PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - What Went Wrong With the D-backs? Breaking Down a Brutal End to the 2026 Season

Episode Date: September 29, 2026

The Arizona Diamondbacks have a lot to look back on (and a lot to regret) after once again falling short of the postseason. We’re performing a whimsical autopsy of the 2026 season to figure out exactly what killed the D-backs’ chances of making a championship run, from the biggest mistakes to the moments that ultimately doomed them. We also take a deeper look at the possibility of Torey Lovullo leaving Arizona for the Seattle Mariners, why Seattle could be interested, and why Lovullo could make sense as the next manager in Seattle. Plus, we break down the MLB Wild Card round and the teams we’ll be watching as the postseason gets underway. And finally: Is MLB really about to build a temporary ballpark inside a national park? At this rate, how long until Rob Manfred tries to play a baseball game on the moon?0:00 SkeeYee & welcome in! 3:30 Torey Lovullo = top candidate for Seattle Mariners job 13:35 Does Torey want to stay?  20:40 Potential manager options 30:30 What KILLED the 2026 season?  41:15 Where the season was lost... 48:10 Wild Card round is underway 57:15 MLB wants to have a game WHERE?!?!?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/ACE HVAC: If you are having an AC, Plumbing or electrical issue, call our friends over at ACE: [phone] , tell them PHNX sent you, they’ll take great care of you!Branded Bills: Use code BBPHNX15 at https://www.brandedbills.com/ for 15% off your first order!Husband & Wife Law Team: If you’ve had a serious injury, Call The Husband & Wife Law Team first at 602-783-8841 or visithttps://husbandandwifelawteam.com/?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.

What went wrong with the 2026 season? Well, I'm going to do an autopsy here on it, but I was told to make it whimsical, so I'm going to do my best. Plus, we're going to break down the wild card round and who we think could emerge as possible big-time contenders here out of a lower seed. Don't you go anywhere?

You're watching the PHNX Diamondback Show. Max Diamondback shows your mayor of PHNX, occasionally known as Derek Montia, also occasionally known as the newest Savannah Banana's reporter here to bring you. all sorts of Savannah Banana and Banana Ball updates. Joining me on our Banana Ball tour, it's the one the only bad boy of PHNX

and Bad Boy of the Banana Ball Tour. It's the one and only Damon Dog on the ones and twos. Damon Farrell. Can I just say I think I quit the Banana Ball tour? I want nothing to do with the Banana Ball tour. I mean, here's the problem. I can't think of anything I'd rather do less. Guess what, David, in 2027 Banana Ball may be all we have.

It's possible. So we're just going to start. We're just going to start getting on board with it now is what we're going to do. It's not really my thing. I know. I get it. I get it. But it's going to be your thing, pal.

It's going to be your thing. It's going to get ultra competitive once we actually have to start focusing it on it as our sole source of baseball. But of course, welcome into this show. This show is sponsored by our friends at GameTime. Go download that app right now, create an account and use our code of PHNX to get $20 off your first purchase over there at GameTime. Terms do apply. And of course, save yourself some. money on those last minute ticket deals.

This is a weird. It's a weird time right now. There is a divisive topic amongst the Diamondbacks community. And I don't think I've ever seen anything that was this split. And not just this split, but this split in such extremes, Damon. The idea of Tori Lovellah leaving the Diamondbacks for the Seattle Mariners is a report that came out from Bob Nightingale. again, it's his report, not ours to those that came into our chat yesterday and tried to say we were making up our own rumors just so that we can do a show on it. There'll be a time and a place for...

People said that? There was one comment about it that they said, you can't make up your own report and then do a show on it. And I was basically like, Bob said it, not us. There will come a time where we have to make up our own reports. We have evidence. We'll get there. Like I said, we'll get there. The internet exists.

Look it up. There'll be a time where I'll get into cahoots with Alex Dagostino and have him start writing articles just so that we can do shows about stuff eventually. But we're not there yet. We're not there yet. But right now, of course, this report did suggest that Tori Lovolo would be the, essentially the top candidate right now to replace Dan Wilson as manager of the Seattle Mariners. First of all, there's something I needed to address Damon that we did not address on yesterday's show, which I, I don't. I think not enough people are talking about across sports. I don't know if I've ever seen this before.

I'm sure it's happened before. I doubt it's the first time that we've ever experienced this in sports. However, it's hard to imagine, I can't think of a time when we did, when a manager needed to announce his own firing. That seems to lack a little bit of class. Did you see this? Yeah, I did. Oh, my God.

It's not going to work out. It's not good. and here's the thing is just for starters as a manager that could potentially be taking on that job, is that really the kind of environment you want to put yourself into, a place that made Dan Wilson come down, sit in front of media, get teary-eyed, and tell everybody that he will not be returning as manager of the Seattle Mariners? I didn't love that. I didn't love that.

And I actually like a lot of the things that Seattle is doing in general up there. I mean, they are, as Damon said, they are the AL version of the diamond bags. Spider-Man mean. Yeah, it very much is. But after the Mariners finish 76 and 86, they, of course, have let Dan Wilson go. He will not return in 2027. And Seattle President of Baseball Operations, Jerry Dipoto, said the organization will look outside the organization for its next manager and Watts' fresh thoughts and a new perspective. he also said that the club would prefer someone with previous managerial experience.

I think the assumption there is that Tori will not be returning to the Diamondbacks and since he would be essentially a free agent manager because his contract has expired, then Tori Lovolo was, of course, immediately kind of, I guess, and I don't even know if it's a process of elimination or if Seattle has made any kind of comments. Again, Bob Nightingale's article just basically said that Tori, you know, has, Tori is a top candidate, right? We have the fact that Tori did say that he wants to win a championship in Arizona,

but he also added that he wants to be wanted. And that I want to be wanted comment still seems to carry a lot of weight with it as far as what he meant by that. Is he, I don't think he was speaking towards the organization, Damon, as much I think as he was speaking towards the fans. The fan base, right? I kind of agree with that, yeah.

I mean, obviously. I think he sees a lot of the, I feel like he sees a lot of the hate, obviously. And I think to expand upon it, Derek, I think he is cognizant enough and smart enough to know that, like, that is not the end all be y'all. That is not 100% of the fan base's sentiment towards Tori Lovolo is not that of negativity. There are plenty of people that support Tori. And I'm sure he interacts with those types of people on a day-to-day basis. in this city, right? Like he probably, you know, goes to out to eat and people are really nice to him. And, uh, you know, that makes him fall in love with this community and whatnot. It's not like all the

Twitter trolls are just going up to him at the grocery store. And you know what I mean? So I do think that like, he has the, the ability to kind of put that to the side and, and say like, you know, I love the people of this city and I love the people of this state and I want to continue to, you know, represent them at this level. But at the same time, I also think that, you know, like the noise at times does get very loud. And, you know, he clearly doesn't have, you know, 100% support. The people that are his detractors are, like, obsessively detractors of him. Like that is their one goal in life.

Their one thing that they wake up for every day is to make sure that Tori gets sent packing. And it's like Speaking of which as you say that Killarex shows up At least Killarex is an ethical Hater when it comes to his hate of Tori He said he pressed him out of sprouts one time And I don't believe that for a second

However there's a connection here Between Tori and Seattle I mean Tori was a mariner For a brief time in his playing career And again he also Can I just say that fan base is like They seem like really emotional

The Mariners And I think that maybe that could be like a good fit if we're being completely honest. Like Tori's like in his feelings type of guy. And I feel like the Mariners fans like they're like posting clips of Randy like standing in the dugout when they get eliminated being like I'm going to fall into a million pieces and cry. It's like I feel like they're going to be having those same types of convos about Tori. If that's the case, then good for him, man. I would be a good fit. I'm not saying necessarily that I think a lot of diamonds.

Diamondbacks fans were or like bandwagon fans or anything, but you have to admit this fan base was expanded quite a bit when they made their run in 2023. Yeah. Right. So I think what we have, when we have, you know, the people that are fed up with Tori, if you want to discuss the detractors, as it was called, is that some of them are obviously longstanding Diamondbacks fans that are probably a little bit more old school.

The 10 years is kind of, you know, kind of eroded. way their love for Tori and they also don't love the fact that he is such a player first kind of manager right then you have the newer fans that just have been disappointed and they expected after going to the world series in 2023 for this team to get back at least to the playoffs again and at least for it to happen fairly quickly with how good that team in 23 seemed and instead they've just got no experience the heartbreak season after season after season now of getting close to the the playoffs but not breaking through. And again, I mean, I don't, I don't disagree with the idea here that Seattle's division is kind of right for the taking. So if you add Tori to that with his experience

and that particular team that they have up there, I do think that honestly it would be a good fit. I think it would probably find success. I think that as much as some people want a change for the Diamondbacks, I think a change for Tori would go a long way for him as well. Maybe, maybe. You know, but you just have the fact that Seattle would be interested because of the managerial experience, the postseason experience. And I think you're right. The relationship building with the players, I think is a very, it's a very positive thing seen within MLB. The way that he's able to connect with players, the way he's able to connect players as a family with each other.

I mean, he just has that reputation for building strong relationships. Seattle's looking for a fresh voice that feels like it can connect, you know, the team. And again, having a veteran manager that has that established leadership style could be the exact thing that they're looking for, right? I think that, you know, like, that is something I was, I was actually thinking about it yesterday. Like, there's so many people that have just stories about meeting Tori where he connects with them, whether it's like you or like Danielle who's been on this show and obviously love. And like, Tori has gone out of his way to be, you know, like super supportive of her. And I feel like that's just kind of the person that he is. And it carries over into his locker rooms.

Yeah. It's easy for him to, you know, kind of like up uplift the culture of a clubhouse because he does that with regular people and his everyday interactions with them. So it's not anything different to be doing that with the 26 guys that he's been put in charge of to do exactly that. It's almost, it's almost like his calling in life, I feel like, is to like be this like interpersonal connector of people. And, and yeah, I mean, it's definitely his strong suit.

He does, he's not a perfect manager. He has some issues maybe with some in game X's and O stuff. A lot of people have problems with. But I think that the culture building aspect of things is why he's a good manager and why, you know, other teams are going to be definitely interested in him, especially if the Diamondbacks don't want him back. you could also argue that he would be interested in going to Seattle because they have a competitive roster right now that doesn't need like a complete rebuild and doesn't need to be torn

down and built back up. It's the kind of roster that someone like Tori has been probably seeking, you know, his whole life. I think that's the reason why they were so disappointed with Dan Wilson is this team that that Mariners team has, has looked. And they just can never hit. And they just can never get there. Never, never, ever do they have any offense. They have six starting pitchers that every would start in every rotation in baseball. Yeah. And they have just a disaster of an offense. But I mean, I hear you and I think that you could you could absolutely make the argument

that the Mariners and the debacks, let's be honest, they're pretty close to one another in terms of their level these last couple of seasons. Yeah. They had one really good year both. Yeah. And then a lot of years where they've just been right on the cusp of the playoffs and have made it. Mariners definitely, their playoff run for 2025 was very similar to our playoffs.

So ours 2023. And then in between, it's like every year you miss playoffs by three games. Yeah. And so I mean. And it's so close to. Yeah. Like, and it's again, it's the worst division in baseball record wise. Right.

It's the first time this year. ALE Central usually feels like it is. I mean. Central. Oh, I know. But I mean, the AL West tends to also be pretty bad. Like the Astros, though. They've uplifted everyone.

And the Rangers have on a World Series. That's true. Yeah. But I just, I, all I was going to say is that I think that like you can. make the argument that the Mariners would be a better move for Tori's career. But I think Tori made it pretty clear in his post game on after game 162 that his desire first and foremost is to stay in Arizona. Yeah. When Todd's asking him those questions, I mean, he's saying, yeah, I want to be here. I want to win a championship with this organization. I want to win a championship for these fans, for this clubhouse,

with these players. And so, you know, I don't think that Tori would come out and say that if he was truly 50-50 or close to it about being like, well, I want to be here, but also I could see myself over here. I think his priority is to be here in Arizona, first and foremost. And if the organization wants him back, he probably will be. But again, like that's the big question mark we're at right now is like what do the Diamondbacks want to do with Tori Lovolo? What does Mike Hayes want to do with his best friend, Tori Lovolo? Is he going to have him be brought back on a your extension or is he going to let him walk out the door and you know kind of move on to maybe some some different pastures wouldn't you argue though that much much like the players being put

in the position yesterday by us the media asking them if they would bring back tori that that's a similar position for tory to be in like it would be kind of a jerk scumbag move to be like oh do i want to come back not really not really i'm actually going to really start looking into other opportunities starting tomorrow, you know, like, I mean, I know there's a way to handle it, but I think context is key with anything like that. And I guess I would, I will all, I'll respond back with a question of my own to you, Derek. Sure. And I'll say, in your opportunities,

talking to Tori as a media member, does he typically not give you his genuine true feelings on a subject? No, you're right. That's actually, I think, that's one of his biggest strengths and flaws at times. I think just in general as a communicator, right? I think it's why media members in part, love him so much is because he's very open and honest with how he feels about stuff. So that's why I choose to believe the words that he's saying there. I'm not saying that like, you know, when we're talking about, say, Ryan Walshman talking about Ketel that Ryan Walshman's a liar.

I think Ryan Walshman is a good teammate that is trying to push it down under the rug and be like, it is not on me to blow this up out of proportion into the media and be like, this is unacceptable. Like that's just not his role. Whereas Tori, after his contracts expired, he can go out and be like, yeah, I want to stay. I mean, I don't like, who does, who's he serving by lying about that, I guess? No, you're right. Trying to save relationships with the guys like me and you.

A hundred percent. I guess maybe, but. Yeah, he doesn't want to break our hearts. He doesn't want to let us know that our Sunday dinners are numbered, Damned. I believe that he's being genuine, but. I agree. I agree. You're right.

It could be lip service. I think in the grand scheme of things, I think there's some things that could be very appealing about it. I also think the Los Angeles Angels are in need of a manager. I don't know if that's official yet, but it feels like it's going to be official. Tori taking the fam to Disneyland on on days. I mean, look, Tori is an LA guy. I mean, he's a big UCLA guy at the very least, right? And I also think that Tori's, um, you hate to hear that every time. I know. I hate to say it. But you also have the fact that I think that the angels need to fully embrace this California Angels. thing that we've been talking about.

And then what the perfect way to do that is to bring in Mr. California, Toro Lola. So I think that, but overall, you know, flip-flops walking in day one. That's different because I don't know why Tori would leave for that other than it

being Los Angeles, right? But I think that when it comes to Seattle, I made this comparison with Justin Spears on ESPN Tucson this morning, Damon, and I'll just reiterate it because I thought it was pretty good. I still think that Damon is, or Damon,

you, you were talking about me? Yeah, I was talking about. I did actually talk about you. I did bring you up. I was like, that Damon guy.

you guys know him but uh no tory is one of those guys that like can impress you when it comes to like you're sitting around you're hungry and he's like hey what do you got in the fridge i'll cook something up and you're like i have nothing bro i haven't gotten shopping in three weeks i think there's like some green onion that hasn't gone bad in there i have an entire case of dollar store ramen in there we got a 30 pack maybe some eggs and beers tory comes out with some of the most amazing crappy ramen you've ever seen in your life you're like holy crap you made this out of like rom-that ramen ramen like this is good right but tory might not necessarily have had the waggo beef or the you know uh cuisine type kind of ingredients to make a championship contender overall right

but if you go to seattle though you got wagoo for for your first portion and like poop for your second portion probably i hate them i'm sorry to be vulgar but it's It's just the truth. No, I know. You have one side of the baseball that's elite, and the other side is absolutely horrendous at all times. Yeah, well, it's inexplicably at times specifically. But this would be the end of a 10-year era here.

And of course, Tori Lavallo has managed here for a full decade. So the people that want to see him leave, obviously, based that on the lack of results over that decade. And the fact that we have, you know, a few postseason appearances to show for it and a few winning seasons, but also one of the worst seasons in Diamondbacks history, the second to, I think the second worst season in baseball or in franchise history, and a lot of mediocrity in between, you know, and again, the Diamondbacks would need to be replacing their winning, winningist manager and finding a way to, you know,

figure out what their next, what their culture is going to look like without Tori Levello. Mike Hazen also has to operate for the first time without Tori Levello, you know, but if he leaves, yeah, potentially, but we would have to determine, like, is this a broader organizational reset, right?

Are they going to start making changes to the roster by bringing in, especially if the case is that they bring in a new GM and manager and coaching staff and everything, right? But, you know, there's a lot of offensive inconsistencies here.

There's been a lot of pitching inconsistencies here. And there's just a roster that once again, ultimately fell just a handful of making the postseason, right? But like you said, Tori has made his position clear that he wants to remain here in Arizona. And again, his comments indicate that he knows he wants, he wants to know that the organization genuinely wants them back. I think part of that is a multi-year deal. We said that, like, I still think that a one-year deal wouldn't be the worst thing for everybody

considering the lockout. But the problem is that other teams will probably offer him multi-year. deal. So he wouldn't take the one year deal from the netting backs. But I agree with that. I mean, I think that in maybe in an ideal world, that would be the case. But I don't know. I still feel like a potential replacement there for him

is Jeff Bannister. But as we've discussed, if you truly want to do something different, I don't know if Jeff Bannister is the guy for that. I think Jeff Bannister is an amazing manager, amazing coach, and fully capable of stepping in and providing this team

perhaps with some toughness that Tori might have lacked. However, Bannister's right there. It's not like he's not hyping him up or providing them with toughness by being a bench coach. It's not like he has to be the manager. Yeah, it's kind of his job as the bench coach almost. He should be going around and shoving dudes randomly, you know,

doing the Madison bumgardeer thing, choking people out when they're not looking. He's fighting with the Cubs guys. Like, that's literally what he's bringing to the table. He's there. He's right there doing that. He's the enforcer. Yeah, he's the enforcer. But again, there's other external candidates that could be good for this team. And I hate to say this so much.

But I kind of agree with Rex in the chat in regards to, I wouldn't mind seeing a Hispanic manager in here with this clubhouse being a majority of Hispanic, Spanish-speaking players. Yeah. And I just think that there's something that can connect them if they wanted to go on that route. And again, I hate to ever agree with that man. But if you're going to go with someone like at Albert Pooholz or an Alex Cora or something, I don't think that's the worst decision. And I think it is something that could bring, you know, this, this, the everybody together in this, in this clubhouse. That would be something like that that's more along the lines of like what I would be excited about if they were to move on from Tory where it's like switch up, switch it up.

Give me, give me something different. If you want to be different, let's be different. Yeah. You know, let's get some new blood in. Let's get a new approach. And I think a guy like Alex Coro or, you know, as I kind of brought to the table via my conversation with my friend Ryan Kellep here, Albert Pools, who is the Dominican Republic manager during the World Baseball Classic with Catell and with Jerry. Yeah, I mean, I just, that would be kind of along the lines more of what I guess would excite me as a fan. Yeah.

You know who else I would want? honestly if i had my choice ollie marmal from the uh from the st louis cardinals i love that man i love his fire i love when he gets tossed from a game by by an umpire there's no better crash out than a marble uh crash out for sure so baseball managing is it's just so weird though because a lot of the guys that you like get to be your managers a lot of times come out of just absolutely nowhere yeah where you're right it's like yeah this guy wasn't even on our radar as a candidate and all sudden he's on the short list.

Rocco Baldele. Yeah. He's what? He's a coach. He's a coach. I thought he was still on the Tampa Bay Rays. Yeah. What are you talking about?

It's the most random baseball player you can remember. And he's a managerial candidate for your team because guess what? He's been the, he's been the, the, the, the Hillsborough Hopps manager the last three years. And they won their division twice. And he's got a really good connection with the guys. And he's already in the org. And it's like, all right.

Sounds good. I didn't know this guy was. was a candidate or was an option. And you know, you bring up a really good point because Javier Colina, I think that's a name I saw the DeBax Prospects account on Twitter bring up. Yeah. He's the manager for the Emeril Assad Poodle. So he's already in the organization.

He's been building a winning. And he wins a lot. Team down there. Yeah, he wins a lot. And again, he could be a good. And DeBax prospects. One thing that they said that I think specifically like was in brain, ingrained in my, my brain here, Derek, in brained.

Is it a new word that I created? Yeah, you like it. Embrained. Yeah, embrained. It's kind of ingrained into your brain all wrapped in one. It's just the fact you have to explain all of that that really takes too much time. But otherwise, it would be a... It's pretty selfish.

Yeah, for sure. He said that the, that they, that manager is consistently overperforming with the rosters that he's being given. Yeah. And I know D-BAC's prospects is very well locked in on what the level of these teams are versus the, the opponents that they're going against. And if the expectations truly are lower, and yet the Amarillo Sod Poodles are continually winning the Texas League championship, I think that that does bode well for his ability to get guys to play up to their competition.

I agree. Well, I got one other candidate for you, Damon, Nolan Aronado. No. Why not? Because he's our third baseman. Player slash manager. He can manage out on the field while he's out there. He's just making plays and swapping.

and swapping guys out. If we're going to do anybody, it's James McCain and you know it. That's true. That's true. Shout out to Nolan Aronado. He was named the National League Player of the Week. It's the third time in franchise history. He was good.

He was good. He's had three or more different position players have been named over the course of a season at Player of the Week. And it joins the 1999 team that had Jay Bell, Matt Williams, and Steve Finley, along with the 2019 team that had Eduardo Escobar,

Nick Ahmed, and Cattel Marte named. But this is his ninth career national player of the week. He had safely in each of his six games played that week, hitting 435 with a 1432 OPS, two doubles, three home runs, eight RBI, and two walks. We might not have gotten into the postseason, but Nolan wanted to get into the postseason. Nolan was picking this team up on his back, all eight other guys on his shoulder and trying to carry him across the finish line. He led the National League in Slug, OPS, total bases, home runs, and RBI. At a hundred and a hundred and a hundred and,

12 years old. Oh my God. Come on. Give it up for the unk. Give it up for the unk. Nominal season. He ends his, ends a season,

I think, with an 806 OPS. If you told me, though, that he led in all those categories, I would have said, what happened? Exactly like that. Did every other player in the baseball

come down with the flu? How is that possible? Oh, I would have said, what happened to Corby? Yeah, well, I'm going to tell you. We're wondering what happened to the Diamondbacks 26th season, David.

I still don't know what happened to it, but we're going to try to do an autopsy. I was going for like a CSI crime scene kind of vibe, and then I was told I needed to make it whimsical, so I did my best. We're going to take a look at that on the other side of this break. Don't you guys go anywhere? Of course, you are watching the P.HNX Savannah Banana's podcast. Yeah. Because that's what we are looking forward to.

Of course, game time is here to get you tickets to the Savannah bananas. Game time's here to get you tickets to any kind of baseball game you want to go to. And of course, game time app is how you unlock amazing tickets and experiences in just a few taps. The game time guarantee means you get 100% authentic tickets on time at the best price. No surprises. And your fees are included in the price you see when you are searching for tickets and when you are purchasing tickets. What you see is what you pay, period. Again, no surprises at all when it comes to game time.

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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. It's also time to get some chores done around the house. And when I mean chores, I mean those renovations that you've been putting off all summer because it's been too hot outside to do it.

And now it's pouring rain this morning in the valley and there's probably potentially things that you were supposed to fix that you didn't fix that you're now wishing you would have. Well, now is a great time to get over to the Window Depot and replace perhaps some of those leaky windows or some of those windows that don't shut right or keep the cold air out here before the winter comes long. I know we love the cold air. We can't wait for that to be coming through our house for free. But, of course, you can make sure to not only replace your windows, but you can upgrade them with some new energy saving windows that will improve your energy bill.

It will also beautify your home and, of course, add value to it as well. But the Window Depot, more than just windows, they do have. Of course, plenty of those, and they are experts when it comes to that. But they also have everything you're looking forward to refresh your vanity, affordable bathroom updates. They have kitchen remodels. They make kitchen remodels easier. And again, they have everything you're looking for. It's the reason why contractors love the Window Depot of unbeatable prices and, of course, the job site ready quantity.

So visit the Window Depot.com and start planning your next project today. The Window Depot more than just a window store. Yeah, Damon, I was going to come in all like hardcore. I was going to put on some like gloves and like a mask. And we were going to just dive right into the dead body. That was the Arizona Diamondbacks 2026 season. That would have been pretty cool. Just grim and and just very dark as it should be,

as it should be for the way we feel about this season. Today the National League and American League Wildcard rounds are going to begin. And we get to once again be Squidward watching everybody else have a fun time outside of the vent. Make sure to tweet that later actually. I will. You know, I'm going to. You know I'm going to. But also, we have the fact that I was told that I needed to make this autopsy situation whimsical. So if I'm going to make anything whimsical, you know, I'm still going to make people uncomfortable. Damon, if you wouldn't mind, let's go to the dead body that is the Arizona Diamondbacks 2026 season. Yep, Baxter's a guy under that costume. He is. I hate to break it to you, kids. And for those of you that might be watching that our children, I'm sorry that you had to see this. Damon, we're going to break down at least my five. top things that killed the Diamondbacks 2026 season. And of course, the number one there is the heart. And when I say the heart, I mean the heart of this team. The heart of this team did not function properly. I'm not trying to take anything away from the season that Corbyn Carroll,

Geraldo Pardomo, and Cote still had. But those three guys truly are the heart of this team. Those three guys are the thing that drives this team. And when you take it, take a look at their year-end stats, again, you can't help but wonder what the hell happened. I know Corby history. I know he just does that on a whim whenever. And I know that this team is, you know, again, a well-rounded team. That's what they've tried to make this. They've tried to make the lineup as good as they can, one through nine, so that they don't have to primarily have the production of three guys at the top of their lineup driving everything. I will always, also say, Geraldo Perdomo was much better towards the end of the season than he was at the

beginning. And he really picked things up despite the fact that at one point, things looked very, very bleak for a Perdomo season after he had such an amazing year last year. But that's it, right? It's the lack of production from Corbyn, Perdomo, and Cotel that really felt like what was missing from this team. Damon and I did it on postgame after postgame show where we said, oh, great. The six through nine hitters did great. Tim Tawa hit a home run tonight. Nolan Aronado was three for four. You know, you had a bunch of production there early on, obviously from Ilamaro Vargas. Jose Fernandez was an MVP when he came up.

And again, you can't say enough about the supporting cast members for this team. All of the rookies that made their debuts and all of the rookies that helped this team win baseball games. Ryan Waldschmidt walking off teams for the first time in his entire career, right? Like the supporting cast was not the problem. the guys they brought in to supplement these other players that were stars that they thought were going to lead the way in 2026. Those guys were not the problem. And Mike Hazen's ability to find guys to support those top three players, even top four, hell, I'll throw Gabby in there. But Gabby had an amazing season.

Gabby won the National League batting title. I'm talking about the guys that up to this point truly have been the driving force behind this team. They were missing in action for entirely too much of the year. and it is a big reason why the Diamondbacks fall two games short of the playoffs. I'm not blaming them because baseball's a fickle sport, and it's more difficult when you're struggling to figure your way out of things than it is to figure out why you're doing well when you're hot. But at the same time, you can't help but say that those three guys missing

their consistent production that we've been used to over the past few seasons, especially last year, isn't a big reason why this team fell short of the postseason. All right. And then we also have, let's go back to our Dead Baxter there. We got the next one here, which is the, my favorite pun. They failed to address their needs, Damon. That stinks. I know it's bad. But they did. They failed to address their needs. That killed their season, right? I mean, we can't say enough about them failing to address their needs at the beginning of the year when that man behind the Mac was screaming about the, their first base D8 situation, and he got the pleasure of being so right that at one point during the middle of the season, statistical pools were being done suggesting that the Diamondbacks were going to have the worst production out of first base in the modern live ball era. Yeah, I think it was since like 1920.

So was he right? So was he right about it? And damn, it has a lot of things going on. He has a lot of interests. He's a big Rufus D'Sole fan, D'Sole, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah, you got it. He's got the Wildcats show going on. Today, he's doing three shows.

He did, he produced Southwest Bias. He's doing our show. He goes on to do the other show that he does. And still, even with how busy this man is and how many, how stretched then he is. I knew that the first base situation was going to be bad. He still knew the first base of D.H. situation was going to be bad. And like not just, not just, not just knew it was like, isn't this obvious to everybody?

Yeah. Everybody, right? We all see it. We all see it. And yet they didn't do anything about it. And then you fast forward to the deadline and they didn't do anything about it. They bring in Lars Neutbar. And credit to Lars, he's amazing.

I love him. I'm glad to have him as a part of this team. It's weird that he gets like the ire for being the guy they traded for when it's not his fault that he was brought on and was the only move the Diamondbacks made, but it definitely didn't address their needs. Yes, it gave them another bat to potentially plug in at DH, but that wasn't enough. Nor was it enough to address their starting pitching needs. And again, that came to bite them by having a bullpen game in the second to last game of the season when their season was literally on the line. So we have that. Back to the Dead Baxter. Another thing that really killed them is this team this year was not

connected. They were not dangerous, Damon. And again, if we really break it down, this team never seemed like it was connected, a team at all, thanks to off-field antics by Cattel Marte. And I hate to put it directly on Cattel, but if you're talking about the five things that I think killed their season, the Diamondbacks were in a position to still be in the playoff hunt when what happened in Boston happened. And again, it would already seem like a disjointed year as far as how this team was jelling together and such. But that definitely seemed to cause, you know, a disconnection in the clubhouse. You are going to have some players that don't mind what he did. You're going to have some players that very much took an exception to what he did. And even that probably caused some

friction between teammates. Not saying it did. This is purely me wildly speculating, but you can't help but wonder if like sometimes even someone you like, even someone that you're friends with, when they're like okay with something somebody did, but you're not, you're like, I don't agree with you on that. And again, it's just a little bit of a disconnection there, right? You also have the fact that, and again, I'm not going to dwell on the Celle-Marté stuff. You guys can all kind of make your decision as how you feel on that. But it's hard not to suggest that just the very distraction of it becoming the biggest news story in baseball,

even if you didn't have as a player strong feelings one way or another, you just can't help but think that that tripped you up. You know? And again, I don't agree that Kattel did nothing wrong. That's definitely not how most of us feel. But I would also agree that in the grand scheme of things, the way the Diamondbacks handled that entire situation made it so much worse. They made it so much worse. And Kattel, I guess, you know, I guess deserve that because he didn't handle things in house like he should have.

So they didn't handle things in house like they should have. But it also felt like it was finally them, you know, getting sick of this becoming a thing that happens at some point in the middle of the season every year and want to. to air it out. That's 100% how I think it went down. I think that they've tried to protect him over this for a couple of seasons, obviously. And then last year they thought they were done. And then this year they were like, oh, I guess we're not. And we'll elevate this to a level that I guess we'll blow it up out of proportion a little

bit more. So I'm not saying that's right. I'm just saying that that's how I kind of think it went down. I protect Damon when he gets the scorebugs wrong until I finally have had enough with him getting the scorebugs wrong. I just don't know if that's the kid. Do you protect me when the score? when the scorebox are wrong?

I feel like you... About the lack of awareness by Damon. I feel like I get attacked when the scorebacks are wrong. Yeah, no, not by the chat, not by me. All right, let's go back to Dead Baxter. We got another one to reveal, and that is the fact that this team got gassed out. The lungs didn't work anymore, Damon late.

They once again, gassed out at the end of the season due to injuries and failure to win critical games. I almost thought like it wasn't right to lump injuries and failure to win critical games into one category. But it kind of was because, yes, the injuries tripped them up. And I think the setbacks to AJ Puck not returning at all in Corbyn Burns needing more time was a big reason why this team kind of just like, you know, kind of lost its, it's,

it's swag there. You know, it just, it was demoralizing. And I can imagine how it felt. But it felt like they figured out a way to kind of get past that in the middle. of the season, especially in July, when some of that news was coming in and could win games again. And then they had to look forward to, you know, those guys still coming back. So there was, you know, at least a period of time between July 9th and the end of this month where they were just winning games. They had no business winning, sweeping the Dodgers, ending the first half really

well. And again, just excited about the fact that they were playing so well and they were going to get, you know, those players back. But we get an additional setback to Corbyn Burns and his return is not how anybody wished that it went. He had what he called yesterday one good start, which was his first start, and then after that, just struggled with his velocity and really felt like it was going to be a detriment to this team. It's the reason why the inflammation thing took him out. But also, again, it just, it's the fact that you had the lack of winning critical games they're late. And yes, you can blame it on injuries. Yes, you can blame it on a lot of different things. The Diamondbacks had two rookie starting pitchers in their rotation at one point. But that Texas

Rangers series and the Miami Marlins series looms. It loomed very big for Damon and I. It felt like, it felt like it was doomsday when they lost those series. And yesterday, Justin Martinez said this, that echoed those sentiments. We had a bad series against the Rangers. The Rangers? Yeah, against the Rangers and the Miami. That was the playoff week right there. We missed the playoff in that week right there. Because if you see after that, we started playing a little bit better.

But it is what it is. He also said before this that you really can't go through and pick out, you know, pick through all of those losses and wins and decide which ones should have been wins and such, right? But obviously he targeted that Rangers and that Marlins series himself there. and I think we felt the same way. I think we collectively as a fan base felt the same way. And you credit them for putting up a good fight

if the feeling in the clubhouse was that, what J-Mart just had from that point. So again, it's like the biggest problem with this team over the past three seasons is not having the stamina to make it to game 162 and finish through game 162 strong. It's weird too because that's always been like Tori's focal point. One of the biggest reasons why he gives guys so many days off throughout the season is because the 162 game season is a marathon and not a sprint.

And he collectively wants his guys to be fresh at the end of the year or as fresh as they can be to help them win games at the most critical times. Well, that theory or that at least that philosophy doesn't seem to be working with this team. All right, let's go. We got one more. thing to reveal here on this on this baxter autopsy and that is butterflies in the offense's tummy because there were butterflies in their stomach all year long whenever they had runners in scoring position and in big moments all season now i i felt weird even putting the big moments thing

there damon because obviously we know firsthand this guy shirtless about the walkoffs and the tarps off and how many times we got to celebrate at chase field the diamondbacks winning a game and coming back. So the comeback thing, that's, that's, that's been there all season. That's been impressive. But the reason why they've had to come back is because their offense has stunk early in games. And it's really sucked with runners in scoring position. You could also argue that the thing with the runners in scoring position and the big moments go hand in hand with having the spotlight be its brightest. Bases loaded. No outs. Inability to deliver. Multiple runners in scoring position with less than two outs failing to deliver.

And it happened time and time and time again. And again, it's a big reason why this team has constantly had to claw their way back into games. And the reason why they were able to is because of the Latin Kings, aka our bullpen, led by Taylor Clark. And Taylor Clark, by the way, speaking of which, I still want to defend him because that is a man that was a workhorse here. And this could probably go back to the gassed aspect when it comes to the lungs of Baxter. but, you know, they leaned entirely too heavily on Kevin Ginkle and Taylor Clark. And then they leaned on them late in the season, expecting them to still give them the kind of performances they did the midpoint when they were already,

Taylor Clark well past 70 pitches and Ginkled right up against it. So I think that, again, they didn't, as much as they had certain guys they trusted and could rely on, you know, they rode those horses a little bit too long this season. And yeah, I think that's, I think that covers it. I feel like that's at least my top five reasons why this season went the way it did. But with a long offseason ahead of us, I'm sure we're going to address all of these things again. I probably have no business already coming to a conclusion on this information. But we will talk about other things in regards to the death of their 2026 season later this week.

And again, throughout the entire offseason. So we're not done yet with that. We'll see you guys, though, on the other side of this break. We're going to take a quick break. And then we're going to talk about the wildcard round of the National League and who Damon and I are rooting for and who we think could perhaps play spoiler here overall in the postseason. Don't you go anywhere? You're watching the PHA next Diamondback show.

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upset the Dodgers. And I don't even know if I think of the Dodgers as being as strong as I've thought of them being in the past. But then I remembered they added Terek Scoobal. They've bolstered their bullpen. They've addressed a lot of their needs. Plus they have a lot of their, you know, star players coming back healthy that were injured. So of course, they're going to be good right now. But I do think that if there's one team that could potentially do it, it's the Chicago Cubs. That's who I think. And in fact, I'm kind of backing both Chicago teams here when it comes to the postseason picture. Same.

We have the white socks taking on the Houston Astros who are throwing out a bullpen game against them. And I really hope that our beloved socks go on to make them pay for it. And look, this is coming from a guy that also likes the Houston Astros. So I'm kind of split on that one. Meanwhile, over here, you got the bums from Philadelphia taking on Atlanta. and I don't like rooting for Atlanta, but I'm definitely doing that today. I'm also very much rooting for the Chicago Cubs

to ruin the San Diego Padres party and keep that franchise of ringless mums ringless. And then you have the Yankees and the Boston Red Sox, which of course is going to dominate every headline and every story for this first round. But I do very much like the White Sox moving on. I also like the Boston Red Sox advancing past New York Yankees. I think the Braves are going to move past Philly

and I am hoping beyond hope that the Chicago Cubs advance beyond the Padres. But then in the next round, of course, you know, I literally just want these two fan bases of the Milwaukee Brewers and the Chicago Cubs to implode by playing each other because that's what's going to happen there. And yeah, and then you have the Atlanta Braves

maybe taking on the Dodgers. And I like that just because I like the Braves chances better than the Phillies of beating them. the Dodgers. Damon, what do you think here overall? Do you got any favorites here in the wild card round and tell me why it's the White Sox? Yeah, I mean, I'm a White Sox fan. Through and through.

Through and through. Always have been. I bleed black and silver, as we all know. But yeah, I mean, my White Sox are going to win the World Series. I think we all know that. Who are they going to face in the World Series? I'm also rooting for the Cubs along with you, Derek, just because I think that they have the level of streakiness to them where they could truly take out the Dodgers.

Yeah, like they're, they're, you know, those pitchers they added, they haven't been pitching the way that I think they wished them to be on the trade deadline. And once again, goes to show that even if we had made those moves that Mike Kazan wanted to make, who knows if that even would have been enough in itself to get us in the postseason. But you feel like those guys are going to perform well once this, once the postseason starts happening. You feel like the, the changes they made to bolster their starting rotation, you know, or it'll flame out. Yeah, that too. I think that they're just a streaky team. So I think that that leads to they could go on a run or they could be out in the first round here against the hottest team in baseball

currently in the San Diego Padres. I also think that Tampa Bay is just fascinating to me overall. I have no idea what to. I mean, that whole, look at that whole region of the bracket here. Yeah. Yankees, Red Sox, Tampa. Yeah. I mean, that's nuts. And just in general, the AL is nuts. Like the AL is so weird. It feels like the only thing I'm hoping to not see is those four and five seeds advance. I'm sick of the Red Sox. I'm sick of the Yankees.

I'm sure a lot of people feel that way about the Astros too. So I would love to see some new blood. And I would love to see some of these teams that have been good all year continue to be good in the postseason. And that goes for maybe even Milwaukee. I mean, it's wild. We have three teams in the postseason. postseason that have never won a world series in the brewers the podres and the tampa bay race that is crazy yeah i also like i'll be rooting for just based off of my own personal biases that braves dodgers

philly side of the bracket i am i'm mr brave i am in atlanta brave i was born to be a brave we're taking out philly and then we're the dodgers were knocking on their door next Atlanta, you're our only hope. Believe, Atlanta. You're our only hope, Atlanta. Also, like, can I just say this, Derek? The NL goes on the left and the AL goes on the right. What are we doing on this graphic?

I didn't make it. No, I know. I'm not saying you made it. I made the operation one earlier. I'm aware. I'm not accusing you of doing it. It's a topic I was bringing up on the podcast that we deal. MLB should know better.

Yeah, I mean, the National League always goes on the left. The American League always goes on the right. I don't know. It just kind of bothers me. Well, if you're bothered by that when it comes to MLB, you're really going to be bothered by what we have to talk about in segment four because MLB wants to go into a national park and put up a temporary baseball stadium

and have people throwing, you know, sunflower seeds and bubblegum wrappers and walking with their dirty feet. in a national park. It's just insane what this world is becoming. Don't you go anywhere. We're going to talk about on the other side of this break. You're watching the PHNX Savannah Bananas podcast. You're really not.

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look for that beautiful green can. And of course, welcome to the club. And Damon, I mean, I love that club. That's a club I want to be a part of. But I don't know if the other club I want to be a part of is a club I want to be a part of anymore when it comes to Major League Baseball. Because it feels like in general this world is turning into a very, very dark place where people are just doing whatever, despite the consequences that it could have on

the environment or society or earth or the people living on earth. And I think you guys know plenty of examples of that. But Major League Baseball, they want to get in on it, right? Because having a game in the middle of a field in Iowa isn't enough. Having a game on a racetrack in Bristol isn't enough. No, no, no, no. they need to go and now they need to go stomp all over nature because they want to hold one of their massive showcases at the, I guess, in the, in the shadow of the iconic peaks of Grand Teton National Park. That's right. In Wyoming, Wyoming's Grand Teton National Park, Major League Baseball has reached out to the federal government about the possibility of having a game in,

Western Wyoming's Grand Teton Park, a national park, a beautiful park, you know, where animals live and their streams and there's fields. They want to build a temporary baseball stadium in a national park to play baseball in and to have fans in and to drive cars into. And like, look, I know Grant Teas on National Park is gigantic and I know there's plenty of fly football. flat areas. I know there's buildings and stuff on it. I get it. I'm not going to say like it's all just this wilderness area. But when did MLB get on the, on the like, we're a Captain Planet villain, you know, like where they're just like, we're going to hold a baseball game in a national park. And you're like, that's wrong environmentally. And they're like, we don't care money. Netflix. Ha ha. Like, it's abhorrent as a Democratic state senator who loves baseball.

baseball and represents Jackson and the nearby Grand Teton Park wrote in a text message about it. He said, it's a boring. This is Mike Jereau. He said baseball is the American game. The national parks are America's greatest idea, but a national park is to be protected for its undeveloped and scenic values, not to be used as a backdrop drop for another one of your massive showcase games. And again, it's like, I'm all for some of this stuff. I actually love that they do stuff.

But what's next? Huh? Are they going to want to have it and have a supie? I mean, the field of dreams game, to your point, is awesome. Like, they do it in the middle of a cornfield in the middle of nowhere. Who cares? From one of the most iconic baseball movies that's ever existed, right? Yeah, but like don't tear down the Yellowstone because you want a geyser in the background

of someone hitting a home run. How soon until we try to have a baseball game on the moon, Damon? How soon until we try to land spacecraft? on the moon and build a temporary dome to have a ballpark in just to have the moon be the backdrop for a baseball game. I feel like we're like five years away from that if we're trying to go have a baseball game inside of a beautified and protected national park. Yeah, Coach Henry says, let's have the Super Bowl in the Grand Canyon.

Let's do it. Why not? Have a supai, right, with all the waterfalls in the background and all that beauty, right? It's actually funny. You mentioned that. Some people do do that for like college football. They'll be like, what if they did like a game in the Grand Canyon? for ASU of A every year.

And it's like, guys, what if they built a monstrosity of like a 100,000 Cedar Stadium in the middle of the Grand Canyon Basin? Sounds like the worst idea I've ever heard in my entire life. Like, when did we stop caring this much? When did we stop caring this much? I'm just saying, I don't know. I mean, I get it. I get the idea that you want to try to find. creative ways to make these games be original and new and different every year.

But this ain't it. And I mean, again, I appreciate the fact that hockey tries to at least stay in its lane by being like, we're going to use baseball stadiums. Like, yeah, okay, cool. They're not like, we're going to hold a hockey game in Antarctica, Antarctica. We're going to have the penguins and the polar bears watching on the sidelines, but we're going to kick them out because we're going to build a temporary stadium. stadium there.

I hate it. I hate everything. Sometimes I really do. And I love fun. So I'm conflicted here because these games are always meant to be fun. But now you're going to get to a point where your desire to make them bigger and more epic is going to cost us the planet. Going to literally destroy the earth trying to hold a baseball game somewhere that you have no business in. We're going to the planet's core.

Wait until you see Kyle Schwarber hit a whole. run in the core of the earth. Anyway, I'm done with all of this now and baseball talk in general. We appreciate you guys so much for being here. We'll be back tomorrow with another 12 p.m. show. Until then, you can follow us on social media. I'm at cap underscore caveman with a K.

Damon is at Damon Dog with a DAWG and as always, we're all Damon's dogs. Bark, bark. Our show is at PH&X underscore D-Backs, but as always all roads lead to at PHNX underscore sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Thank you guys for your time. Appreciate you. We'll see you back here tomorrow. Until then.

Have a wonderful rest of your evening. And remember kids, baseball is fun, but it's so much more fun when we know more about who is going to be our next manager.