The Arizona Diamondbacks snuck into the 2023 MLB postseason as the No. 6 seed in the National League to earn the final Wild Card spot, where they were greeted with a three-game series against the Milwaukee Brewers with a chance to face the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League Division Series.
Although the Brewers were the heavy favorites, it was the Diamondbacks who emerged victorious with a sweep. On the other side of the bracket, the Philadelphia Phillies took care of the Miami Marlins, which set them up for a matchup against the No. 1 seed Atlanta Braves.
On paper, the Dodgers were given the easier matchup as the No. 2 seed than the Braves received, which spurred talks of if re-seeding should happen following the Wild Card round. With re-seeding, the Braves would have faced the Diamondbacks, the lowest remaining seed, while the Dodgers would host the Phillies.
The Diamondbacks, who many would argue are the least-talented team in the playoffs, took offense at that talk of re-seeding and set out to prove the baseball world wrong.
“The Milwaukee Brewers were not a pushover team. We played good baseball against them,” Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said. “I think this team has a chip on its shoulder.
“We take it personal when we watch some of the comments on television or read some of the things where everybody wanted to be re-seeded. Re-seed this thing so the Braves can pick on the lowly Diamondbacks.
“I think this team takes that very personally, and hopefully people are recognizing that you can’t just walk all over us. We’re a good baseball team, we do things right, we do it in a very uncommon way. We care about things that other teams probably don’t care about or talk about, and it’s showing up every single day for us.”
The Diamondbacks finished the season 84-78, which was tied for the worst record among playoff teams with the Marlins, and their -15 run differential suggested they were lucky to earn a playoff spot.
However, once a team gets into the postseason, all that goes out the window.
“I would venture to say that other than the 26 guys, 28 guys in that clubhouse, I don’t know anyone else thinks that we should be here, thinks that we deserve to be here,” Zac Gallen said. “So, yeah, I think the guys in the clubhouse know it’s a good team. And I think anyone who has been following baseball knows we’re a good team.
“We hit a little bit of a skid in the second half, you could call it, but I think it’s definitely a team that’s probably overlooked. I definitely think a chip on the shoulder is probably a good way to summarize it.”
With that chip on their shoulder, the Diamondbacks have also embraced their underdog mentality after upsetting the Brewers and starting off with a blowout win against the Dodgers in Game 1 of the NLDS.
“I think if you look at any team, they’re going to find a way to create some sort of chip,” Gallen said. “I read stories of Michael Jordan talking about he would craft things that probably never even happened just to fire him up. I think you just have to find things that are going to motivate you.
“And for us, there’s a lot of guys in there that have definitely been overlooked. Going back to even Merrill Kelly. I don’t think Merrill gets enough respect on what he’s done in his career, especially the last two years.
“And I think there’s a lot of guys, even young guys, that have things to prove that some people think, ‘Oh, they haven’t been in the big leagues very long,’ or whatever. I think there’s a lot of guys that are trying to prove that they belong and that they’re going to be mainstays in this game, for sure.”
Diamondbacks playing with confidence
The Diamondbacks winning Game 1 against the Dodgers may have been unexpected, but not entirely surprising. What was shocking, however, was their margin of victory, winning 11-2 and scoring six runs before recording an out in the first inning.
The Diamondbacks are riding high after the blowout win with their ace set to follow in Game 2, and they’ve been playing with a lot of confidence going back to the previous month of the season.
“I think this team has been having a certain feeling for probably the past three or four weeks,” Lovullo said. “We’ve been playing in a lot of pressurized games. I remember walking into the White Sox clubhouse on day two, and I looked around that clubhouse and I felt like that entire clubhouse was relaxed and just ready to go out and compete. That’s what I’ve been seeing every single time in the postseason as well.
“So things haven’t changed. I think they know that Zac is starting for us and I think everybody feels good about it. I don’t care what anybody says — and I’ll go back all the way when I was a player — I knew who was pitching that day or the next day. I knew who was pitching for us, against us. It drove me in what my thoughts were about how we could attack that next day.
“Zac Gallen is one of the best pitchers in the league. But the Dodgers are a very good baseball team, and we’re aware of it. We can’t expect to just walk out on this field because Zac Gallen is starting and win the baseball game. We know that. And that’s why we’re here today working out because we’re going to fine tune a couple things and stay where we are and have conversations that need to be had.
“That will prepare us for tomorrow. It’s always a good starting point.”
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