Coming off a series split versus the San Diego Padres, the Diamondbacks prepared to welcome the NL West leading Los Angeles Dodgers into Chase Field for their 4th and Final series of the 2026 campaign. Due to a mixture of the Dbacks playing very well over the last month and half and the Dodgers having a season long 7 game losing streak and looking far from the World Series favorites that baseball fans are expecting, the Dodgers have seen their lead in the West go from a double digit lead to just 8.5 going into play Friday night.
As we discussed in the last episode, the Snakes could make the most of their opportunity on the horizon and make the Dodgers sweat a little bit more than they had originally planned in regards to their pursuit of yet another NL West title with a series sweep. It would also be an opportunity for the boys in the desert to win the season series over LA for the first time since 2018 (I’m still not over that ‘18 late season collapse…).
Call of Waldy: Walk (Off) Ops 1
Friday night’s opening contest was one that saw the Dbacks in front 2-0 after 5 innings behind Merrill Kelly shutting the Dodgers down and looking like he would be on his way to his first regular season victory against LA, but a run in all 3 of the 6th, 7th and 8th innings had the Dodgers in front and ready to not only end their 6 game losing streak but to break the hearts of all Dbacks fans in attendance.
The Dodgers $69 Million dollar closer Edwin Diaz toed the rubber in the 9th hoping to secure that outcome but after a Max Kepler leadoff walk and a 1-out steal of second base by pinch runner Jorge Barrosa, in stepped Ryan Waldschmidt with the chance to tie things up. Waldy decided he didn’t just want to tie things up but be the hero of the night and smashed a hanging slider from Diaz over the left center wall and right into the lap of a Dodger fan for his 2nd ever career home run and his first MLB walkoff hit. The fellas and I discussed how special of a moment that has to be for any major leaguer to come up clutch in that kind of scenario, but Gabe highlighted specifically his approach at the plate that at-bat along with mentioning that moments like this will be something that not only Ryan Waldschmidt would remember forever, but Dbacks fans as well.
Starting Unit Shoves…Again
Outside of a short week or so stretch back in the end of April through the start of May, the Diamondbacks starting rotation has been nothing other than spectacular for the majority of the 2026 season. Whether it Michael “Maple Maddux” Soroka having a bounce back year, Eduardo Rodriguez having a career best year that lead to his first ever All-Star nod or even the resurgence of Big Game Brandon Pfaadt since being recalled from Reno, there have been some stellar performances (and some not so stellar…were all looking at Zac Gallen I know) from this starting staff and we saw another round of that in this 3 game series yet again.
Gabe, Brandon and I all brought up different aspects of each of Merrill, Brandon and Eduardo’s recent starts that all deserve their own praise. I mentioned that Merrill, while unfortunately missing out on his first regular season W against LA, has been showing shades of the Mainstay we have been so accustomed to the past few years as he has put up a 2.82 ERA over his last 38.1 IP.
Gabe and I gave Brandon Pfaadt his flowers for not only extending his scoreless inning streak to 25 innings along with having a 1.32 ERA since his recall from Triple A Reno, but the fact that he was able to put up 7 shutout against one of the best offenses in baseball that has also seen him over 10 times and could have been used to seeing his arsenal more than other teams.
Brandon on the other hand thought that out of all the Dbacks starters in this series, ERod’s 115 pitches tossed across 7 innings was the most gutsy performance out of all. It was revealed by Torey Lovullo after the game that 4 bullpen arms were unavailable (or redlined), so knowing that the bullpen was more taxed then we might have known at the time adds more reasoning as to why some might agree with Brandon that this outing was the best of the bunch this series.
“Because of the Implication”
As mentioned previously by the crew, a sweep of the Dodgers this series would have been the perfect outcome because not only would have extended the Dodgers losing streak to 9 games, it would have brought the Snakes within 5.5 games of the NL West lead. Even though cutting the deficit from 8.5 top 7.5 doesn’t sound as exciting as a 5.5 deficit, it’s something that I dont think many fans expected as the Dodgers are usually running away with the West crown around this time of the year.
The fellas and I discussed the implications that this series could have for not just the NL WIld Card race, but for the whole NL West race as a whole. Gabe and I agreed that making the Dodgers have to try to still secure the title within the final week and keeping them from resting starters sounds ideal, Brandon brought up the counter point that in 2023 there were multiple reports that the Dodgers may have struggled to stay up to speed after their weeks rest and that resting could take some of their momentum away from them before October baseball gets underway.
Are the odds that the Dbacks or even Padres storm all the way back to take the West crown in their favor? No not really (+3000 odds or higher on most sites for both the Snakes and the Pads), but crazier things have happened, one of the most famous being the 2011 St. Louis Cardinals being 10.5 games out of the NL WIld Card race on August 25th to end up stealing that spot from the Braves on the final day of the regular season en route to one of the most memorable Fall Classics we’ve seen in all of postseason history.
We ended off the night looking at the 3rd and final NL West matchup of the homestand, as the Dbacks would be welcoming the Last Place Colorado Rockies into the desert for their 3rd series against each other.
The Rockies find themselves nearly 30 games under .500 heading into this series but don’t let that fool you, they have some talent on their roster that can make an impact at any moment, most notable former snake Jake McCarthy who is having a phenomenal 1st season in the Mile High City as Jake is slashing .305/.341/.516 for a .816 OPS and a 122 OPS+.
This will also be the Diamondbacks 3rd time facing RHP Tomoyuki Sugano, who in his 2 previous starts against the snakes has only allowed 2 runs in each outing, mostly because of his nasty splitter.
There aren’t going to be many easy teams left on the Diamondbacks schedule for the rest of August as they still have matchups against the Braves, Red Sox, Cubs and Phillies before the Calendar turns over to the last month of the regular season, so this series is one where the Dbacks need to come away with a series victory and minimum, but a series sweep would set them up for great success heading into a tough 6 game stretch in Atlanta and then Boston.