, I still wonder if the bullpen is going to be an issue sooner than later.

I think it's interesting also how the time off is going to play into this next round for the Dodgers because even if they win these games, it definitely doesn't help their bullpen situation any as they advance in the playoffs for sure. But their offense might be good enough because it feels like their offense is hot. And, you know, again, they beat up on L.A. native Hunter Green today. And overall, you have a Shohei Otani, Te Oscar Hernandez. as two home run each

game here and you hate to see it. I can't help. I can't help but think, Jesse, like overall, after seeing the way the Dodgers handled this game, if the Diamondbacks

would have even had a shot, you know, and I don't mean to discredit the Diamondbacks. They do play the Dodgers well, but with the way that the series went and the way the final game went, I mean, I don't even know

how this would have stacked up for the Diamondbacks. I don't even know, Had they had success in, let's say, San Diego and made it to the postseason, and we're hearing the shot in this moment. Who would have been their starter? Ryan Nelson? Would they have started Zach Allen? I mean, I feel like Ryan Nelson would have been the guy to go, right?

So, like, I don't feel terrible about that. I just don't know how Ryan Nelson's fastball would have fared against this particular lineup in this big of a moment. I think it would have been Ryan Nelson. He was lined up to start the first. game of a wild card around if the diamond backs had made it there i will say the dbacks played the dodgers pretty tough this season uh you know they were they were just one sacrifice fly in that game last wednesday away from winning the season series over the dodgers so and they and they've generally held their own against the dodgers the past few years obviously obviously 2023 went the way it did right

i i know i've talked to some dodgers fans lately and they they unanimously agree that they wanted nothing to do with the diamond backs. Jesse, that's the thing. Jesse, that's the reason why they are the team they are now. We did that. We made that happen. We made them go get show a Otani. We made them bolster their lineup and become,

they were like, we don't care how much money we spend. We're never losing to the diamond backs of the playoffs ever again. And that's what that's, that's us. We did that. Don't you dare put that evil on us. We created that monster, Damon. It was us.

It was us. Obviously, I say that that last, part in Jess, but yeah, I don't know. I hate the Dodgers so much. He's disgusted with this whole conversation, but any surprises for you at all today with the way these games went down or what were your thoughts overall on the close games and then the Dodgers just kind of routing the Reds here. No huge surprises. I mean, because it's one game, I mean, I feel like I'm never all that surprised, really anything can happen in these games. But I will say going back to the Reds Dodgers game, I was really hoping that Hunter Green would be able to shine on this stage.

It was his first postseason start. He's taken a really big step forward to this year. He's an unbelievably good pitcher. And even though I wasn't necessarily banking on the Reds winning this game, I thought that game won could be really fun to watch and entertaining. I mean, Hunter Green against Blake Snell. on paper it seemed like a game that should be competitive most of the way through but unfortunately in hunter green's first postseason start kind of a disaster he's only able to complete three innings i think it was six runs allowed so you don't want to judge judge too much it's just

one postseason start hopefully for him he'll have many more in the future but uh but yeah anytime you have like a really fun young pitcher get their first playoff start and it's a total dud it just is kind of sad for me as a baseball fan. Like I really want to see those pitchers rise to the occasion in those moments. For sure, for sure. And I think that it's good for baseball. It's good to see new stars grow. It's good to,

I mean, it's just good to have a young team like this Reds team that it does have a payroll that's nearly $400 million less than the Dodgers come out and have a good showing. I mean, even if they don't win, you would love to see them push it to three games. You would love to see them overall just kind of, you know, make this competitive.

They did late. It felt like they were, you know, like you said, they were, they got into the Dodgers bullpen and they were able to score some runs there. It felt like they just weren't really patient enough, but they were also in a huge hole at that point. And it was pretty impossible to ask any team to come back from, you know, that kind of deficit against the Dodgers. But overall, I know we probably shouldn't do this, but I don't care.

I'm going to do it anyway in an effort to lure them away from Detroit. We're going to give away our Kingsnake, Jesse. and it goes to the one the only, Terrick Scoobel, Arizona's own, Kingman Arizona's own, Terrick Scoobel, seven and two-thirds innings pitched today for the Tigers, one earned run, three hits allowed, a career high, 14K.

And look at, look at that image. Look at that picture of his face. I'm ready to run through one of these walls. I know it's going to cause some problem with our electrical situation here, but I'm ready to just run through a wall. and Sean says this feels so wrong. It is, it does feel wrong, Sean.

It's going to feel wrong. The entire month of October is going to feel wrong. And it's off to a weird start because it's not even October yet. I won't even let my wife put up Halloween decorations yet. She has to wait until tomorrow. But yeah, Jesse, it does feel wrong. And I think part of this is because we don't, we don't want to be this meme I posted of us on the outside looking in. At least if we did lose, we wanted to be in and losing to the,

Dodgers in the playoffs and not playing this what-if game but I don't know I don't know if getting bounced in a two-game sweep by the Dodgers and this ridiculous offense they have is is much better than not making the playoffs but it probably is let me let me ask you this question Derek if you had to win a game tomorrow it's a playoff game say it's a game seven and you could either of Paul Skeen's or Terrick Scoobel pitching that game for you, who would you choose? I would probably pick Scoobel.

And I say that because of what I've seen out of him. And like he just, he loves the spotlight in these big moments. That's a different level. Not to say Paul Skeens doesn't, but yeah, I don't really feel like he's been tested in any kind of big moment other than him

just going out there and having to live up to the expectations that are Paul Skeens, right? Like I think Tarek Scouble has it a little bit easier than Paul Skeen's in that aspect. Skeen's is like an anomaly, you know, like going to see the circus or something. And then you go and like, oh, the elephant's sick today and he only went four innings and gave up three or runs. You're like, I want my money back, right? Like, so that's what it feels like. Paul Skeen has a lot of pressure to live up to the pressure or live up to the expectations of being.

him and Derek scoobald I don't think anybody really thinks of him in that same aspect that they do paul skeins uh so i i imagine every start is is a lot of you know a lot of pressure for for skeins but still i just feel like we've seen terrick really have this you know these moments like this and i feel like he is a big reason why this tiger's team has been in this position that they've been in they have an ace like this to go in these games and i mean this was a close game on the road, two to one victory, and he went out there and gave you seven and two thirds of that game. Like, that would be lovely. I could, I could only imagine one of the Diamondbacks pitchers going out and doing that for them in a big first game of, you know, the playoffs like this. So,

you know, kudos to him on what he was able to do for sure. But we're going to take a quick break. And on the other side of this break, we're on spy on our exes. And that means all of the guys that play baseball games today. That's right. We're taking a recap of all the former Diamondbacks and how their days went in the postseason. Don't you go anywhere. You're watching the PHNXD Back show. All right, Phoenix. Well, whether you are gearing up for a game day of fun,

whether you're winding down after a work day at work or a hike on Camelback Mountain or just recovering from another brutal Cardinals loss. We'll throw the Cardinals, shade Cardinals. We don't throw shade at the Mercury. So we're going to say another brutal Cardinals loss. But if you want to recover from all of these things, do it at Zen Leaf dispensaries. your go-to spot for cannabis, whether you're looking for flour, vapes, edibles, and more. It is the place that has all the brands you can trust.

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So join the Inner Circle for free by downloading the Circle K app today. Terms and conditions do apply at participating locations. Visit CircleK.com for details. Well, we have more to talk about, like I said, in regards to the comments made today. But before we move on from the postseason, Jesse, I did want to spy on our exes. I know you remember my little weird graphic that we made here. And, of course, we're going to do some spying on our exes, Jesse. That graphic is five years old now?

Yeah, pretty much. That's an old, that's an old graphic. That graphic should be in kindergarten by now is basically what I'm thinking. That's because we've spent a lot of time looking back on our, on our old teams and our old players. Hey, Maria is here in the chat, by the way, Jesse. Our favorite Dodger fan, she says, Ola, my old friends, Maria, it's great to see you. Well, speaking of old friends, Jesse, Carson Kelly, we talked about him before,

but he hit the go-ahead solo home run to win the game for the Chicago Cubs today. He was one for three with that home run and an RBI. And again, it's just great to see. Carson continuing to do big things in his career. And yeah, it makes you miss him just a little bit. Carson Kelly is just such a fascinating career he's had, Derek. I mean, just a few, just a couple of years ago, it sort of looked like Carson Kelly's career was coming to an end, frankly. I mean, the Diamondbacks moved on from him. He just looked like he couldn't catch up to a fastball anymore. And maybe that was going to be the end of it. And then a couple years later, here he is with the Cubs,

as a middle of the order tight bat for them. I mean, he's been hitting, I think, like, fourth or fifth for a decent portion of the season. I want to say they maybe dropped him down to six for this game. But there's never really been like a steady version of Carson Kelly that I can recall. It tends to be either very, very good, maybe for a couple months at a time, or pretty rough for a few months at a time. But once again, if Carson Kelly is hot right now at the right time,

I mean, that could be really, really big for a Cubs team that I think they're kind of looking for that leader offensively. Kyle Tucker has not really been that for them with getting hurt and just sort of being inconsistent here the past couple of months. It's wild because we've talked about this team missing, this Diamondbacks team, missing that veteran presence and how James McCann kind of filled that void for them. And not only that, but catching, he also helped them out substantially. We've heard from so many players and from Tori several times that, you know, James McCann had a huge impact here. And it feels like now here we have Carson Kelly kind of being that veteran impact on this Cubs lineup. And, you know, again, not necessarily being the hugest offensive threat, but hitting a very timely home run that put them ahead in a close game. Another close game that we saw today played one of three out of the four.

And then there's that Dodgers stinker. But a big, big moment for Carson. I love that Maria in the chat says I'm going to borrow the ladies and gentlemen and the bulls and graphic. I think the Dodgers fan base needs it. Well, we have a little clip here from our guys over at CHGO. Here is Carson Kelly after today's game reacting to essentially that game winning home run. Yeah, I mean, very special. I mean, you dream about those moments as a little kid and getting into the postseason and hitting the game winning home run, right?

and to have that happen and it's really an honor and it'd be a really special. When was the last bigger hit than that? I don't think there is one. I mean, not in the postseason

because this is my first one. Is he getting more handsome as he ages? I think he's getting more handsome as he ages. I don't know. I might just be biased here, but it's the hair. It's the hair. It's the hair. It's the hair. I missed the eyebrow thing that he doesn't even know he's, doing where he kind of does the rock eyebrow and yeah anyway he never had it he never had flow like that

in a Arizona uh oh that's it's it's a dry heat here you got to keep it short here you know i'm noticing that with me just not i've given up jesse i don't i just don't cut my hair anymore you just didn't try that hard with us yeah no sad yeah well the flow game flow game is very important in the debacks locker room currently but uh yeah again just cool to see that dansby swanson uh was one for three in that game with a run. He's very good defensively. But we were having that conversation now, right, where like, it's hard to imagine him being on this Diamondbacks team now with the roster and the way things have gone. Yeah. I mean, I mean, Carson Kelly, like such a fixture for this team for a long time at catcher. And then Gabriel Moreno has kind of been that guy here for the past few years. And it's a little

weird to imagine this team having a full-time catcher other than him. So yeah, but Carson Kelly, I mean, when the Diamondbacks first acquired him, that 2019 season that he had was really promising. I mean, there was a time when I thought Carson was going to be one of the best catchers in the game for a long time. And he has been that, but just sort of in spurts, it has not been quite as consistent as people maybe would have liked. Meanwhile, Jesse, before the end of today's episode, I'm going to reveal our National League team that we're rooting for on this podcast. Now, we probably shouldn't pick a National League team. We were going to steer clear of that, and we were just going to be a Mariners podcast.

We were going to be a sea snakes, king sea snake, that kind of thing. When the Mariners start playing baseball, don't worry, we're going to be covering the Mariners very heavily. But I have to make that known because no matter how many Diamondbacks are on the Yankees, we want to make it clear. we will not be rooting for the Yankees on this podcast. There's no rooting interest for the Yankees, even if Paul Goldschmidt still looks great out there at first base for the Yankees. He was two for four today for them with two singles. Jazz Chisholm as a pinch hitter was 0 for one.

But the big story here, Jesse, was Luke Weaver, who had himself quite the postseason last year was not that tonight for the Yankees. He did not have a great night out there, gave up the tying and go-ahead run in the seventh inning on a Masataka Yoshida, two RBI single, and then did not record it out. It was charged with the loss. Goes out there. Goes zero, zero innings pitch, gave up to it, two runs, and one walk.

Yeah, a tough game for Luke Weaver. He's still had a pretty decent season with the Yankees. It was not as good as what he was able to do a year ago. Last year, he had a 289 ERA compared to a 362 this season. Also, this season he has, he went eight for 12. and save opportunities, which is not particularly fantastic. But, I mean, he's still a productive reliever. He's still a guy that you'd want on your team, unfortunately, just not a good day for him today.

Yeah, for sure. Well, I think Killer X said it, but you could almost make up a decent team of all the former Diamondbacks that are playing in the playoffs this postseason. And we will continue to spy on them the rest of the postseason. Sorry, not sorry. That's going to happen. But we're going to take a quick break. On the other side of this break, we're going to get around to the meat of this episode,

and that is discussing the comments made today by Mike Hazen and Tori Lovolo at their final media availability. And if Toy Lovolo is the actual best option for the Diamondbacks in 2026, don't you go anywhere? You're watching the PHNXD Back Show. Well, for more than 15 years, access insurance agency of Arizona has provided affordable, reliable, car insurance to drivers in the Phoenix metro area as a dedicated part of the local. community, Access Auto helps Arizona drivers get insured by offering flexible coverage options and accepting various forms of ID, driving histories, and license types.

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Well, Jesse, we had our final day at Chase Field. It was sad. It's always sad. It's always sad to leave that place for the final day of the year. But this had a weird, just kind of tone to it. I mean, it definitely felt like 2026 is a very important year for both. Tori Lavello and Mike Hazen, but Mike took a lot of accountability today for what's gone on this year, as he has this entire season. I don't feel like Mike has ever shied away from accepting accountability, but today

he took a decent share of the blame for what happened in 2025. And he feels like even though they did a great job of going out there and adding, you know, some frontline pieces, they didn't give this team enough of a safety net for, you know, an absolute, calamity should it happen. And that's what happened to this team, an absolute calamity when it came to the losses that they experienced with with injuries this season. Yeah, I mean, two things can be true, right? On one hand, Mike Hazen should have done a better job of making it so the debacks had a strong

line of defense in case injuries happen because injuries are certainly every team deals with injuries to an extent. Maybe the debacks had it a little bit worse than most teams this year. But yeah, the guys who stepped up and Mike was very forthright about this, the guys in AAA just weren't ready for this. And the guys that they picked up, you know, off waivers or whatever it was, some had more success than others. But on the whole, it just was not really a viable solution to the problem. So that's definitely going to be a point of emphasis. At the same time, I don't think Mike Hayeson was as bad, did as bad a job at building this bullpen as the numbers would lead you to believe because I still think that if AJ Puck and Justin Martinez were healthy this season,

and you know, if Kevin Gingle is healthy and performing, like, I think there was a world where this bullpen actually was pretty good this year, especially with the way that Shelby Miller was looking there for the first few months of the season. He was a great pickup. You know, Jalen Beaks had a decent year as well. as a as a just spring training invite somebody you didn't really know what you were going to what you were going to get there so but yeah going into next season the debacks are going to need a better bullpen and this for mike kazen is not just a one-year problem it's really been an issue most seasons since he took over here in arizona so we'll see if he's able to to fix that going into next year

Mike Hazen did say his priority, just to rub it in David's face, was starting pitching over bullpen, but that he felt like they needed help with both, obviously. We had a discussion the other day on Mailback Monday, Jesse, about offseason priorities, and I just felt in general like the situation the Diamondbacks are in right now, the reality of it, with no Zach Gallen coming back, with no Merrill Kelly coming back, no, no imaginary worlds where they do come back, just like the reality of right now, they have three starting pitchers, and they can't,

they can't play baseball next year with three starting pitchers. Fine, Derek, you win. Is that what you want to hear? That's what I wanted to hear. Jesse, was he going to keep going until I said that and cut him off and said that he wins? I was just going to stretch it out for as long as possible.

But anyway, obviously, those two things, though, are very close to being similar levels of priority for this team, even though the starting pitching is more, of a absolute need. You do have enough arms in the bullpen technically with the young arms that you ran out there this year

to have a bullpen. Not a good bullpen. And there's no argument there that the bullpen still wouldn't be very good if you tried to run it out there without any improvements between now and the start of next season. But starting pitching an absolute priority for this team.

And based on Ken Kendrick's comments on 98.7 the other day, this team is not going to have the same amount of money to spend. in 2026. So Mike Hazen didn't seem concerned about how much money he has because he can ball out on a budget, but it's still going to be a problem for them to essentially address all of their needs with the amount of money that they have to spend. I mean, just filling two spots in your starting rotation in and of itself, like that can be expensive. I mean, Eduardo Rodriguez was a four-year, $80 million contract, and obviously it hasn't gone well. But even if the debacks had gotten sort of what I expected them to get out of out of

Erod, he was going to be more of a league average sort of pitcher than then, you know, an excellent pitcher. And that was still a 20 million per year. Like that's what it costs at this point to get like a mid-rotation guy is about $20 million per year. So I don't think the debacks really have it in the budget to do that twice. Like I don't think they have $40 million in 2026. payroll to commit to those two spots. So maybe it's one guy via free agency and it's one guy via trade. You know, maybe they look overseas and try to find the next Merrill Kelly or something crazy like that. They've been good at that. They've been good at that. Yeah, they might have to get creative there. For sure. Well, let's hear from Mike Hazen. Here's just a little bit of what he had to say

about retaining Tori Lavello for the 2026 season and his assessment of Lavello from the past year. A lot of these, I'm aware that a lot of what happens during the course of a season falls on the manager producing wins. We're in charge of winning baseball games, period. It's black and white, both of us. And we can't do it without each other. And I can't give him a bad roster and then tell him to go out there and win 90 games.

and I felt like from the engagement to the coaching to the pushing of the players to where they needed to go, I thought he did a good job. I do. I think he's a really good manager. I think the relationships he has with our players, I think the emergence of a superstar shortstop that I think we got not ridiculed, but, you know, when we signed him this offseason to what he is now, that's not an accident. I think when asked the question about are you upset or would, you know, whoever asked the question

if they were in here about, you know, the front office giving up on your team and your superstar shortstop saying it's on the players to decide whether or not the front office is going to buy or sell to coming into Tori's office. having a top five season in baseball and saying that he, how disappointed he is and his defense letting the team down this year, those are the building blocks of things in my mind that aren't just seen out on the field. And I get it. We are here to win and lose,

and we will ultimately be judged on wins and loss, not scurting that one iota. There's a lot here in my mind that Tori does so well that puts our players in a position to have success and be confident to feel good about what they're doing on a daily basis. It's also on me to provide him with the resources to go out there and win baseball games. And I did not do that this year. Once that first line got hurt, there was not enough there to safety net underneath that.

And I need to do a better job of that. He referred Jesse at one point, and I know this wasn't meant to be the, or I know he didn't intend it to sound this way or mean it this way. But he said he gave Tori a bad roster. and I couldn't help but think when I heard that like it's fair but I only imagine what it must sound like if I was one of the players on that roster hearing that from Mike Hazen like I know he's not talking about particular players he's just saying overall this wasn't the best roster I mean that's fair to say considering the Diamondbacks didn't even have a first baseman at the end of the year right like literally not even a first baseman no closer no you know

no nothing like they were just asking guys to go out there and fill in needs wherever they could so yeah i mean it's it does feel a little bit like this is a this is a roster that was a bad roster i think it's i think it's fair to say i definitely hear where you're coming from like gms i think have to be careful the way that they talk to the media you would never want to like at least i don't think you would want to like call out a player specifically, but he didn't do that there, to your point. He just said a bad roster. And, I mean, they finished below 500. So I think you can kind of say objectively, it was a bad roster, at least a below average roster when all was said and done. And injuries played a big part in that.

But yeah, also, as Hazen just described there, the line of defense after, you know, that first run of guys got hurt, it just wasn't good enough. There just wasn't enough talent there. And that's been an issue in this organization for a while, especially on the pitching side. Well, what's that, killer wreck, Sean and Albert? You guys all want to hear from Tori. Well, you're asking you shall receive. Here's Tori Lovel talking about returning in 2026. Well, first of all, I'm grateful for Mr. Gendrick, Derek, Mike, and his team for believing in me and saying, hey, let's keep going.

Let's make this happen. You know, I asked after the 21 season for an opportunity. to manage the group of players that we have here and see where you can take this. And I think we won a lot of baseball games. We went to a World Series. We won, you know, 89 games last year. We've come close the past couple years. That's not a consolation, but I think when I was getting asked the questions,

I was at peace with whatever was going to happen because I've done my absolute best. And we all know when you hear your absolute best, and it just doesn't meet the mark, then you know, you have some satisfaction and walk away. You can walk away from that, but I'm not ready to walk away from this. I want to win a World Championship here in the Valley.

I want to celebrate it with the fans. I have dreams that we all talk about. And I'm just grateful for that being in place still. But I think I said it quickly in my office in San Diego, this is a tough business. This is a really, really tough business. And if they were going to move on for me, and this is kind of what you're asking, if they're going to move on for me, I was going to be like somebody better is going to come in here and make some good things happen. And that would give me some happiness.

So I was trying to find some positives in it. And just grateful right now I'm feeling just very grateful for them still believing in me. And I know we can do this year. I feel very strongly that we're going to do something special here. Surprise. Anyway, Jesse, I'm trying to. to make light of this situation because I don't want to have anything to do with this entire mess right now. And we are picking the Cubs, at least I am as our National League team.

Now, I want to say, Jesse, overall, it feels like people kind of take this a little bit of the wrong way. Tori's not being extended or anything like that. It's not an option that's being picked up, which is something that we did see with other managers who were actually fired, even though those options were picked up for next season. about that in a little bit. But overall here, it feels like, you know, with this being the final year on his contract, that it just seems to make a lot of sense, especially with the mess that a new manager might be walking into with this roster next year in the situation to bring Tori back and have him finish up the final year of his contract. I will say, I feel like it's

going to take an extraordinary season in order for the Diamondbacks to consider bringing him back beyond 2026, there's also all sorts of problems with baseball that could be problematic and not allow there to even be a 2027 season. So that also, at least in my opinion, and as Damon and I discussed on a trending pod we did earlier, that feels like the thing that makes the most sense.

Like the next two years just could be such a mess that you might as well let Tori finish up 2026, let 2027 get figured out. And then if you have a new man, or a new change of coaches and such, allow all of that to take place at that point. I'm really curious where the debacks are setting the kind of the benchmark here. Like what exactly are they looking for in 2026 in order to give Tori Lavello an extension?

I mean, surely they're not keeping him now with the expectation that they're going to let him go next year, right? Like they have to at least have some belief that they're keeping him, because they want him to be the manager of this team for, you know, more years to come than just 2026. And on paper, I don't think there's any way that on opening day of next year, the debacks are expected to make the playoffs. Or, I mean, if maybe some people would expect them to make the playoffs, but it would be kind of on the fringes, I think, is where they would realistically stand. It would have to be based on the moves that they make during the off season in order to improve their roster, quite frankly. Yeah, and I just, to what we were talking about earlier, with the amount of money that they have to spend and the fact that Corbin Burns and AJ Puck and Justin Martinez, like all those guys are still hurt. I mean, it's certainly not impossible for this team to contend next year.

I think it's totally possible, but it's not going to be an expectation. So is it sort of, are you okay going into 2026 with like on paper a roster that probably doesn't belong in the playoffs? And then if you wind up not making the playoffs with that roster, is that going to mean that Tori is done at that point? Just because he wasn't able to, you know, take that roster above and beyond what the expectations were. That's such a big. Or could there be, you know,

or maybe next year they're going to be like, well, we didn't really give him enough to work with because, frankly, it's going to be really hard to give him enough to work with to go and win 90 games next year. That's just, that's going to be really a pretty,

a pretty serious uphill battle. But if you keep making that excuse for him year after year, do you really get to a point where you extend him while saying that? Like again, this is an offseason that we saw a lot of coaches that have a lot of experience, a lot of coaches we like that were fired. And quite frankly, they were fired because their teams fell short of expectations of making the playoffs. Like, yes, the Diamondbacks definitely had more significant impactful injuries that

happened to them. But they didn't really have more injuries than the average team has happened to them over the course of the year. It just so happened that not only were they to the most important members of the pitching staff it felt like, but also they were devastating injuries where we just didn't lose them for three months. We lost them well until next season. So it was uncommon. And I think that's another weird thing is like Mike hasn't even got asked about that, like if they're going to approach pitching differently. And he had to. say like this doesn't this isn't like indicative of us as a team like this isn't going to be something that happens more in the future but i do think that overall it's a problem for baseball in general

and it's not just a problem for the diving bag so but you could you could easily say with how bad those injuries were that you know that that this season is is a right off and not entirely torreys fall you know we've talked about the handful of games that they could have won uh had you he managed the games better, even those outcomes. We don't know how they turn out. And also, that's going to happen to every manager in baseball. They're always going to have losses that occur throughout the year because they didn't go with the right guy in the right situation or the guy they went with didn't perform.

So the manager takes the blame for it. But overall here, I think you made the best point. And I think that is that if from this point going forward, if the expectation isn't to make the playoffs next year, and that's what I mean. Like in order for Tori to be extended next year, and maybe that's it. Because they don't expect anything out of next year, let Tori stay as the manager. Because you don't even expect to make the playoffs next year. Right.

And then if they do, if they miraculously do, if they win, ha, if they win, if God comes down and points his finger at our dugout. If every man, woman, and child held hands and prayed for us to win, Jesse, and we made the postseason, then maybe, just maybe they would consider extending. Tory, but that would have to be the unlikely scenario for them to even consider it. And they know that going forward. And maybe even Tori understands that. Maybe Tori understands that he needs to manage his ass off next year in order for them to make the postseason. And I mean, he already talked in the press conference today about coming out in spring training with a different sense of urgency and coming out on day one with a sense of urgency. That's something we definitely didn't see in April as Tori was constantly talking about, you know, a slow build and, you know, getting guys ready

and all this other stuff. And it, it did frustrate fans early in the season because it was like, that's what spring training is for. Let's get going. It's the regular season, you know. Yeah, I think that's probably where I would ultimately land with this is that D-BACs decided to hold on to just keep Tori Lavello here because clearly he hasn't lost the clubhouse. And I think that's a really big point of evaluation in this for them is, I mean, that's something we know is Tori's responsibility, is building relationships with those guys and making them feel comfortable and confident on a day-to-day basis. Certainly, he's done that. The decisions that Tori makes, we've touched on this a lot on, on Snake's territory lately, those decisions are heavily influenced

by the front office, the line between what the decisions that, the decisions that Tory makes and the decisions that the front office makes slash the decisions that technically Tori makes, but he's getting so much input from the front office that it probably wouldn't be great for someone in his position to totally dismiss what he's being told. There's some gray area there with those decisions, but we know that Tori is responsible for the clubhouse and those relationships, and there's never really been any question about his ability to do that. These guys still respect him and very much love him. And so I think that's a really big,

a really big part of this evaluation process right now. I mean, Ryan Thompson's first, one of the first things he said was I would go to war for that guy, right? And we get a lot of that story. I still remember guys like Eduardo Escobar saying that he would die for Tori, but saying it with the most serious face I've ever heard anybody ever say they would die for another man before.

So he makes connections with players that are, that is different than your average manager. but those connections are also based on the fact that maybe it's how he treats them during the game and, you know, the respect he gives them. And maybe a manager needs to have a little bit less of a connection with his players to enable him to make the tough decisions at times and not really care what his players' feelings are about it, right? So I don't know what the right answer there is. I just know that Tori has a tall task before him in 2026. and I think we can all agree that if this team performs next year, the way it did this year,

that will most likely be the end of Tori Lavello's tenure here. And I mean, if they struggle throughout the season, we might not even see them finish up the year. That wouldn't be very surprising to me either. But, Jesse, we appreciate you so much for your time. Make sure to check out his show over there at Snake's Territory. Make sure to follow him at Jesse N. Friedman on Twitter and Snake's Territory. wherever you get your podcast and all of your stuff.

We appreciate you as always, bud. Thank you so much for stopping by. And thank you for never telling anybody about me buying this hoodie when we were in Chicago. Yeah, I was just going to say, go Cubs, I guess. Is that what the story here? Is that what's happening? People are going to like that one.

Go Reds. Yeah, I mean, anybody about the Dodgers. Anybody about the Dodgers. Whoever's playing the Dodgers is Damon's favorite team. That's right. Except if it's the Phillies. Then that's tough. Yeah, we had to pick one of the sister to, it was either CHGO or PHOI,

and I will be damned, Jesse. I will be damned if I'm going to root for the Phillies. Didn't they bring Garrett Stubbs back? Oh, no, I'm not doing that. We're not doing that. We're not doing that. They still have Brandon Marsh. I mean, just bad people.

His hair and his beard. No, I'm not rooting for that. But Jesse, we're always rooting for you. Thank you so much for you stopping by, sir. All right. Thanks, guys. See you later. Well, of course, wanted to remind us.

you guys that we always do some fun stuff and we love having you guys join us make sure to join us on october 19th for our chicken and pickle cards tailgate uh join the phnx cardinals crew for a pregame tailgate i'll probably be out there it's on the west side so i don't have much of an excuse to not be out there but check out chicken and pickle and glendale it's an amazing facility it's gigantic we're going to be having a great time before the cardinals take on the green bay packers we'll be out there at 11 a m so make sure to join us we'll be doing phnx merch giveaways yard games, drink specials, and yeah, stump the mayor. I don't know.

I'm not very good at trivia, but you can come try to stunt me, and it'll probably work. But go to go phtenx.com slash events to RSVP for absolutely free. That way we can just get a headcount on how much space we're going to need. So make sure to join us for that. Speaking of managerial firings, yes, there have been a lot across Major League Baseball. And I think the one thing that a lot of people that were maybe pro, Tori Lovolo being fired, being relieved of his duties is the fact that when you, you look at some of the other managers that were fired,

it's a little peculiar, right? Like Bruce Bochy, who managed the Rangers, he was mutually dismissed, whatever you want to say that is. They decided to amicably split up, but he was offered a front office role to remain with Texas in like an advisory capacity. Meanwhile, Rocco Baldelli was fired by the twins.

This is weird because he was fired by the twins after they decided to pick up his option for 2026. Wild situation also considering the way that they gutted that team at the trade deadline. Bob Melvin fired by the Giants also after the Giants picked up his option for 2026. So teams did not seem to give a damn about picking up the options and then firing these guys. They were all out of dams to give. Bruce Bochy again. And then Angels, they were completely 100% out of dams to give.

They fired not one but two managers. They fired Ron Washington, who missed time this year, and then also Ray Montgomery, who was their interim manager. They fired both of them guys. Who has it worse than the Angels, man? I don't know. I don't know. Like, I will say that you have the, you have the Clippers, Lakers thing, right? Where you're the little brother in the same town.

No one even thinks of you. Like, no one even calls you by your first name at high school. You're just, again, it's my big brother. birthday, so I went through this, especially because we looked so much alike. I was just Scott's brother. People did not take the time to learn my name. It wasn't Derek. No, it was Scott's brother. Hey, it's Scott's brother. That's kind of what happens. It's almost even worse, though. They almost introduce themselves as Scott's brother. They're like, hey, I'm Scott's brother. And they go, but what's your name? And they go, Scott's brother? Scott's brother. Yeah. Like, they're like, you know you guys can be the

Orange County Angels, right? Or the California Angels like you used to be or the Anaheim angels. And they're like, make us the LA Angels. I told you about when I went to the game this summer and they were selling Otani murals. Yes, I know. I know. In 2025. Clearance that stuff out. It wasn't clearance. It was like the forefront of the sale. It was like, hey, people, this is our most expensive item. We can't do that. We got to move on. We got to move on fast. But speaking of Moving on fast, we're all done. We thank you guys so much for joining us. We'll be back on, what is it?

Tomorrow, Wednesday? We'll be back Wednesday with another 12 p.m. show. Make sure to join us for that. What were you going to talk about? I don't know. It's a surprise. It'll be a surprise to me and it's a surprise to you. We'll all figure it out together.

But make sure to join us for that. In the meantime, you can follow me on Twitter. I'm at K-M-A-M-O-K. More importantly, follow Damon on Twitter so you can watch him get into fights with people. He's at Damon Dog with a D-A-W-G. we're all Damon's dogs, bark, bark. Even when we disagree with them, we're still Damon's dogs. Our shows at PHNX underscore D-Backs,

but as always all roads lead to at PHNX underscore sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. We're not stopping during the off-season, guys, or during the postseason. So I hope you guys continue to join us, and I thank you sincerely from the bottom of my heart for being here. We love you guys. We appreciate you being here.

We'll see you tomorrow. Until then, have a wonderful evening, and remember kids, baseball is fun, but it's also not so fun because the Dodgers ruined it.