PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Was D-backs Series Win Over the Yankees TOO LITTLE TOO LATE to Save Their Season?

Episode Date: September 21, 2026

The Arizona Diamondbacks stepped up with the 2001 World Series team in the house, taking two out of three from the New York Yankees for a HUGE and unexpected series win. But was it too little, too late to save Arizona’s playoff chances? We break down Pavin Smith and Nolan Arenado stepping up as the heroes of the weekend, Corbin Burnes looking increasingly dominant in his third start of 2026, and whether this D-backs team has enough left in the tank to make one final push. We also preview the upcoming series with the Colorado Rockies and ask the terrifying question: Is this where it finally ends? Plus, we answer YOUR questions in the final Mailbag Monday of the regular season!BECOME A DIEHARD: gophnx.com/join JOIN THE SUPPORTERS CLUB ➡️ https://tinyurl.com/yc6km2r4An ALLCITY Network ProductionSUBSCRIBE to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/phnx_youtubeALL THINGS PHNX: http://linktr.ee/phnxsports MERCH https://store.allcitynetwork.com/collections/phnx-lockerALLCITY Network, Inc. aka PHNX and PHNX Sports is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by the City of PhoenixPHNX Events: Get your tickets to PHNX events and takeovers here: https://gophnx.com/events/ALLCITY — including us here at PHNX — is teaming up with Big Brothers Big Sisters of America for an exciting three-year partnership. To learn more, visit https://www.bbbs.org/allcity/Branded Bills: Use code BBPHNX15 at https://www.brandedbills.com/ for 15% off your first order!Husband & Wife Law Team: If you’ve had a serious injury, Call The Husband & Wife Law Team first at 602-783-8841 or visithttps://husbandandwifelawteam.com/?utm_source=allcity-padcasts&utm_medium=digital-phx&utm_campaign=allcityShowNotesGametime: Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code PHNX for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply.Shady Rays: Head to https://shadyrays.com and use code: PHNX for 40% 2+ pairs of off polarized sunglasses. Try for yourself the shades rated 5 stars by over 300,000 people.Circle K:  Join Inner Circle for free by downloading the Circle K app today! Head to https://www.circlek.com/store-locator to find Circle Ks near you!New DraftKings customers sign up with code PHNX, spend just five bucks, and get two hundred in rewards within 21 days. That’s code PHNX. In partnership with DraftKings. The Crown Is Yours. Gambling problem? Call one eight hundred NEXT STEP. Twenty-one plus. Arizona only. Eligibility restrictions apply. Fifty dollars in non-withdrawable Bonus Bets issued every seven days via click-to-claim for twenty-one days. Bonus Bets expire seven days after issuance. 1 football Boost per customer. Maximum bet limits and restrictions apply. Tokens expire at the end of the final select game each day when offered. Terms at d k n g dot c o slash offer.  Limited time offer.When you shop through links in the description, we may earn affiliate commissions. Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You know what, it's been a while. Let's turn this guy on. The Arizona Diamondbacks take two out of three from the Yankees and win the series when they needed two the most. But let's be honest. Was it too little, too late? We are talking about that now and previewing the upcoming series with the Rockies.

Don't you go anywhere. To next Diamondbacks podcast, presented by our friends at Circle K. Good afternoon to all of you. Happy Monday. Welcome in to another edition of the PHMXTVAC show. My name is Derek Montia, occasionally known as your mayor of this joint. I got my guy who was occasionally known as the bad boy of PHNX on the ones and twos. It's Damon Dogg who refuses to apologize to anybody in this lineup of mostly

David Smith. You'll never get an apology out of him ever for David Smith. But never welcome it to the show. This show, of course, is brought to you by the fine folks at GameTime. Go download that GameTime app right now, create an account and use our code of PHNX. to get $20 off your first purchase, terms do apply. And I would say go watch some Diamondbacks home games, but that time is come and gone.

I'll tell you what, we need support in San Diego in that final series of the season. Or hopefully we do, I guess. Hopefully we're alive. Hopefully. And I mean, let's be honest. Of course, Fields, a beautiful ballpark. So if you wanted to take a road trip up to Denver to support this team, that would be a great time to do so as well.

That would be so fun to travel with the debacks, this final stretch here, especially if they were able to pull something, out of their hat. And just be present for all of that excitement. Yeah. And if they were able to sneak into the playoffs, you're in Coors Field for three games. You're at Petco Park for three games.

I mean, that's what dreams are made of, Derek. Absolutely. Absolutely. And of course, just never know what's going to happen, right? There is no doubt that the Diamondbacks are in a terrible position right now. There's also no doubt or no argument that anybody could make that they didn't do this to themselves. But you got to admit that when the 2000s,

We screamed about this on Friday night. In fact, it's part of the reason why I'm so hoarse right now. We could not believe the effort put forth by this team when the 2001 World Series team was present. Now, nobody here was expecting this team to sweep the Yankees, but we definitely expected a better performance than the 9 to 2 loss we all experienced on Friday night, especially after Edward Rodriguez gave up five runs in the first inning.

That made the game feel like it was over with how this offense has been performing just from the jump. And it was. The Diamondbacks got, I believe, as close as what? Five to two was the closest they got. But that game got out of hand quickly. And it felt like that was, in fact, the beginning of the end, because had the Diamondbacks gotten swept by the Yankees over the weekend,

their elimination slash tragic number would have been reduced down to essentially one, which, again, probably. would have faded here very quickly, and it would have been the end of their season. However, they kind of pulled off some magic on Friday night. It was a little bit of a miracle there with Jordan Lawler delivering a two-run triple, the Diamondbacks battling back for multiple deficits. And then with the game tied at three in the bottom of the ninth inning, Haven Smith came off the bench to crush a two-run.

walk off home run. Exactly as we all thought he was going to, right? Right? Right, Damon? As we all thought he was going to. Yeah, for sure. I mean, Derek, you just can't even make this stuff up. You really can't even make this stuff up.

Like, this is a guy who, going into this season, with Pavin Smith as the starting first baseman on this team, I said, get ready, buckle in D-Box fans. we are about to have the worst OPS out of the first base position of any team in baseball. And while Paven Smith was on this roster, it was the worst in MLB history since they started tracking the statistics back in like 1920 or whatever it was. And so it was laughably bad. It was so bad you were sitting there, you know, with a pretty decent team otherwise pulling your hair out being like, how can we just not find any first baseman that can. help this team. Finally, you know, Tim Tawa starts putting in some work.

Ildemarovarvarez has been godsend all season long, and they've gotten it up to like 28th OPS out of the first base position in baseball. Not quite the worst in MLB history anymore, in large part because they moved on from Pave and Smith. Then Pave and Smith, after all the opportunities that he was given time after time after time this season, when he was the starting first baseman from about April to June, Derek, he did nothing. with it. And then right when the Diamondbacks have a 2% chance to make the playoffs, that's when Pavin Smith makes a game-changing type of play to put a ball over the fence against one of the World Series top contenders in the New York Yankees. And you're sitting there and you're like,

thanks for showing up to the party, Pavin. To be fair. How much am I supposed to applaud this? If he played any sort of decent level of baseball for the two months that he was in the starting lineup hitting five hole, we would be five games better off right now and in the a postseason position. I understand that. And you can never really figure out why a guy was struggling at one point and then can put together this effort now, right? It has been something odd about Reno this year, right, where whether it's a pitcher or a position player, somehow when they get sent down to Reno and they come back, they're crushing the ball, right? No, Tim Tawa is another guy that comes to mind that did this. And Nolan, not Nolan, excuse me, Pavin.

Pavin has not had a big sample size. I'm not going to act like it's this amazing body of work. It's only six games. But since he returned, he has been hitting slashing 333, 33, $33, 800 for a 1.133 OPS. Yeah, he's been good in the limited. Very limited, very small amount of time. Mordecai in the chat says, hey, D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D- because I am not, I mean, And it's, I'm D also, but you got to, I'm big D. He's Lil D. I'm also Damon dog.

He was working through injury, then got injured again, then struggled out of recovering, why y'all expect him to be at a thousand percent. Mordecai is obviously Pavin's burner account. And Pavan, we appreciate you being here and standing up for yourself. And I've tried to be stick. I've tried. I've tried. I've tried. You have. I've tried to stick up for Pavan. Yeah, that's why it could never be about you is because you've been, you've been more on the devil's advocate side of not being like Pavin Smith is, you know, bang in his drum being like, this guy needs to be in the lineup every day. But you've just tried to be.

Why did they call him up? You try to be more fair to him than I guess maybe I have tried to be. But I feel like the fairness to Pavin has gone out the window in year eight of him being on this team, Derek. Like I am, I'm done with trying to see if the Pave and Smith experience works out. For this final stretch of the season, I don't care. This team's not going to make the playoffs. I'm more saying that Pave and Smith is just.

genuinely unbelievable in that he waits until this moment to finally make a big impact. It's like a comedic let's all laugh at the Diamondbacks type of culmination of events. But at the end of the day, whatever he does in this stretch, I hope he's good. I want to win baseball games. I want to have a shot at the postseason. I hope Pavin Smith is the reason we get there. And we can all laugh at Damon. And then Damon can do the apologize to Pavin Smith episode where we take what we did with

Il-Morrow at the first portion of this season. there yet. We're not there yet. And transition it over to Pavin Smith, but I don't envision that happening. And long term, I cannot have Pave and Smith as be a factor in this lineup ever again. Like it just can't be like, well, we have Pavin Smith to hit against Ritees. No, we don't actually. We should not do that anymore. Here's the thing. There were people, I think, on Mailbag Monday last week, or just in general last week that had said, whoever decided to bring Pavin Smith back should lose their job. And the question at the time was,

why is Pavan back? It's because this team is desperate. This team is desperate specifically for offense. This team is desperate for somebody that can simply hit the fastball and put it into play. Power. They need a guy who can hit with power. And not that Pave and Smith has done that all year,

but he at least on paper, you're like, he plays first base. And in Reno, he's slashed three. 1, 425, 500 for a 925 OPS in a 43 game sample size. Now it's Reno, it's Pavin, who has major league experience. Like, you almost expect the guy to put up those kind of numbers in Reno. But the fact of the matter is other guys aren't. When you look up and down the Reno lineup, other guys aren't.

And other guys like Lordus Gareal Jr. did go to Reno and hit below 200. So it's like you got to give Pavin some credit for putting up some decent numbers in Reno. and those decent numbers that he put up in Reno are the reason why the Diamondbacks gave him another chance because of desperation because he was putting up decent numbers and they brought him up and now at least in this very in this moment that happened on Saturday it looks like a good move due to the fact that he's able to come off the bench be booed booed by both these fans and Diamondbacks fans as he came to the plate I don't like that moment of the game booed and delivers in the way that he did as as the number one anti-Paven guy maybe in this fan base, but actually, you know, that there's,

there are people that are fighting for that top spot. Much, much. Yeah. They, they want that title more. Yeah. Maybe number one, like, professional. It's thrust upon you. Like, you're reluctantly except the title, but other people are, I'll say number one, like, politicking for it. In the media space that doesn't like Pavin Smith in this fan base, because I think a lot of other people are a lot more professional than, than your boy is over here. But that's just the nature of the company that we work for. I just, yeah, I don't like booing your own player. I made that clear with Catell.

Yeah. I don't think that that benefits anybody. Pavan knows he's sucked this season. Yeah. No one needs to tell Pavan that he's been trashed this season. Yeah. You don't need, you know, 25,000 people at Chase Field to tell him you're the worst player on the team this year. Like that's just not, to me, that's not nice.

That's not, it's counterintuitive. And, but maybe Pavin heard the booze and turned it into, you know, putting the ball over the fence. Can we, do we talk to, do we need to boo? Do we need to boo you more? We will do that. Mortykeye, let us know in the chat. Do we need to boo you more?

Mortykeye, please give us some feedback on that. It was the DeBacks 46th comeback win of the year, which again continues to lead the majors, uh, snap the three game losing streak. And I mean, that's such a good thing for it. Like, if this team can make the playoffs, Derek, you would be sitting there like, man, never count us out of a game. But exactly. Exactly.

But you also have the fact that this timing, you. You talk about the playoffs. You talk about the World Series. You talk about the 2001 team being in the building. And this team hits a walk off against the Yankees. Are you kidding me? It's pretty cool. Are you kidding?

Like the only way it would have been better is if it would have been like bases loaded and Pavin would have hit a bloop single for the winning run to come across. And then jumped up like this. Jumped up like that. Dude, that was a wild tweet though from the D-Backs account. That was a wild tweet from the D-Backs. Like that that's in reference to like a song or something else, right? I mean, but then it had Louise, though, no, don't ever.

Don't ever. That looked like Louise Gonzalez in that light. Are you like, that's the type of stuff from the Dback social account where it's like, are you guys dancing on our grave? Yeah. Because we have like a 2% chance to make playoffs, guys. We have to win every game the rest of the season. And yet the D-Backs account, the D-Bax admin is going, doesn't that remind you of when we won a

World Series? Not really. I'm kind of sitting here thinking about how we're going to miss the playoffs as the first team out for the third time in three seasons, you know? Well, we also had on Sunday another win. This time, the Diamondbacks winning in much bigger fashion, eight to four over the Yankees. Corbyn Burns looked good until he couldn't stop giving up home runs.

The Diamondbacks once again fell behind. This time they were down four to one. And then Nolan Aronado walks up to the plate, two bad knees, bad back, bad body. everything, just unks at his and delivers a grand slam. I'm just joking about all those things. Dolan R. Not was in great shape. But he did start a big five-run fifth inning and the Diamondbacks scored seven unanswered runs, including Geraldo Perdomo having two hits and two RBI. And then Diamondbacks relievers came in after Corbyn's left once again early and combined for six and a third

scoreless innings. And the Diamondbacks get their 47th. comeback win of the year, and they improved 82 and 74, securing the first series win since taking two out of three from the Houston Astros that they've had, and also securing a winning season for 2026. Man, clap it up. Clap it up. We did our job. It sucks, too, because, you know, it's the National League.

It's the NL West. If we were in the AL, we would have a spot already secured. We'd have a buy. If we were in the AL West, we'd have a buy. It's not even a joke. Oh, God. It's really, really unfortunate, and we're not going to make the playoffs probably in the NL. And as far as Nolan goes, Derek, I did one.

I did see something yesterday that I wanted to shout out on the show because I thought it was really interesting. Great stuff out of George Lund of Locked on DeBacks, who said, who tweeted that fan graphs values Nolan Aronado's production at $22 million this season. The debacks are paying him just $5 million because, of course, the Cardinals have taken on a large portion of his salary, meaning that he's provided roughly $17 million in surplus value to this team in 2026. And, you know, I have to say that that's the kind of stuff where it's like, Mike Hazen's moves that he made on to improve this roster, the bullpen, the third base by like bringing back James McCann as backup catcher. Those of all Soroka. Those are all really worked out. They've been great moves. It's the ones that they didn't make, which is first base.

Like they did Carlos Santana, but even that at the time didn't feel like that was an actual like he's going to be our everyday first basement. It was obviously a platoon situation and they also still did nothing to address DH. You know, and it was like it was that factor. It was the fact that they didn't do either of those things. Rolling with in-house candidates largely at first base and DH when we both and all of us, frankly, knew that those guys were not good enough to be in a playoff lineup as the starters every single day. You bang that drum. I definitely seconded everything you said, but the entire fan base felt the same way. Yeah, we all were there.

So it's so frustrating that they didn't do anything to address it. At the deadline. There's times where things just don't go our way simply, right? Like the Jordan Montgomery signing and the Corbin-Burn signing, right? Corbin-Bern's injury, Jordan Montgomery stunk. And those things just didn't go our way, right? But when it comes to if they did something, you can't say they'd didn't do something to make their pitching staff better.

They added Eduardo Rodriguez. They added Jordan Montgomery. They added Corvin Burns. They have made big time moves of acquiring big free agents to address their starting rotation. And hardly any of those moves have actually worked out for them. That's that, right? So you could definitely have an entire argument about that being on Mike Hazen,

but at the very least, you can say that they did not fail to address it. the first base D.H situation, they absolutely failed to address. They gave a very limited minimum, you know, amount of effort. And I know a lot of it was just due to the fact that they were stretched financially. Yeah. But then at the deadline, though, that's like, I think that that was my thing in the offseason was, obviously, I think that this is a failure at those two power hitting positions that you don't have good enough players there.

But we can deal with it for half a season. if we can get somebody at the deadline and keep a float until that point. And they did keep a float and they did earn the opportunity for Mike Hazen to go out there and buy for this team. And he only brought in a fourth outfielder in Lars Neupar. And that was, I think that like it just makes it so difficult when you're like, and we will probably do this in the off season at some point. But if you're like grading Mike Hayzen this year, it's like, well, a lot of his moves he made

worked. But it's again, it's like you said, it's the moves you didn't make. that you're sitting there scratching your head being like, buddy, like everybody in the world could see that we needed a power hitter to add to this lineup, especially one that can hit Ritey's because no one on this team can freaking hit Ritey's. And it just didn't happen. So yeah, it's a weird like conundrum with Hayes in my opinion looking at how good

of a job he's done this season in 2026 because, you know, he's had so many hits, but he's had quite a few misses. were glaringly obvious as well. Now we come down to our final six games, Damon, and I've had a lot of people ask this question. Why do I even watch this team? Why do I root for this team? I hate this team, and I hate the fact that they pull me in every year

and then break my heart at the end of the season. I know this team probably created a lot of new fans in 2023 that since then have experienced kind of nothing but heartbreak since maybe coming on board. Maybe they came on board after we swept the Dodgers, And, you know, since then, you got a fun NLCS where we beat the Phillies and then heartbreak in the World Series and now potentially three seasons in a row of falling just short of the playoffs. What I will say, though, is that a 162 game season is very hard to stay engaged in throughout the entire length of the season. And I will applaud this team at the very least for being in it in some way all year.

long enough where they have kept us engaged and they have played meaningful baseball games all year long. And here we are on September 21st with six games left. And all six of those games feel like playoff games now at this point. Yeah. This is our playoffs. This is our playoffs. Right. And again, even if they win all six, they're still not guaranteed to make the playoffs. That's probably the worst part about it. That's probably the most frustrating part is that they no longer control their destiny but all you can ask for when rooting for a baseball team sometimes is that when you are here on the final week of the regular season that you are still playing meaningful baseball games and they are i know it's probably going to end in heartbreak as would a wild card round exit right

if they made it in the playoffs and then just got smoked in two games and then it's over it's over yeah but i want that opportunity i want that opportunity too especially after what we did in 2023. This is a guy that didn't facetiously book vacation plans in 2023. I did it with my whole heart because I truly believe the Diamondbacks were not going to beat

the Brewers. I did it because that team limped into the playoffs, only got in because of a drop fly ball by Sayas Suzuki on the Chicago Cubs. And we... Give me some of that devil magic this year, brother. We shocked the world, but

they shocked me. Trust me. I drove to Las Vegas at 3 o'clock in the morning just to ensure I didn't lose a hotel reservation that was non-refundable. Now, again, that shows how much I truly believed in them. I mean that. I didn't think they were going to make it past the first week. I thought making a reservation for whenever I made it like October 15th or 16th or whatever last year, I was safe. I was, we're far away from when the Diamondbacks are still going to be playing baseball games. Ha! So I did it again this year just to try to, you know. Yeah. Do what you can to push the team for the top, which I think we...

I'm doing my part. We all appreciate it. I'm doing my part. I think everybody here in the chat, we all appreciate that. Leave a like for Derek, if you wouldn't mind. Derek, you know, putting his financials on the line for this franchise to ensure that this team gets an opportunity

to make a postseason right. It is a credit card in my daughter's name that I plan on just like not paying it. That happens, but that only... Anyway, your credit is completely ruined, even though you just turned 18. Somebody must have stole your identity. I don't know, but anyway. You should probably report that.

My might. We'll see. It depends on if they make the playoffs. The Diamondbacks obviously stopped bleeding here with the Yankee series, and they live to fight another day. But it's an extremely narrow path that they've created for themselves, and it requires a lot of bad luck on the behalf of other teams. We need these teams to start losing, and we need them to start losing now.

And if I'm being honest, their road ahead is not easy. I think the Phillies have three games left, if I'm not mistaken, with the Brewers, and then three games left with the Tampa Bay Rays. Correct. And then the two one seeds. The two one seeds, yeah. And then you have, but are they going to, are they going to play? Exactly.

Are they going to unload the clip when they got a game right around the corner? I guess it kind of depends on what the seating is like, right? Do the Rays have any opportunity to maybe lose that number one spot? I'm checking right now. You could tell me that. I do know that at the very least, the Brewers, So they have something to fight for. The Braes are six games up on the Yankees.

So that being the final series of the season. But what about wild? What about like home field advantage in the playoffs? Where are they at as far as seen? No, no. The Yankees are number two in the American League. The American League is a disaster. It's raised Yankees Red Sox in that order of the whole American League.

Well, yeah, I know. But you got the Guardians and the Texas Rangers. So yeah, I see what you're saying. They're 14 and a half up on the guardians. There's nothing for them to play for in the final series. The closest that they could be would be they lose every game. remaining this season and the Yankees win every game remaining this season and then I don't know what the tiebreaker implications are there but the race essentially have locked up the ones the Yankees

and the raise do play each other next oh so that could that could change some things but let's hope the Yankees we need the Yankees to win so that it keeps the rays like having to like play baseball in the final stretch and then the the brewers are only two games up on the Dodgers so they're they're going to need to continue to to play hard here and kind of go for that one. Hold on. Candice brings up a really good point, Damon. She says, might buy an Etsy witch to help these teams lose. Could we facilitate perhaps an Etsy witch curse?

I have, I have 72 US dollars to contribute towards it left from my slot machine winnings the other, when we went to Las Vegas. So I'm all in. I'm all in. Let's figure it out. Yeah, man. I mean, here's the good news. We are rooting for all the best teams in baseball, essentially, the rest of the way.

We're rooting for the race. We're rooting for the Brewers. Unfortunately, as 2BMC says, we're rooting for the Dodgers as well. We are right now. And so, you know, those, like, if those are going to be your horses, Derek, you could, you could pick worse teams to need to win baseball games. But it's just going to be whether or not those teams are going to, like, step up and give everything to win these baseball games when they know that their season is, beyond the final six, seven games here that they have this year. Brewers are two games up on the Dodgers.

Yeah. So they have every reason to play to continue to win. Yeah. At least in this next series against the Phillies and try to secure that number one spot, as do the Dodgers against the Padres. No doubt. So we have the two top teams in the National League now helping us out. And then in the American League, you have the race.

You have the race. And the Yankees, right? And the Yankees, essentially. Because you need the Yankees to beat the raise. so that the race go into the final week of the season still, you know, getting to fight for their one seed. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, those are literally the four best teams in, in the,

or the two top teams in each league. The two top national league teams, the two top American league teams. That's who we need to win right now. I mean, it's, and you can be a worse spot, but, meanwhile, we're playing the 57 and 99 Colorado Rockies.

You got a sweep, right? You got a sweep. There's, there's no offense or butts about it. You lost the last series of the Rockies. Colorado. Colorado. Let's have.

a talk about what most of us pro wrestling fans would like to refer to as the finger poke of doom. We're going to talk about that on the other side of this break. Don't you go anywhere? You're watching the PHA next Diamondback Show. Well, folks, you know what time it is. Football is here and we are having a fun with a lot of fun with it. Damon's having more fun right now than I am. But the football season is heating up and every week feels bigger with Drap King's Sportsbook,

the number one sports book for live betting. The game can change in an instant, and with Draft King's live betting, your next pick can change right along with it. Plus get extra protection with early exit. Opt in if your player leaves the game with an eligible injury in the first half, and your bet is protected. No matter which game you're watching, you're always connected and in with the action with one app. New Draft King's customers can sign up right now and get, of course, spend five bucks to get $150 in total bonuses within 14 days using code PHNX. That's P HNX in partnership with Draft Kings. The Crown is yours.

Gambling problem, call 1-800 next step. 21 and over, Arizona only. Eligibility restrictions apply. $50 and non-withdrawable bonus bets issued every seven days via click-to-claim for 21 days. Bonus bets expire seven days after issuance. One football boost per customer. Maximum bet limits and restrictions apply. Tocons expire at the end of the final select game each day when offered.

Terms at dkng.org slash offer. Limited time offer. Well, I had myself a good weekend, thanks to our friends of Pure Edibles, because I got myself a great night's sleep with their Barry Sleepy Gummies. Not only is an adorable name, but if you spent hours tossing and turning and watching the clock tick by, then this gummy is for you. Pure Edibles presents Barry Sleepy Gummies, the natural solution designed to help you drift off to sleep without harsh pharmaceuticals. Forget those sugar-coated bedtime gummies. Choose a cleaner way to get the rest you deserve. wake up in the morning, start your day with Bliss Gummies as a multi-year winner of the

Best of New Times, Gummy of the Year award winner. Bliss is the ultimate powerhouse for filling your best. It features a harmonious blend of THC, CBD, and CBG. Bliss boosts your spirits with less of the psychoactive effects you get from other gummies, whether you need a stress buster, whether you need a workout companion, or just a hangover hero. Bliss is your all-in-one delightful package, sleep naturally with very sleepy, and live vibrantly with Bliss find both at over 150 dispensaries across Arizona, now including True Leaf. And Damon, it is once again time for our Draft King's matchup breakdown, and I hope we get

to do a few more of these, but this is the second to last series of the regular season, and we are taking on the aforementioned Colorado Rockies. When I bring up the finger poke of doom, I bring up a very specific event that occurred in pro wrestling history where one, Kevin Nash was champion and he in cahoots, if you will, with Hulk Hogan

set up a match where they were supposed to face off, but instead Holkogen poked him with a single finger, Kevin Nash fell down, and he took the pin one, two, three to give the championship belt over to Hulk Hogan. Now, I don't expect this from a division rival in baseball necessarily, but Colorado, let's talk.

it's inevitable that you're going to lose your hundredth game, right? You're at 99 losses. You're not winning all six of your remaining games. So what does it matter if you lost three to the Diamondbacks right now? Does it, I mean, would it really impact your season in a huge way, one way or another? You have the worst record in baseball and you're going to end the season with the worst record in baseball. I mean, the angels might catch you, but you got yourself a three-game lead on them as far as being the worst team in baseball. So I implore you.

DNVR Rockies team. Anybody in Colorado. Cogs, I think, is there. We need your help. We need this team to lose. No, Killer X. We need Jake McCarthy to have the worst series of the year is what we need. Let's root for that instead of constantly rooting a team to lose.

against our time. No, yeah. Killer X is a D-Backs fan who wants the D-Backs to lose. I've never seen anything like it in my life, but it's, it's astonishing. It's astonishing. It's like, it's the opposite of what I just said about Paving Smith, where it's like, I don't think Pave and Smith is good. I don't think he helps this team. That being said, I hope Pave and Smith is an MVP candidate for the final six games of the season to get us into the playoffs. And everyone makes fun of me and tells me to delete my account. Like that's because I'm a D-Bax fan at the end of the day. There's a difference. At the end of the day, Damon wants to see this team win, no matter which of his takes end up being bad takes or good takes.

He's got plenty of takes. You win some, you lose some. The sample size is quite large on Damon's takes, but let's take a look at the matchup here with the Rockies, the Rock and how they line up with the Diamondbacks. Diamondbacks are 82 and 74 now. Rockies, again, 57 and 99. They have a minus 177 run differential this year, and they are 2 and 8 in their last 10 games.

Their team OPS is 739 because they play at Coors Field, and that is the fifth best OPS in all baseball. Diamondbacks improved a little bit. They are 714 OPS now. I think they're still 19th. I don't think they moved as far as position was concerned, but they did go up a little bit on Team OPS after that Yankee series. Meanwhile, team with ERA dead last in all of baseball for the Colorado Rockies,

5.57, which is 30th. The debacks, they improved a little bit again, but they're still 12th. They're at 4.11. Actually, no, I believe that ERA went up just slightly, but they did not, much like their OPS, change their position in Major League Baseball. The Rocky starters are just bad. Now, obviously, once again, just like the team OPS, of course, Field plays a large part in that, but their starting pitching ERA is 6.20, which is 30th in baseball.

Their bullpen has a 4.85 ERA, which is 27th, and they have minus 24 outs above average, which is 25th. Diamondbacks still are in second there with 44 outs above average, and the D-backs lead the season series here, 6 to 4. Now, this goes beyond just the importance for the Diamondbacks as far as their, you know, season is concerned. I think that winning games against the division could potentially help them when this, if for some reason they end up in a tie with the Phillies, because it will go to divisional records at that point. And the season series with the Phillies is tied. So the Diamondbacks need to stack as many wins right now, I think as they possibly can, especially considering that these last, you know, three series here against. or these last six games are against division rivals, right? Damon, am I right about that?

What was the question? Well, because the Phillies, I know that they don't have the best record against their division this year. But let me see. Where are the Diamondbacks? Oh, the debacks have a better division record than the Phillies. Yeah, they have the tiebreaker over the Phillies and the Padres, I believe, if they were to win the last series against the Padres. For sure, for sure.

But I think they would also, well, if they want. won that series against the Padres, that would secure the tiebreaker for the Diamondbacks, right? But I was just thinking in general as far as the divisional records and things like that, like that there's, you know, their record will be impacted by games, you know, this week considering who they're playing. But it really doesn't matter because the Diamondbacks can't afford to lose any games. They just have to win.

And if they do, they'll hopefully give themselves an opportunity here against either the Phillies or the Padres. sweeping the Padres would impact, you know, that race substantially, but they got to get through the Rockies first, and I agree with Damon. I mean, even winning the series two to one would probably feel like a bit of a disappointment. But if they do win the series two to one, we will see where this team stands on the other side. We will see where this team stands and where what happened with the other teams in this race. Again, they have a tough road ahead, and hopefully this is where the Diamondbacks can finally make up some ground and and perhaps just perhaps make something completely crazy happen here at the end of the season.

Let's see which pitchers are going to hopefully get us there against Colorado Rockies with the probable pitchers matchup. We have Michael Soroka in game one with a 3.45 ERA and an 8 and 5 record going up against Kyle Freeland, who will pitch for the Rockies until the end of time. He is 4 and 10 with a 6.38 ERA. Merrill Kelly goes up against Mason Adams in game two. Kelly is 9 and 14 this year with a 5 ERA. Mason Adams has a 5.09 ERA and he is 0 and 1. And last but not least,

we got Erod going in the final and hopefully an Erod that can keep the damage limited in the first inning and give us a great outing there in game three against the notorious TBD in the finale. TBD, I mean, he owns us. Zero.0.0 ERA. It's incredible. It's incredible. I will say that I feel like the Rockies are like one of those teams that like you almost want to want a starter because their bullpen is better than they're starting pitching stuff. Yeah, no, you're right. You're right. And you know that this team does not do well against bullpen games.

No, they don't. But their their bullpen games have been pretty good recently. Absolutely. Absolutely. The only big problem is where we're at with guys like Kevin Ginkle and. you know, Taylor Clark being as high in their inning usage as they are. I imagine that those guys will perhaps get shut down or maybe see one or two more innings of work at the most between now and the end of the year, which means the rest of the guys like Justin Martinez and Loisiga are going to have to hold it down.

Obviously, Ryan Nelson being here is a big help, as is Zach Gallen. But let's hope that, as Damon said, we've seen the last of Zach Gallen because I feel like if he's in a game, there's a good chance we're not. That's a nice way of putting it. Oh, that felt like a mean way of putting it. So I'm glad you perceived it as nice. But let's take a look presented by our friends

at the husband and wife law team at the husband and wife law team injury report. If you've had a serious injury called the husband and wife law team first at 602, 783, 88441 or visit their website at husband and wife law team.com. And there is nothing really new to report here when it comes to the husband and wife law team. wife law team injury report.

Diamondbacks do not have any new additions added to it. And the only names that are still on the injury report for the time being are the guys that are currently on the 60 day IL that weren't returning by the end of the year. So from that perspective, it feels good. But, you know, as we saw there with Corbyn Burns and, you know, in the finale, it is a bit frustrating that we've been waiting so long for the return of these particular players, and now they are not, you know, they are not impacting the game currently in the way in which we thought that they would be impacting the game. I did think it was important for them to come back as soon as

possible so they could work out these kinks. And as far as Sunday goes, the Diamondbacks were able to come back and win that game and not have Corbyn Burns' three home runs allowed end up costing them a game. But I don't feel I nearly as confident in Burns, you know, starting and and being dominant right now as I did at one point. And the hope was that, you know, here, by this start against the Yankees and by his final start of the year against the Padres, that we would hopefully see a Corbyn Burns that looked much more like himself. I do feel like Damon, he did have those moments in the Yankees game, right? But again, just, as far as the injuries are concerned,

the, you know, the players that were returning that we thought we were going to see come back and save this team, unfortunately, just aren't necessarily doing that right now. And I'm not trying to blame them. I'm not trying to say that they've done anything particularly wrong. It's just part of the disappointment here overall. Nothing seems to go right for this team. and I don't really know, you know, how, how to take that sometimes, right? Like just as far as the players is coming back, not being able to, you know, be what we thought

or hoped they were going to be. But baseball is this way. And this is the reason why we have spring training. This is the reason why they have to ramp guys up. These are the reason for all the rehab starts and everything like that. So let's, let's hope that we do get the best version of Burns and the finale. and overall, you know, again, just good to have this team at 100% because this is the squad that needs to do it.

And I think that we still haven't seen them play their best baseball. And we might not see that at all this year with time running out. But let's take a quick break. And on the other side of this break, we are going to do what we do on this show every single Monday. Don't you go anywhere. You are watching the PH&X Diamond Back Show. Well, shout out to GameTime.

Game Time. The GameTime app gives fans the advantage. constant innovation. It's how you unlock amazing tickets and experiences in just a few taps. In fact, that's how I got myself to a football game yesterday with my friend getting some great tickets on game time. And one of the fascinating things that he showed me was how close to the seats we got that other seats were almost double in price. Right. So that's something that's great about game time is you can see exactly what the price differences are and how minimal the changes in like road a section might be literally being one section over to the left from

the 50 yard line ended up saving us a ton of money and you'll see exactly what that price is going to be in the app before you get your tickets and that is the price that you pay there will be no additional fees at checkout there will be no surprises that check out and also again if you are concerned about what your view is going to be you can see what the view is going to be with a panoramic view from the seat before you purchase the ticket Again, no surprises at all when it comes to game time. They also give you the best, most flexible customer service policy in the ticketing industry. So take the guest work out of buying MLB tickets with GameTime,

download the GameTime app, create an account, and use code PHNX for $20 off your first purchase. Terms do apply. Again, create an account and redeem code PHNX for $20 off. Download the GameTime app today. Damon, what time is it? Game time? Game time. Speaking of sports, speaking of going places to watch sports, I would almost recommend skipping out on going to that stadium.

And instead, head on over to Heel River Resorts and Casinos. If you are looking for the ultimate spot to watch the game, place a few bets, grab some drinks and make a whole day out of it. I only say that because you can't get yourself some frosty beverages by the pool at the stadium. But what you can get over at Heel River Resorts and Casinos is the best game day atmosphere that you can find in all of Arizona. is Arizona's number one casino destination, and they seriously know how to do sports right. Every bet MGM sports book is built for fans with wall-to-wall TVs,

massive screens, and flexible ways for you to make your bets, so you don't miss out on all the action. Grab your friends, celebrate the big wins, and enjoy everything Heel of River Resorts and Casinos has to offer, no matter if you're sweating out that same game parlay like Damon tends to do or just cheering on your favorite squad. Heel of Rivers and Casinos, all the ways you do you,

visit play atheela.com for more details. I could have used a little bit of vibes from Gila River Resorts in Casinos this weekend, Derek, after my touchdown parlay is more hit. Yeah, I know. You came very close on a few of those, and I watched my starting quarterback for my fantasy football team. I watched his arm bend in a way that no arms should ever bend. No, and you know what? We don't celebrate injuries, even if we are playing Derek in fantasy. We don't celebrate injuries. See, I didn't think that you did until you said that.

And now I feel like I feel like I just said that we don't celebrate. I feel like you may have at some point yesterday. And you're just trying to convince me that that's now part of the policy. I don't understand what made you think that actually, Derek. That's really concerning that that's where your mind goes. And that's what you think of me. But if I said, Damon, you know what? Like, obviously we don't eat people.

Wouldn't that send some red flags? Wouldn't that be some red flags? Wouldn't you be like, why did he say that? Why did he specifically say? I don't understand why he's saying. He's saying these things. Yeah, of course we don't eat people, but why would he bring that up, right? It makes you uncomfortable.

But I'll tell you, this is Monday. Not Sunday is over, football is over. Well, I know there's more football on Monday and there's football on Thursdays and sometimes there's football on Wednesdays. And there's a lot of football. But there's even more baseball. And we got one more week of regular season play to discuss. but this is our year, as you know,

because you are watching the PHNX Diamondback show, and every single year on this show is the year of the snake. Every single month on the PHNX Diamondback show is Hispanic Heritage Month. Every single week on this show is Shark Week, even though sharks do not celebrate Shark Week. And every day here at PHNX, thanks to Leah and myself and not Damon, is Earth Day, Because we recycle and see, like, it sounds accusatory that I leave Damon out, like if he doesn't recycle.

That's the way I was saying the thing earlier made it sound, Damon. That's again, back to that. But on Mondays, we go to the mailbag. Damon, let's go to the mailbag. Always something interesting in my mailbox. I try to get to everything in my mailbox. And then once in a while, there's a letter that makes me go out. I had a good weekend hanging out with that guy.

We took the kids to the aquarium. We went to go see Transformers cartoon where Optimus Prime dies. Spoiler alert. 1986, enough time has passed. What the hell, man? I was just about to watch that tonight. I'm allowed to say that. We are outside.

It's 40 years, David. We are outside of the zone for that. But anyway, let's take a look at what we got in the mailbag. Let's go the first question. What do we got? Shout out to Game Time for sponsoring our mailbag as always, Derek. Our first question is from Travis Moore, who says, what's your realistic, not optimistic prediction for this week?

For me, I believe, unfortunately, our debacks are eliminated on Friday night. I'd love to be wrong, but with the magic number at three with Philadelphia, I think that the last two games of the season become irrelevant. Yeah, that's, I mean, again, you're asking for a lot of things to happen in order for this to go in the direction that the Diamondbacks needed to go, right? With the tragic number being down to three, any combination of Diamondbacks losses or Phillies wins that total three means it's over for the Diamondbacks. That's where we're at.

Stranger things have happened where teams have, you know, lost games over the, over a stretch of six games, right? And the Phillies, like we said, have a lot of, or a tough competition in front of them, right? My problem is, is once again, the Diamondbacks have only swept four teams all season long, and I feel like it's asking a lot to expect them to do it now. But they need to. That's it. they need to sweep the Rockies. And if you talk about them sweeping the Rockies

and the Phillies going one and two against, you know, against who is it, who they play first, the Brewers first. I think that's fairly reasonable. And that's the best case scenario that you could expect for the Diamondbacks is that the Phillies lose the Brewer Series. You know, they lose two out of three

and the Diamondbacks sweep the Rockies. So then when we go into that final, series of the year, the Diamondbacks still need to beat the Padres and take, you know, sweep the Padres or take two out of three and have the Phillies get swept in that final series of the year, it would be an all-time epic collapse by Philadelphia in a way that I don't know if their fan base would ever recover from it. They might burn that city to the ground. God, that would be awesome. We discussed this yesterday, again, with my friend Megaran, who happens to come from the city of Philadelphia.

And the one thing that I do respect about their fan base that is entirely constantly too aggressive about every sport and continue to celebrate the fact they threw snowballs at Santa Claus is that when they lose, they don't turn on the opposing fan base. They don't turn on the referees or the umpires. They literally turn on their own players. I think first and foremost, yes, but they 100%. don't like the diamondbacks for what we did to them.

I'm not saying they don't. I'm just saying that overall, if their priority is getting mad at their own people. They would not even think about us. They would not tweet us. They would not interact with us because they would be too busy calling for the head of everybody in that organization.

Yeah, that's probably true. Including Bryce Harbor. Their beloved Bryce Harper, their precious Bryce Harper and his cameos. Yeah. I just think that, again, as unlikely as it is, the pressure is starting to mount on them.

The Diamondbacks are done. I feel like even mentally, a lot of guys in that clubhouse feel like they're done. And that's a good place for them to be in. This team does not play well when the pressure is on, but now maybe that the pressure is off, perhaps it's reversed and countered and now placed on the Phillies and the Padres.

Let's see how they react. I don't think the Padres are, still ever losing a baseball game ever again, it feels like. And that's problematic for the Diamondbacks facing them in the final series of the year. I think the only thing we can hope for right now is that they get to that series with the Padres with a chance still, you know, to still make the playoffs. And if we do that and we get into that final series with the Padres, win or lose, I still applaud them for essentially making it to the final series of the year and having that

series still be relevant. But I will put two thumbs down in regards to having to watch them once again miss the playoffs by a handful of games. So I don't know how, I don't know how to feel. Lando must have just joined the podcast because he's asking us if we saw who the Phillies play the next six games. Yes, Lando, we discussed that already. You're late and we're going to need an excuse for why you were tardy. What else we got, name? Our next question is from flea ball who says, what do you think about the deback's constant obsession with lefty-righting matchups? It seems their search for a left-handed batter all year hurt them at the end

and took ABs away from Walditawa and Lawler. I think this is where the front office and the analytics play a much bigger role than anything else. I think this is the kind of thing that's probably completely out of Tori's hands 100%. and I think it's because the number suggests that this matchup and playing guys based on the, you know, pitchers and how things line up is the route that they go. I'm not saying that it's wrong, nor am I saying it's right. I'm just saying like, this is probably one of those decisions, especially hearing Tori refer to their stolen base, you know, analytics as a sophisticated system. if they're stolen base situation is a sophisticated system, I can only imagine how sophisticated the decision on lineups goes.

I bet a human doesn't even make the decision. I feel like they all gather around a computer and somebody presses the enter key and it spits out the ideal lineup. It's probably true. And they go, oh, and then that's where they go with. I don't know though. But I do think that that is definitely something that perhaps is you know, that's where the old school manager of being allowed to make his own lineup and do it

based on vibes and feel and who's hot probably is more advantageous than constantly going based on statistics and numbers. Yeah. And to add on top of that, Derek, I feel like the true answer here is that, you know, certainly if the debacks missed the postseason, the ideal outcome was that Waldy, Loller, and even to an extent, Tim Tawa got A-Bs that helped them develop for future seasons. Because if you miss the playoffs and you go down swinging with Lars Nubar and, you know, Carlos Santana, Pavin Smith combo at first base, like that doesn't feel very good to the fan base.

It doesn't help you reach any sort of end goal of making the organization better in the long run. So I think that, you know, like that's going to be truly something that almost blows up in their face a little bit. Like, you know, flea ball asks, you know, it feels like their search for a left-handed batter

hurt them all year and ended up taking A-Bs away from the young guys. That's, that's going to be a tough pill to swallow if you don't end up making the postseason because those are valuable

played appearances that the young guys could have used to help develop their career. And next time that they're in a moment where they're fighting for a playoff chase, they would know what it feels like. I agree with that. All right, what else we got?

Next question is from Steve Voss, who says, can Jesus Sanchez play in the playoffs? Well, his tweet actually says, can Jesus play in the playoffs? And yes, the Diamondbacks could use Jesus right now in their lineup more than ever.

Could you imagine that, Damon? Now batting with an OPS of 3,000, pinch hitting in the eighth inning, Jesus Christ, comes up, you know, with his bat. Better than Otani. Does the sign of the cross on the plate? Immediately people are like,

hitting 875. I don't know why this guy isn't in the lineup more. Brother, he'd hit a thousand. He's lefty. I mean, he's a switch hitter. No, Jesus, cannot be on the postseason roster

because he was added to the team after the deadline, which is August 31st at midnight. So any player that's added after that point is ineligible for postseason play. And Max Kepler was also ineligible for postseason play due to his 80 game PED suspension. And that's the reason why they,

they, they, uh, parted ways with Max. He was also not doing extremely well. And he's one of those guys that, you know, we felt like was taking away bats from the aforementioned young guys that, that should probably need those.

But, uh, no, Jesus cannot, uh, participate in postseason play. And he's also not killing right-handed pitching like he had claimed he was going to. And I really wish he was because we could use that right now. We could definitely use that. All right, what else we got, Damon? Our next question here comes from Michael Rokickey, Evil Michael.

Evil Michael. And Evil Michael wants to know which of these D-Backs Nuggets is more damning for their season. 17 and 31 in games started by Merrill Kelly and Zach Gallen, or the offensive black hole that is the first base position. Oof. I think the first base black hole. I think that the Merrill Kelly and Zach Allen situation sucks. I do think it sucks, but in some of those outings,

they might have been able to overcome those bad outings if their offense was performing better. And I would say that if their offense was performing better, they would probably have far more wins considering the number of one-run games we participated in than they currently have. It sucks that Merrill Kelly and Zach Gallen have not been good this year. And that probably doesn't bother anybody more than it bothers

Zach Gallen and Merrill Kelly. You know, I don't think either of those guys, but I do kind of, Mark makes a good point. Mark says it's $40 million being spent between those two guys. So that portion is more damning as far as I think, you know, the idea to bring them back. Are making peanuts on, you know, when it comes to what most first basement and baseball are making.

But this, this, I mean, the offense kind of is everybody, right? I mean, in a way, like, I know it's just the first base situation. And I know it's specifically just that. So even if they were getting better production out of first base, there's no way to tell if they would have won more games. But it just feels like that lack of that DH in first base is something that affects this team during a 162 game stretch, whereas, you know, Merrill and Zach have only impacted this game negatively

for those 31 losses. But the money spent, which then kept them from being able to do more for the first base DH and other things. yeah, that's probably, I don't know. That's a difficult decision between those two for sure. At least with Zach and Merrill, once again, they tried, whereas I don't really feel like they had ever any point, at any point did enough to address that first base situation.

So, I mean, with Zach and Merrill, they tried and it didn't work out, but they didn't even try to fix first base. It's pretty baffling. push maybe on both of those things i think that the first baseball was just a lot more obvious that it was going to be bad but in large part that is because of the resources spent to mark's part point whereas the pitching is like merrill and zach were paid like a one in a two in majorly baseball and they gave you the production of potentially the two were starting pitchers in the sport this year over the course of a certain amount of games so that's probably a little unfair to maryl

Zach, I think, definitely belongs in that conversation. But Merrill's at least in the bottom 10 to 15 pitchers in the sport this year. So, yeah, it's, you know, it's unfortunate. You're paying 40, 45 million for two guys that have practically given you nothing and have really hurt the team. So I actually think that based off of Mark's point about resources, that I will flip and say that that is more damning on the season. All right.

Next question, Karen with the C. Karen with the C says one question. Where's Waldy? I know he's on the bench, but not playing. It's a great question. I think that, again, it's always interesting to me how things go down the stretch and who this team chooses to rely on who to believe in. But I don't know, man. I mean, it kind of goes back to the Diamondbacks having six walk-off home runs this year.

One of those with Ryan Walshman, and he also has two walk-off hits. So he last played on the 15th against Miami. So he is not a long time ago. He has not played in a very long time. I will say this, Derek. And, you know, this is kind of going against my point earlier of like, if you don't make playoffs, you kind of want to not make playoffs going down swinging with your young guys.

But Walschman in the last 30 days is hitting 146-2-36-208 with a 4-45 OPS. In September, he's slashing OPS. 0.87, 250, 087 for a 337 OPS. Yeah, it's really, really bad. And it's a small sample size, too. Like, the last 30 days, he only has 48 ABs. You know, the last seven days, he only has two ABs. Like, he's not been playing a lot.

But, yeah, he certainly has been trending down quite a bit here. And I think that that's probably why is that they're unloading the clip with the final stretch of the season. They want to make playoffs. So they're saying if he's not going to hit, then we're not going to play him. Well, let's take a quick break, Damon. On the other side of this break, we will get to some more mailbag Monday questions. Don't you guys go anywhere. You are watching the P.A. to next time and back show.

You got to do your research if you are ever involved in a serious accident or injury. The lawyer you hire does matter. And you want to contact the husband and wife law team first. Mark and Alexis Breyer are the husband and wife law team. And their team brings hundreds of years of combined trial experience, along with multiple certified specialists in wrongly. wrongful death and personal injury. And that is what their practice is 100% dedicated to injury and wrongful death litigation.

They are experienced. They are specialized and they are equipped with the expertise to handle every aspect of your case. From the day the firm open, their focus has been to help people during some of the most challenging times of their lives by providing an unmatched combination of personalized service and legal results. Now, they cannot guarantee the outcome of any case, but they can make promises to use as their client, including that you can cancel your fee agreement with them at any time for any reason, that you will receive at least as much in your pocket as they receive for their fee, even if they have to reduce their attorney fees to do so.

And you have the right to trust that as your attorneys, they will tell you both the strengths and weaknesses of your claim so that you can make informed decisions. If you've had a serious injury, call the husband and wife law team first at 602-7-8-8401 or visit their website at the link in our show notes and tell them PHN extension. you and tell them my voice is still very bad. Kim Caballaro real estate is here for you.

And that is, of course, something that is something we all need, right? A good real estate agent. It's hard to find there are great real estate agents in this state, but none deliver the service that you will get from Kim Caballero. Previously, she has been working in the Arizona business realm for over 25 years. And now she is helping Arizona families with both buying and selling. And again, with a network of investors, builders, and developers, she is different. She'll take you to a next level and give you insider insight on property potential, helping you see opportunities that others may miss.

When you work with Kim, your interest are always her top priority. She'll never pass you off to another agent. And she has proven strategies that can help both buyers and sellers secure the best possible terms. She'll also guide you every step of the way. Again, something that can be very comforting when you do not know the world of real estate. But she's also making a special offer to Arizona Cardinals fans right now. If you buy or sell a home with Kim, you will score big. Now through January 10th, when you buy or sell any home with Kim Cavalero,

you will receive two lower level tickets to an Arizona Cardinals game of your choice this season, plus a $100 gift card of your choice and a PHNX diehard membership. So call Kim Caballero today at 480489-5012 and tell her PHNX century. All right, Damon, back to the mailbag once again. Powered by GameTime. Use that code of PHNX for $20 off your first purchase on the GameTime app. And what do we got? We got Gabriel who says, let's pretend that something weird happens and we go to the

promised land. How do you adjust the team for a three game series and with how Burns is looking? Who's starting? By the way, Damon, who hit a walk off home run? I refuse to answer that part of the question. Well, I feel like, obviously, we got to take a look at the probable picture. from this particular series, right? So the Diamondbacks have three more games overall here,

and we got Michael Soroka, Merrill Kelly, Eduardo Rodriguez going here. That would line up Corbyn Burns and... Who am I forgetting here? Corbyn Burns and... Yeah, what? Brandon Fott. Oh, thank you.

Thank you. Of course, I forget Brandon Fott. Corbyn, Gordon, Brandon Fought, and then Michael Soroka again for the final series of the year, right? So are you really going to have Merrill Kelly start in game one of the postseason? Erod. Should you get there? No, it's going to be Erod, 100%.

But then Corbyn Burns in game two, Brandon fought in game three. Yeah, that's going to be the question is, you know, Soroka's been pretty good this year. Does he deserve to be in that three-man rotation? I almost feel more comfortable about him being there right now than Corbyn Burns. And I get that after the last Corbyn Burns outing. But I almost think that you need to like, and I've said this before with Corbyn's injury, you almost need to, you know, kind of trust in your superstar type players that when you're in the postseason, Corbin Burns is going to go out there and give you a Corbin Burns type of start.

Yeah. Even if he's not full go. Like, you know, it just feels like a situation where maybe Corbyn Burns is your best path to making it far in the postseason. Yeah, no, and I get that from the perspective of regrets, you know, you don't want to not give the best, essentially the best starter in your lineup an opportunity to go out there and win you a playoff game. But you also have resources, resources that you might not use in the playoffs that could come in should Corbyn Burns start to have a bad outing. The problem is, is that, you know, like with the Yankees, it just seemed to happen so fast, right? It was like a good outing until it wasn't a good outing anymore. So I don't know, but I have a hard time not having Corbyn Burns in that starting, you know, three-man rotation, right?

So E-Rod, Brandon Fought or E-Rod, Corbyn-Burns, Brandon Fought would I imagine be how it lines up. Then as far as the starting lineup goes, right, who's hitting leadoff? Are we keeping it the way that it's been lately? Yeah, probably. if you make the playoffs, I would assume that's because you are so hot at the end of the stretch that you probably don't want to mess with anything too much, you know? Yeah, that's fair to say. So, I mean, as far as the Diamondback starting, you know, lineup is concerned right now.

Yeah, I'm probably, Damon's probably right. I'm not changing anything. I mean, are you keeping Lars Neup Bar as your lead off hitter? I mean, Marte, Moreno, Predomo, Carol, two, three, four, five seems good. Aronado six seems good. obviously no Jesus Sanchez in the postseason so you're going to have

maybe Lars Newbar there D-Hing I mean Lars has been playing pretty good recently in his last 30 days he has an 845 OPS you know it's taken a little bit of a downturn in the last week but

before that he was you know an above average hitter at the plate for the debacks so I don't mind him being in in the lead off spot because he does like see the plate well, you know, he takes some pitches. But yeah, I mean, I could see that changing for sure. Who's de-aging? Who do you want de-hing in the playoffs? Jordan Lawler?

Or is Jordan Lawler your center fielder? I think he's the center fielder, right? Right. So then you have Tim Tawa. Yeah. As your DH, maybe? Probably. I mean, we all know it's going to end up being paving.

And then Tawa plays first. Yeah. They're going to be like, guys. Guys, Pavin in the playoffs. You haven't seen playoff Paveen yet. Playoff P. I'm with the journey. Can we call Gino?

Too late for that. I mean, it's ridiculous that we didn't pick up Gino. It really is. And then Gino goes. Derek, guess what Gino does? He goes out there and he has a game where he hits two bombs and wins the game for the Reds.

Wasn't that exactly what we were talking about? Why getting Gino despite his stats being maybe not so good could be advantageous because he has the type of ability to just break a game open at any given moment. with his power and the debacks have nobody on this team who has power like that. I know, I know. I just don't understand the idea that we could have just had, had him for free essentially, and they're like,

eh, we're good. What? Again, that gallon of Merrill Kelly, $40 million. We didn't have $3 million for Gino. Maybe that's how bad things were financially. But what else we got, Damon? Let's move on when I'm sad.

This is starting to make me sad. Mighty Schuman says, can we start a petition to get the Diamondbacks out of the National League and swap with the A's? 100% looking at some of the AL division leaders versus our own record makes me sick. We'd have a first round by. It should make you sick. It should make you sick for what's happening in the American League.

Let's take a quick glance at the wildcard situation for the American League, shall we? A team right now that has a sub 500 record, what is happening to my internet? A team right now with a sub 500 record is just on the outside looking in. I think it's pretty set. I think the White Sox are in as the final playoff team. But the next teams are the Blue Jays and the Astros

who currently sit at 77 and 79. The White Sox are 80 and 76. We would be in the final wildcard spot over the White Sox right now is where we would be. By two games. Unbelievable. Yeah. Not to mention if we were in the American League West,

we would be the division leaders over the Rangers who currently are there with a 500 record and the Cleveland Guardians in the Central who have an 81 and 75 record we would be ahead of them too. So we would be leading two different divisions in that conference or in that league and we would be in a wild card spot.

It really would make a lot of sense for the Mariners to go to the NL West based off of geography and how far they have to travel and the D-BACs to go to the ALS based off being in a division with the Texas and stuff like that. Texas teams.

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that actually would genuinely make sense and benefit the D-BACs, but... Just shuffle this whole stupid situation up all together. All right. It's the cross we bear as D-BACs fans as we're in the worst division to possibly be in. Tim Tawa and Joyer, Derek.

Tori's more than likely getting canned, right? If so, who are a few names fans should look out for as the next manager? Well, it's not canned. it's and I think they're going to be very careful on how they handle this situation most likely. It's just the end of his contract. I'm sure it will be worded in a way where they say if they decide not to bring him back, that that's how, you know, that the Diamondbacks have made the decision to not bring Tori Lavallo back.

But again, that's because it's the end of his tenure as manager. And I mean, they'll probably because of his relationship with Mike He is in, hire handle it you know fairly you know fairly straightforward and and and fairly kindly considering his time uh with this team but as far as other managers are concerned i don't know it just depends on the direction in which the debacks want to go right as much as i feel like this team should probably turn in the same direction that some of the other teams have turned to you know a younger

manager that is experienced and probably a little bit closer to his playing days uh i don't know if that's the case. I wouldn't be surprised to see something like one of the two managers from the Phillies become our new manager or even, you know, even maybe looking at Jeff Bannister. But I only say that based on the, you know, internal, you know, decision-making process that I see this team going through and what they've gone through in the past. They value that experience. They value people that have like the older, again, just the more years of tenure and more years of experience under their belt. They're never going to do what the Giants did, bringing in a Tony Vitello from like college that's never had major league experience. They're never going to do anything like that.

So I don't know. I don't really have a ton of candidates right now, but I'm sure as we- It would be hilarious if they went and hired a college manager after you just said that. I would love it. Oh, it would, oh, that sound bite would go crazy after me. They're not going to hire a college manager. The United States. The Dinembacks have struck a deal with Willie Blumquist. Oh, well, Willie Blumquist. I don't hate that at all.

But yeah, no, I mean, there's, you know, there's some fired managers out there that were to let go. Chip Hill. Derek, Derek, Chip Hill. No, no, we're not going to do that. Maybe Matt Williams after he leads that women's team to the championship, which he did not show up this weekend for the festival. I'll throw one your way, Derek, and I was talking at the U of A game with my friend Ryan Kellepier, who used to run the SB Nation site for AZ Desert Swarm, the U of A SB Nation site, but he's a big D-Bax fan. And he was talking to me about managerial candidates on Saturday.

He threw one at me that I thought was interesting. Albert Pujols, who managed the Dominican Republic team that had Catellaraldo and Geraldo Perdomo on it in the World Baseball Classic and might be able to get third. through to Catelle. I don't know if you should hire a manager solely for Catele, but obviously there's been an issue with how Catell's been handled in this organization, whether it's, you know, Tori maybe babying him a little bit too much in some people's opinions or, you know, Cotel needing a little bit more hard, tough love type of vibe. And maybe he respects a player like Albert Pujols, who is someone he grew up idolizing and would actually maybe, you know,

listen a little bit more to him. So it's just, just an option. I thought it was. was an interesting call, though. Interesting. Mark says go hire Mark Grace from the postgame show. Don't hate that after how fired up he was about the lack of performance on Friday, for sure, for sure. All right, what else we got, Damon? Let's get on to the next question.

Our next question here, Derek, is from Bloski, who says, who will be the DEVX manager in 2020? All right, there we go. We just addressed that one for sure. But, again, we don't know. Don't know. Wouldn't be surprised again. I don't see the staff sticking around if Tori isn't here. I see them going in a different direction as far as like pitching coach, Brian Kaplan.

I would keep J.R. House personally, regardless of the situation, but I can see them even moving on from Joe Mather. But if there was one person, I would see them retaining, again, would be Jeff Bannister as manager, just due to the relationship he's already established with his team, and due to him being a fairly dearest. different of a mindset and philosophy as Tori is concerned. However, I do agree with Damon as far as if you are actually looking for a change, keeping someone around from the exact same staff

doesn't feel like the best change you could make. I feel like if you want to go in a different direction, you probably shouldn't go with the guy that has been in Tori's ear and providing him with, you know, guidance and opinion and decisions. Yeah, you should probably go into a different direction if you want to go in a different direction. Right, right. Tori is, he really is a man that leads a staff and values his staff's opinions. For sure. You know, most of the time goes with what they say, right?

Like it comes down to him, but he has those guys in place, in his opinion, as experts, as subject matter experts and everything that they do. And that those are the opinions he trusts. When Tori is making decisions, he is not doing it without the guidance of a Jeff Bannister and without the guidance of a Joe Mather, you know, at times. So again, even though it does ultimately fall on him, Damon's right. If you want a different direction, go in a different direction. All right. What else we got? Our next and second to last question, Derek, is from Jason, who says, if the season ends next week, what are some core changes you'd like to see

the org make in the offseason? What are some window dressing changes you'd also welcome? I would like to see, well, again, it's going to be. It shouldn't be so interesting to see how the CBA impacts this, but I think that the overall results deep down inside is that we will have baseball at some point next year and that the CBA will actually be beneficial for the Diamondbacks from the perspective that it will put them at the lower end of spending, hopefully, and allow them to have more money freely to spend that would not be taxed based on going over a certain threshold for a luxury tax. Now, with that being said, still don't see this team being one of the top spend.

in baseball, that's never going to happen. I don't see them if there is a salary cap spending anywhere close to the salary cap. But I do think that with the way this team is set up right now, some core changes I would like to see them make is to go out and address the actual problems they have on this team. And I mean, again, even if that ultimately might end up meaning that they have to eat Merrill Kelly's contract next year, they have done that before in the past. and I wouldn't put it out of the realm of possibility for them to do it again in the future. I just think that they need help with starting pitching next year.

And my God, they need to add to first base and DH and adds power to this team. Like, they're not losing a ton of players at the end of this season. So I don't think that the players that are here cannot help you win again in 2027. But my God, if you don't address the shortcomings that this team has once again, then this truly is the definition of insanity, just like it would be if you brought Tori back after once again failing to make the playoffs and missing it by a handful of games.

And I love Tori. I openly say that on this show. I don't know what I'm going to do for dinner on Sunday nights anymore without seeing Damon and Tori and Kristen and having our wonderful get-together. But again, I can understand the feel, I feel much differently about my kids, Hayzen as Damon and I argued about the other day, but I will say that even with as much as I

like Tori, I completely understand the desire to want to change after, you know, if this team does in fact miss the postseason. I also noticed just now, Damon, how much I look like Bob Brenley sitting here with this mustache and this particular jersey on. Yeah, it is like you're doing a Bob Brenley costume for Halloween. Derek went, he even grew a mustache. It's crazy. He went all in on that. All right, what else we got? We got one more. Oh, wait, what was his other part of his question?

The window dressing type of moves you want to see, like maybe something with the, you know, the food concessions or, you know, something with the team shop. You're there at Chase Field all the time. Anything come to mind? I think they do a great job with March, honestly. Stay away from my 50% off shop because it was ravaged the other day and I'm upset about that. What I will say, as far as window dressing stuff is concerned, if you're talking about food in the ballpark, bring in more, like, local places like you did. with some of the other stuff. I know that's hard.

I know that's up to those local places, paying the money for rent essentially at Chase Field. But I felt like the Chino Bandito thing and other stuff that they did was such a hit this year, not to mention that some of the staples of the ballpark are still the reasons to go get food there. I still think that getting food at Hungry Hill is not only affordable for the delicious food that they give you,

but I feel like I would pay that outside of the ballpark, let alone in the ballpark, right? I was at a Cardinals game yesterday, and I was kind of shocked to find that concession stand prices were much lower at a Cardinals game with better food options than a Diamondbacks game. That didn't feel right. I paid $13 for a large draft beer.

I don't think that that's even possible at Chase Field, even with all their value beers that they offer. So maybe lowering some of those premium prices down a little bit, and that would help families that do want to come to games but have to spend so much money on parking and concessions and all this other stuff, get there. And I'm saying that to a team that honestly has always been very good about that. So I'm not trying to judge. But yeah, better food options.

And, you know, it would be great if it was local places. Mark's right, Cornish pasty at Chase Field. I want to pay $18 for a fancy hot pocket. And I don't care what anybody has to say about it. Leave me in my fancy hot pockets alone. We got one more. Is that it? Yeah, we do have one more question.

Our last question is from Jackson, my boy Jackson, who says, will the pain and suffering ever end, Derek? Ever. Jackson, are you an Arizona Diamondbacks fan? Because if you are, I'm afraid I have some bad news for you. I think we'll leave it at that.

Michael Dixon says also, what will off-season shows look like weekly, monthly? Oh, we're not going anywhere. They literally cannot get rid of me. Unless there's a lockout. Unless there's a lockout, fired and you'll never see my face ever. Yeah, then we then we then we might need to talk about getting rid of Derek. That's not true actually. No one freak out and get set and get sad about that.

That's not true. That's the day. Damon's agenda. He's pushing that agenda. Yeah, me and I've had some conversations about what I knew it. I knew it was. Well, for the most part, what I'm going to be doing around here is still hosting this baseball podcast. So correct. If we do get into a lockout, I think the tentative plan is for us to perhaps go three times a week. I will still be here doing the thing. In fact, this Thursday, I'm going to be hosting Southwest Bias, and I will probably be doing that a little bit more as we move into the offseason. So again, you're getting plenty of Derek and Damon. Don't worry, we're not going anywhere. But yeah, I mean, it might be a little hard to still host a hour-long baseball podcast without the actual baseball. If there was two guys that

could do it, though, you're definitely looking at them. You're looking at them. Zachary, thank you so much for your super chat. Zachary says, AZ is my second team. I got a giant rattle at a game when I was a kid and it made me love you guys. Good season, y'all. Hope you can catch Philly. And that is coming from someone who's a Padres fan. So I'm just going to say good game, sir, appreciate you.

I'm thankful that that rattle had such an impact on your life. I can feel that. I think I still have a bag of peanuts for my first time going to a Yankees game in my office. And that was so many years ago that I'm not even going to do the math on that for you people right now.

Thank you also to Super Toast for his super chat. Super Toast says we aren't dead, just 95% of the way there. So true. We're on life support, folks. I didn't hear no bell, Derek. Sometimes you kick out at three. That's all I'm saying. Sometimes you kick out at three.

And sometimes when you're the Phillies, someone from behind comes around and smacks you with a chair when you weren't expecting that to happen. Let's hope both of those things happen for the Arizona Diamondbacks. And we get to do a yoffs, a mother effing yoffs edition of this very same mailbag Monday podcast one week from today. That's it, folks. This is it. This is the end of the line. Let's finish strong.

We will be back all week long, by the way. We'll have post game shows tomorrow, Wednesday and Thursday. No show on Friday. But that's so we can be here on Saturday and Sunday with you. Saturday, if necessary, but for sure, we will be having. a Sunday post game show for the final game of the season after that game three against the San Diego Padre. So make sure to join us for all of that fun. Until then, you can follow us on social media.

I'm at Cap underscore Cave Man with the K. Damon is at Damon Dog with a DAWG, and we're all Damon's dogs. Our shows at PHNX underscore D-Backs with all roads lead to at PhNX underscore sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. For those of you wondering why I did that, he used to work, he doesn't work anymore, and it still makes me. said every time. We thank you guys so much for your time. Appreciate you stopping by. Do not forget your time is your most valuable commodity, so

please be careful on who you share it with, and thank you for sharing it with us. We'll see you back here for a post game show tomorrow. Until then, have a wonderful rest of your Monday. Without baseball, let's hope the Diamondbacks get nice and rested and remember kids. Baseball is fun, but it's so much more fun when you just win

the final six games of the season and see what happens.