The Arizona Diamondbacks’ 2025 season lasted 187 days with games played across seven months (eight including spring training), and every season has its inflection points.
The Diamondbacks’ path from preseason darling to unexpected trade deadline seller to an even more unpredicted playoff contender wrapped up with an unremarkable 80-82 record. There were way more ups and downs on a day-to-day basis than the typical .500 ballclub, from injuries to dramatic wins and losses (mostly losses).
So, let’s find the inflection points, separating 12 dates on the baseball calendar to shape a season filled with hair-pulling moments and a second-half surge:
12 days that sum up the 2025 Arizona Diamondbacks
March 27 – Opening Day brings a dubious sign
(Photo by Norm Hall/Getty Images)
The Diamondbacks set off to build a title contender after losing the World Series in 2023 and missing the postseason with 89 wins in 2024. They surprised the baseball world and even themselves by making a deal with All-Star pitcher Corbin Burnes, agreeing to a franchise-record $210 million deal.
The D-backs rolled into the season with a team-record payroll, and national power rankings projected them to be among the top 3-6 teams in Major League Baseball.
The team came out of spring training without many devastating injuries, although there was an awkward moment when it came to picking Zac Gallen over Burnes to start on Opening Day, which had an unintended consequence of pushing Burnes to the fifth spot in the rotation.
All that aside, it was time for baseball, and the Diamondbacks welcomed the Chicago Cubs to Chase Field to begin the marathon.
And Opening Day was very much a prelude to the season to come.
Gallen walked three of his first eight batters faced and allowed four runs in only four innings. Eugenio Suarez homered, and the Diamondbacks chased the Cubs in a tightly contested first four innings.
Bad D-backs defense in the fifth inning, however, broke the game open, as it was the Cubs who dominated in terms of speed and defense.
Chicago won the game 10-6. It was only one game, but the early-season struggles of Gallen and the Diamondbacks’ defense were underway.
Quote of the day: “The theme of the night was we made too many mistakes,” manager Torey Lovullo said.
April 18 – How do you lose after scoring 10 runs in an inning?
(AP Photo/Erin Hooley)
Entering a weekend series at Wrigley Field, the Diamondbacks had won their fifth straight game to improve to 12-7. A.J. Puk and Justin Martinez were settling into roles as co-closers, as the Diamondbacks’ bullpen had been a strength to start the season.
Little did anyone outside the organization know yet, both back-end relievers were compromised.
Puk never pitched another game in 2025, as he eventually needed an internal brace procedure after attempting to rehab. Martinez was unavailable due to an ambiguous shoulder fatigue issue that eventually landed him on the IL. He came back briefly before undergoing season-ending Tommy John surgery.
During the game itself, the Diamondbacks mounted a massive comeback by scoring 10 runs in the eighth inning, a showcase that this offense had the capability of going off at any moment. Suarez hit a grand slam to get it rolling.
But a core identity of this team became obvious in this game: The Diamondbacks were never out of a game, no matter how much they trailed or led.
Arizona took an 11-7 lead with their barrage, but a combination of Joe Mantiply and Bryce Jarvis allowed six runs in the bottom half of an outlandish inning of baseball. The Diamondbacks lost despite scoring 11 runs on 15 hits in a game started by Burnes. The bullpen allowed 11 earned runs and would draw the ire of fans throughout the season.
Arizona became the first team since 2006 to lose a game in which it scored 10 runs in an inning.
In the coming weeks, Arizona would lose games in which Suarez hit four home runs and the team scored 12 runs against the last-place Rockies.
Quote of the day: “You feel like that’s enough of a cushion, and you got six outs to go. … It’s probably very entertaining for the fans, but super frustrating for us,” Lovullo said.
May 11 – Series split with Dodgers was very characteristic
This four-game series had a little of everything.
Brandon Pfaadt outdueled Yoshinobu Yamamoto in the opener. The Diamondbacks overcame a five-run deficit and blew a three-run lead the following day, as Shohei Ohtani hit the game-winning home run in the ninth. Burnes then tossed a gem to get the series lead back, and Gallen was rocked in the finale for an eventful split.
The Diamondbacks could hang with good teams throughout the season, but they struggled to put away series.
Quote of the day: “I’m looking for this team to get on a run, a 10-game run and win a lot of baseball games,” Lovullo said.
June 1 – Disaster strikes for Corbin Burnes
(AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)
“My elbow.”
Burnes, who had never been injured before signing with Arizona, walked off the field with the training staff during a game against the Washington Nationals, not to be seen on a mound for the rest of 2025.
Burnes underwent Tommy John surgery, ending his debut season with the Diamondbacks after 11 starts and a 2.66 ERA.
For a team with inconsistent pitching all year, this was a crushing blow. Arizona had planned to throw Ryne Nelson in a high-leverage role in the bullpen, but now he was thrust back into the starting rotation. At least that worked out quite well, as Nelson was Arizona’s best starter the rest of the way. But what would the team have looked like with Burnes continuing to pitch like an ace and Nelson transforming into a reliable closer?
Burnes hopes to be back by July 2026.
Quote of the day: “Hopefully, we caught it early. Hopefully it’s not bad, but we’ll see,” Burnes optimistically said.
June 6 – Rain, rain …
(Photo by Jason Mowry/Getty Images)
The Diamondbacks swept the Atlanta Braves with a heroic six-run, ninth-inning rally the day before, as Arizona was back at .500 and on a four-game winning streak.
Arizona took a 3-2 lead into the sixth inning in Cincinnati, and the rain started to come down harder and harder. After five innings, a game can be considered final if rained out, and it appeared the D-backs would earn a fifth straight win with the tarp most assuredly needing to come out.
Instead, play resumed into a downpouring sixth inning, which proved to be devastating on several fronts. The Reds tied the game to force play to resume the following day, and even worse, both Arizona’s pitcher and catcher suffered injuries.
Pitcher Cristian Mena, who allegedly was feeling shoulder tightness before entering the game, suffered a teres major strain that ended his season. Catcher Gabriel Moreno took a wild pitch that skipped off the dirt to his bare right hand, breaking a bone and eventually sidelining him for two months.
The Reds walked off the Diamondbacks the following day and ended up sweeping them. That became costly by the end of the season, when the Reds owned the tiebreaker over the D-backs and had a leg up going into the final week.
Quote of the day: “Overall, I don’t feel great. I want to win baseball games, and I know we’re a good enough baseball team that deserves to win baseball games,” Lovullo said.
June 9 – Aaaaand there goes J-Mart
(Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
June 9 was a weird day at Chase Field.
The D-backs led Seattle 4-0 going into the ninth inning with Martinez entering to close. He struck out the first two batters of the inning, but he left the game with the trainer.
The Mariners then sent the game to extra innings, stunning the crowd at Chase Field.
In the 11th, Josh Naylor hit a walk-off grand slam, a moment of relief mixed with concern for a ballclub that saw its closer leave in the same fashion Burnes had less than two weeks prior.
The injuries felt particularly unrelenting at this point while the Diamondbacks struggled to really get off and running.
Quote of the day: “I want to be healthy to help the team win. … It is what it is. We just have to figure it out and come back stronger,” Martinez said.
July 11 – We have to sweep them
The All-Star break was three games away, the trade deadline at the end of the month and the Diamondbacks were a 46-48 ballclub.
The typically 1-0, everyday-focused Lovullo made it clear to his players entering the final series of the first half: The Diamondbacks have to sweep the Angels.
Instead, the Angels walked off the Diamondbacks in the opener and pounded Gallen in the second game, winning the series despite Suarez’s two home runs. Arizona salvaged the third game, but this was further evidence that this squad just was not working at the time.
Quote of the day: “We’ve been playing a lot of close games,” Geraldo Perdomo said. “It’s been painful for us, but we just need to move on and try to come in with a lot of energy and hunger to win a lot of games in the second half.”
July 31 – Sellers
The white flag came up a week earlier when Arizona traded Naylor to Seattle, but after the worst stretch of baseball the club played all year to lose nine of 10 games entering the deadline, the fire sale was on.
Suarez, Merrill Kelly, Randal Grichuk and Shelby Miller were all shipped off, leaving the Diamondbacks with roster holes to plug internally and with prospects they acquired to make it through the rest of the year. At 51-58, their chances of climbing back into the race were doomed. Right?
Quote of the day: “We just have to rediscover who we are,” president and CEO Derrick Hall said.
Aug. 1 – This is your moment
General manager Mike Hazen flew to Sacramento to address his team personally after the deadline. He explained the rationale and challenged those still in the room to make the most of this opportunity.
After dropping the first game post-deadline, the Diamondbacks won nine of their next 12, a promising stretch halted by a crushing series loss to Colorado.
The D-backs had to face controversy stemming from reporting that Ketel Marte bothered teammates with his day off requests and the realization that he took time off after the All-Star Game to visit the Dominican Republic. His house had been burglarized during the break, but he was not going to be back by the time the games restarted, regardless.
The honeymoon looked over, but then the team, to its credit, rebounded to win eight of its next 12 games, including series victories over the playoffs-bound Guardians, Reds and Dodgers.
Gallen started to turn his season around, Blaze Alexander became a revelation at third base and Perdomo was playing like an MVP candidate.
The D-backs went 17-12 in August, and while their playoff odds were low, there was a pulse.
Quote of the day: “There are people in this clubhouse that are important, important to the future of the organization. I appreciate him coming in and saying that,” Alek Thomas told AZCentral.com.
Sept. 6 – Not so fast
(Photo by Chris Coduto/Getty Images)
The Diamondbacks won the series over Texas and Boston to open September 4-1, getting back over .500 for the first time since July 1.
The New York Mets had been cratering, opening the door for some other team to sneak into the playoffs. The Diamondbacks were playing like that team. On Aug. 1, Arizona was 10 games behind the final Wild Card spot. That deficit became 4.5 games with 19 games to play.
Making the push was a younger, less experienced and more athletic team spearheaded by a strong core of Perdomo, Corbin Carroll, Marte and the since-returned Moreno. Arizona’s starting pitching and defense had improved.
With a tough schedule down the stretch, the D-backs were going to have to earn their way into the postseason.
Quote of the day: “ I know we’re over .500 now, that’s freaking awesome. So let’s keep rolling. Let’s separate that gap,” Alexander said.
Sept. 23 – Playoff chances are very real
(Arizona Sports Photo/Felisa Cardenas)
The Diamondbacks went 3-3 against San Francisco, won a series in Minnesota and took two of three against the Phillies for a 79-77 record entering the final week of games.
Ohtani and the Dodgers came to town, and led 4-0 going into the Seventh-Inning Stretch, as Ohtani delivered six dominant innings on the mound.
Against the Dodger bullpen, the Diamondbacks tied the game in the ninth on a Jorge Barrosa sacrifice fly, and Perdomo delivered the biggest hit of his season with a walk-off single to left field.
Arizona was one game back of the Wild Card spot with five to play.
Quote of the day: “That’s what we play baseball for, to have these moments and win games like this,” Adrian Del Castillo said.
Sept. 24 – Death blow
The Diamondbacks were right there, needing one run in the 10th inning to climb into a playoff spot.
After overcoming a 4-1 deficit late, the D-backs forced extras, and Carroll made the throw of the year to cut down a run in the top of the 10th. Perdomo dug in to lead off the bottom half for a chance to jump ahead in the playoff race.
The D-backs had Perdomo lay down a bunt, which he did successfully. Los Angeles walked Carroll and Moreno intentionally to get to a favorable stretch in the batting order.
Lovullo admitted after the fact that he wanted Jake McCarthy to bunt with the bases loaded and force the issue, but the outfielder missed his sign. McCarthy popped up, the Dodgers escaped and managed to win the game in the 11th inning.
The Diamondbacks rolled with a bullpen game in the series finale and were blown out.
A third straight loss in their series opener at Petco Park sealed the deal: Arizona would miss the postseason.
Quote of the day: “Tough one to swallow,” Nelson said.
Of course, the Diamondbacks’ push would not be possible without a Mets collapse, which was completed by the Reds sneaking into the postseason and subsequently getting blasted by the Dodgers in the Wild Card Series. But the Diamondbacks put up a thrilling fight to the final week of the season, a stretch that may have saved Lovullo’s job as the D-backs look toward 2026.
This season felt like two separate entities from before and after the trade deadline, from an underachieving star-studded club to a scrappy underdog in a fight to the finish.
Amazingly, Arizona’s playoff chances were alive longer than those of Texas and Kansas City, two teams they sold to at the deadline.
The 2025 Diamondbacks will be considered a disappointment moving forward, but the ride certainly wasn’t ho-hum. Plenty of performances within the season from Suarez dominating the first half to Perdomo’s breakout to Carroll putting his early 2024 struggles behind him are worth remembering about this uneven and turbulent year of baseball.
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