The Diamondbacks head into their last six regular-season games with a narrow lane still open, beginning Tuesday night at Coors Field. Arizona will play three against the Rockies in Denver, then close the schedule with a three-game trip to San Diego, where the Padres remain a difficult but not impossible target.
Key takeaways
- Arizona has six games remaining: three at Colorado and three at San Diego.
- The Diamondbacks trail the Padres by five games and the Phillies by four.
- Taking two of three from the Yankees over the weekend kept Arizona in the postseason conversation.
- Philadelphia’s final homestand includes series against the Brewers and Rays, the leaders in their respective leagues in victories.
- Manager Torey Lovullo says the club will keep fighting until elimination becomes official.
A final-week opening in Denver
The Padres have created considerable separation in the chase, leaving Arizona five games back with only six on the calendar. Catching San Diego would require a dramatic final turn, particularly because the clubs meet in the season-ending series.
Philadelphia offers a slightly closer path. The Phillies sit four games ahead of Arizona, but their remaining schedule is no soft landing: three games at home against Milwaukee, followed by three more against Tampa Bay. The Brewers are still chasing home-field advantage throughout the postseason as they try to stay ahead of the Dodgers, giving them plenty to play for.
Arizona no longer holds its own ticket to October. It needs help on other scoreboards. Still, the weekend series win over the Yankees—two victories in three games—gave the club enough oxygen to take the trip to Colorado with purpose.
Lovullo’s message is straightforward: the standings cannot be changed by worrying about them. “We know where we are in the standings,” he said. “There’s not a damn thing we can do about it, other than go out and play our finest game on Tuesday in Colorado, and that’ll be our focus.”
Keeping one eye on the board
That does not mean the clubhouse is pretending the scoreboard does not exist. This is the part of the season when every out-of-town final matters, and Lovullo acknowledged that he has done the math himself. His instruction to the players, though, is to keep their attention on the game in front of them.
“I’m a human being,” Lovullo said. “I think everybody’s doing that. I’m adding things up and watching what’s going on very closely, and we need things to go our way.”
He also recognizes the challenge. The teams above Arizona have played well, and the Padres in particular have been rolling. But Lovullo has seen a September lead disappear before. In 2024, the Diamondbacks held a three-game advantage with seven games left and still finished the year outside the postseason.
That memory is why he is not ready to call this race finished. “Until we have an ‘E’ next to our name, I’m going to fight,” Lovullo said. “This team’s going to fight.”
For Arizona, the equation starts with Colorado. Win Tuesday, then do it again the next day. The rest of the league can sort out the standings after the final out.
