D-backs can only watch on TV as dreams of the playoffs and defending their NL title vanish
PHOENIX (AP) — The Arizona Diamondbacks arrived at Chase Field on Monday afternoon for a light workout and heavy anxiety.
After a full afternoon of scoreboard watching, their fears were confirmed. There will be no postseason for the defending National League champions.
The Atlanta Braves and New York Mets split their doubleheader on Monday in Atlanta, meaning both those teams will head to playoffs while the Diamondbacks were the odd team out. All three finished the regular season with an 89-73 record, but the Mets and Braves both owned tiebreakers over Arizona because they won the season series.
In the end, there was nothing to do but watch the season slip away on TV. Diamondbacks ace Zac Gallen was playing catch on the field as the final out was recorded before trudging off the field and to the clubhouse.
“I was planning on playing tomorrow,” Gallen said.
The Mets-Braves doubleheader on Monday was scheduled one day following the expected end of the regular season after Hurricane Helene washed out two of their games in Atlanta last week.
It wasn't an ideal situation for anyone involved.
“It's unfortunate, but you can't control the weather,” Gallen said. "Who knew a hurricane was going to happen? That's moreso the bigger picture — people are losing their lives and homes. For me to get mad about a natural disaster would be a little tone deaf.
“The more disappointing part is that we — to a certain extent — controlled our own destiny and we didn't come through. Didn't execute.”
The D-backs needed either the Mets or Braves to sweep the two games on Monday to make the postseason, but there was little incentive for the Mets to win the second game of the doubleheader because they had already clinched their spot in the playoffs by winning the first game.
The Braves were much more motivated since a win would clinch their own spot in October. Even after ace left-hander Chris Sale was scratched from his scheduled start because of back spasms, they won 3-0.
Diamondbacks first baseman Christian Walker said there was nobody to blame but themselves.
“Frustration, but not at the (Mets),” Walker said. “That's how any team would have navigated it. ... If we're unhappy about it, that's a time to look inward and say we could have done more and could have played better.”
It's a bitter finish for the Diamondbacks, who were hoping to produce a suitable encore to their surprise run to the World Series last season.
They were active adding players during the offseason, grabbing hitters like Eugenio Suárez, Joc Pederson and Randal Grichuk. They also tried to beef up the pitching staff by adding signing Jordan Montgomery and Eduardo Rodriguez.
Some of those moves worked out, and some of them didn't. They fell one win short of October, even if they won five more games than last year, when they snuck into the bracket after an 84-win season.
There are plenty of reasons for the disappointment, including a 2-5 record over the season's final week. The stumbling began on Sept. 22 when they built an 8-0 lead at Milwaukee by the third inning, only to lose 10-9. It was the biggest blown lead that ended in a loss in franchise history.
They never seemed to completely recover.
“We controlled our own destiny for a little while there and let it slip out of our fingers,” pitcher Merrill Kelly said. “There are a lot of games that I think we let go.”
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