PHOENIX — The Arizona Diamondbacks started the final month of a long, maddening, painful and occasionally jubilant 2025 season and have 21 games remaining.
The D-backs are a fringe (at best) postseason contender, playing their best baseball of the season after admitting defeat with the previous iteration of the roster at the trade deadline.
They have performed with an energy and sharpness that has led to strong series wins over the Rangers (x2), Guardians, Reds and Dodgers in the past three weeks, as they are once again a young, overlooked underdog.
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The Diamondbacks are set to play competitive games in September, even with fleeting playoff odds. Their schedule calls for it, frequented by teams in postseason races. They have the Red Sox, Giants (x2), Phillies, Dodgers and Padres still on the slate, along with the Twins.
The Diamondbacks (70-71) would have to go 19-2 in order to match their win total from last year (89-73). To reach 84 wins, the number it took to reach the postseason in 2023, Arizona would have to finish the year 14-7. A 11-10 record gets them a .500 finish.
“I keep saying I just wanna play meaningful games in September, that’s our intent,” manager Torey Lovullo said. “We gotta keep our head down and believe we can still do this. I think the guys every single day are showing me that they feel the same way. So my comments are keep digging, keep fighting.
“Who knows what could happen? We were three games up with seven games to play last year, and we didn’t make the playoffs. We’re trying to close up gaps. We don’t have a lot of time and we know that, but we can’t worry about things we can’t control.”
There are several storylines to watch for this month, so let’s dive into five of them:
1. Are Snakes Alive?
There was a moment on Saturday evening when this season’s pulse was audible. The D-backs won their fourth straight game, defeating the Dodgers in Los Angeles and moving to one game under .500.
After that, the D-backs suffered a walk-off loss in L.A. and an extra-innings loss at home to Texas, par for the course this season. They bounced back with a pair of wins over Texas, but the problem is that they continue to hover 5-7 games back. Reaching the playoffs would take a collapse from the Mets, who are 74-65 in the third Wild Card spot.
Additional challenges include injuries, as Lourdes Gurriel Jr. tore his right ACL on Monday to join ace Corbin Burnes and a swatch of relievers on the injured list. The bullpen is younger, and this is a great opportunity for those to gain experience, but that has and will continue to lead to growing pains.
The good news with the Diamondbacks is that their play has been much cleaner in the past month, especially with defense, starting pitching and situational hitting.
Ketel Marte, Geraldo Perdomo, Corbin Carroll, Blaze Alexander and Gurriel were great in August, as was Zac Gallen on the mound.
So, are Snakes Alive? Yes, in the sense that the Diamondbacks are playing hard and peaking at the right time. A 5.9% chance (via Baseball Reference) isn’t zero, so the Diamondbacks intend to push through the finish line.
“Obviously, from a statistical standpoint, our chances of getting to the playoffs are slim,” Gallen said. “Everybody in here knows they don’t say zero. For us, we’re still alive until we’re not. … We don’t necessarily control all of our destiny, but it comes down to us winning baseball games. If we win, you never know what could happen.”
2. Is the ‘storm coming’ for Jordan Lawlar?
Lovullo expressed confidence on Monday and Tuesday that Jordan Lawlar was going to turn his fortunes around. It was a relieving moment to watch him finally break an 0-for-31 start to the season with two hits on Tuesday night.
“Not gonna lie, it felt pretty good,” Lawlar said postgame.
Now that the proverbial weight has been lifted, can Lawlar go on a run here and build confidence going into a big 2026 for him to lock down a spot in this lineup going forward?
Lawlar has been considered a top-30 prospect in baseball since before the 2022 season started. He’s got speed to burn and 20-home run power, enticing tools to be a cornerstone piece.
He has struggled mightily against major league breaking pitches. Lovullo told Lawlar to attack early if need be before his last game, noting he had been trying to do everything right, including working deep counts. Too many pitchers had been getting ahead of Lawlar and burying him with breaking balls in pitcher’s counts.
Lawlar attacked early in the count on Tuesday and had his best game this far in MLB. Perhaps that freedom to attack the fastball he sees early will open the game up for him.
Jordan Lawlar's hitless streak ended in Tuesday's win over Texas.
His reaction: pic.twitter.com/ak6puh0AWG
— Arizona Sports (@AZSports) September 3, 2025
3. Zac Gallen is finally on a roll, so what will his market be?
This has been a confounding season for Gallen, who went into the trade deadline with a 5.60 ERA and without a contender willing to pay a high enough price for him. As an impending free agent, the one-year qualifying offer might have started looking pretty good.
Now, Gallen is turning his season around. He’s beyond putting together a couple decent starts in a row.
Gallen has pitched like an ace for seven starts over the past month-plus, tossing 41 innings with a 2.20 ERA. Six of seven of his starts have been quality since he remained in Arizona.
His ERA is down to 4.77. If he finishes strong — perhaps getting that ERA under 4.50 — are there teams that will have seen enough and offer him big money? Or is he in the one-plus-one camp like Pete Alonso and Jack Flaherty last year?
“At the end of the day, there’s so many different options, so many different possibilities,” club CEO and president Derrick Hall told Arizona Sports’ Bickley & Marotta. “Does he go somewhere else? Does he stay here? Does he get a qualifying offer? Does he get an extension here? I’ll tell you what, I’m glad he’s pitching the way he is.”
4. The young guns
General manager Mike Hazen stood up in front of the team after the trade deadline to explain his actions in dealing Eugenio Suarez, Josh Naylor, Randal Grichuk, Shelby Miller and Merrill Kelly.
He also illustrated the opportunity ahead for many of the younger players in the room.
The Diamondbacks have 28 players on the roster, 12 of which have made their MLB debuts in the past three years and nine are considered rookies.
Corner infielders Lawlar and Tyler Locklear are in that camp, as are relievers Andrew Saalfrank, Kyle Backhus and Brandyn Garcia. Jorge Barrosa has an opportunity to play more with Gurriel down, and Adrian Del Castillo has started games as the designated hitter against righties.
So far, Saalfrank and second-year infielder Alexander have been the clear standouts from the wave of rookies and second-year players, with Alexander sporting an .867 OPS and seven home runs since Aug. 1 and Saalfrank working a 1.16 ERA.
Locklear turning some quality at-bats into better results as we’ve seen in his past three games would be a notable development considering the uncertainty at first base in Arizona’s future unless he pops.
“We have a very young, athletic team, a lot of people with about a year’s worth of service time, so that’s inspiring,” Lovullo said. “We’re playing good baseball and these guys want to go out there and get after it. They don’t care about a role. … They’re ready to go. And that’s what stands out about this ballclub. So hopefully we get above that .500 mark. Hopefully we start to climb a little bit.”
The manager plays a role here, as Lovullo’s messaging has seemingly resonated with a younger team that requires more teaching. A strong finish of clean and exciting baseball would bolster his case to skipper this club going into 2026.
5. Ketel Marte, Geraldo Perdomo, Corbin Carroll
How about the three best players on the team finishing great seasons strong?
In terms of fWAR, Marte, Perdomo and Carroll are three of the top 16 players in the major leagues. No other team has three players in the top 20.
Perdomo and Carroll are two of the top seven players, as Arizona is the only club with two top-1o guys.
Marte is sixth in OPS at .923, along with 25 home runs.
Carroll is four triples away from becoming the third player in the expansion era (1961) with 20 doubles, triples, home runs and stolen bases in a season.
And yet, Perdomo (5.5) is neck-and-neck with Carroll (5.7) for the most valuable player of the season by fWAR in a breakout campaign.
The Diamondbacks did the hard part in terms of roster building. They have three stars on reasonable, long-term contracts and have to find ways to build around them.
The roster constraints that come with injuries that bleed from one season into another are going to create complications. Arizona set payroll records in each of the past two seasons and will likely come up short of the postseason both times. Having a core to build around means there is always a chance the pieces will come together like they did in 2023.
So, watching the top of the order continue its thing down the stretch to see if Carroll joins more shortlists, Marte reaches 30 home runs and Perdomo finishes his most complete major league season strong is worthwhile for baseball fans down the stretch.
There are obviously more storylines, such as the emergence of Nabil Crismatt, Brandon Pfaadt’s difficulties and whether we see any late-season surprise call-ups for a prospect or two.
The Diamondbacks begin the final four weeks on Friday against the Red Sox, followed by road series in San Francisco and Minnesota.
from Arizona Sports https://ift.tt/ymWqvnM
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