The San Diego Padres are playing the Arizona Diamondbacks this weekend, and the possibilities are truly wild.
The San Diego Padres clinched a playoff berth with their 4-2 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers, but their ultimate spot in the wild-card race is still very much up in the air as they head into a still-huge series against the Arizona Diamondbacks this weekend.
Start with the simple stuff: The Padres won’t have to worry about the Diamondbacks in this series. Arizona still has a puncher’s chance to sneak into the playoffs, so they’ll still be fighting hard given that they have an opportunity to overtake the Philadelphia Phillies.
The Padres are currently a game up on the Chicago Cubs in the race for the top wild-card spot, so that’s where the action is going to be into Friday night’s game. They’re two up on the Phillies there, so there will be a lot of moving parts and pieces in play this weekend.
As for the first game of the series, the Padres will send Casey Mize to the mound against Brandon Pfaadt for Arizona. Mize has been a mystery since joining the Padres as a deadline acquisition, with several good ones to go with some disasters. His last start was of the disaster variety, as he gave up five runs in three innings against the Marlins in a game the Padres wound up winning, 7-6, in extra innings.
Manager Craig Stammen has learned the hard way from his experiences with Mize, so he gave him a quick hook against Miami, which was a big part of the reason the Padres were able to win the game.
Expect Stammen to do the same in this game, although things are still tricky as the manager tries to balance setting up San Diego’s playoff roster versus the Padres’ short-term interests in improving their position by getting wins this weekend.
The Diamondbacks, meanwhile, come into this one in desperation mode. They’re basically close to win-or-die mode, as the Phillies’ magic number currently stands at two. They just swept the Colorado Rockies in a three-game series at Coors Field to stave off elimination, but Pfaadt, too, will be facing a quick hook.
He did well with this sort of thing in his last start against the New York Yankees, as Pfaadt gave up one run in 4-1/3 innings, and Arizona manager Torey Lovullo won’t hesitate to pull him early in what should be a fascinating game when it comes to managerial strategy. Expect plenty of twists and turns, and it should be a great watch.
