All eyes are on the Arizona Diamondbacks' high-stakes September showdown against the San Diego Padres.
The Arizona Diamondbacks may have dropped the second game of a doubleheader against the San Francisco Giants, but they now have the same winning percentage (.529) as the San Diego Padres.
With the top two teams in the National League Wild Card race at least four games ahead of them, all eyes are now on the D-backs vs. Padres for that final spot.
Of course, there's still a month left in the regular season, so there's a chance a few other teams could catch up, but at this point in time, it could absolutely come down to their three-game divisional battle from Sept. 25-27.
San Diego will host those three games as each team's season comes to an end. It'll be the end of a six-game road trip for the D-backs, but again, there's plenty of time for either team to pull away or fall out of playoff contention entirely by the time that series comes around.
Diamondbacks surprisingly split series vs. Giants
Splitting a four-game slate with the team that's nearly last place in the NL West isn't ideal, but the D-backs know they're once again back in the hunt and that's all that matters.
Regardless, Arizona is able to enjoy a rare Sunday off day, and then they'll also have off on Thursday, Sept. 3.
Thankfully for the D-backs, 12 of their next 18 games are at home. Arizona is much, much better at Chase Field than they are on the road, and their 40-29 record really puts that in perspective compared to the 33-36 in games they are away from home.
At this point in time, the D-backs know they can only focus on themselves. Sure, the Padres have lost two straight and four of their last five, but they can't rely on San Diego slumping down the stretch.
Arizona needs to keep winning the games they're supposed to win, and it'll be interesting to see if either of these losses to the Giants end up costing them in the long run.
There's a chance none of that matters by the time September 25-27 comes around, but remember, these two teams are 5-5 against each other this season, so that three-game slate will indeed decide who takes the season series, and that could be the sole tiebreaker necessary to determine which team earns that final Wild Card spot.
