The Arizona Diamondbacks showed up at Chase Field on Monday afternoon for a light workout, but they were filled with anxiety.
After spending the afternoon checking the scores, their fears were confirmed. The defending National League champions will not be heading to the postseason.
The Atlanta Braves and New York Mets split their doubleheader in Atlanta, meaning both teams will advance to the playoffs while the Diamondbacks will be left out. All three teams finished the regular season with an 89-73 record, but the Mets and Braves held tiebreakers over Arizona because they won the season series.
In the end, there was nothing left to do but watch their season come to an end on TV. Diamondbacks ace Zac Gallen was playing catch on the field when the final out was made, then he walked off the field to the clubhouse.
“I was planning on playing tomorrow,” Gallen said.
The Mets-Braves doubleheader on Monday was scheduled a day after the regular season was expected to end, due to Hurricane Helene washing out two of their games in Atlanta last week.
It was not 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 more about 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 the Mets or Braves to sweep both games on Monday to make the postseason, but the Mets had little reason to win the second game since they had already secured their playoff spot by winning the first game.
The Braves were much more motivated since a win would secure their own place in October. Even after their ace left-hander Chris Sale was unable to pitch due to back spasms, they still won 3-0.
Diamondbacks first baseman Christian Walker said they could only blame themselves.
“Frustration, but not at the (Mets),” Walker said. “That’s how any team would have handled 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 disappointing end for the Diamondbacks, who hoped to follow up their surprising run to the World Series last season with more success.
They were active in the offseason, bringing in hitters like Eugenio Suárez, Joc Pederson, and Randal Grichuk. They also tried to strengthen the pitching staff by signing Jordan Montgomery and Eduardo Rodriguez.
Some of those moves worked out, while others did not. They finished one win short of the postseason, even though they won five more games than last year, when they just made it into the playoffs with an 84-win season.
There are many reasons for their disappointment, including a 2-5 record in the final week of the season. The trouble began on September 22 when they had 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 fully 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.”
