D-backs on verge of putting themselves in pennant race
PHOENIX -- The Diamondbacks want to play meaningful games in September. How about August?
On the heels of a four-game sweep of the Reds coupled with a five-game losing streak for the division-leading Dodgers, the D-backs on Monday were five games behind the Dodgers in the NL West.
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The D-backs still sit in third place -- 3 1/2 games behind the second-place Giants -- but could find themselves in the middle of a pennant race is the season's final month.
"We're not surprised at all," center fielder A.J. Pollock said before the D-backs opened a four-game series with the St. Louis Cardinals at Chase Field. "The cool part is we're all thinking we haven't hit our stride yet."
The D-backs were one-game above .500 entering Monday, which meant they had baseball's third-best increase in win percentage from last season, when they finished with the worst record in the majors. Only the Cubs and Astros bettered their win percentage more this season.
"Hopefully we can keep playing good baseball and we'll have some meaningful games later in the year," Pollock said.
Later will have to wait. As manager Chip Hale preaches, it's the present that matters most.
With the major league-leading Cardinals in town and the Dodgers off to play the lifeless Reds, the D-backs have to continue to play well to stay within striking distance with September right around the corner.
"We're in it today," Hale said. "People want to talk about, 'Hey, you have a chance to do this.' Well, we don't have a chance unless we play well right now."
Pollock admitted he knew where the D-backs are in the standings. No so for Paul Goldschmidt.
"I can't even tell you want our record is, where we are, where everyone else is," Goldschmidt said. "It doesn't matter where we are right now. It matters where we are at the end of the year. It's not going to do any good to look at the standings, good or bad."
He may not care about the specific numbers at this point, but Goldschmidt knows the D-backs played well the past month. They were 18-10 in the last 28 games -- 20 of which were on the road. When things looked like they could slip away, the D-backs responded.
"We've had a couple stretches where we lost a couple games and it could have really kind of thrown our team," Pollock said. "We could have gone one direction and we didn't. We stepped up and turned it around and turned it around pretty quick."
The D-backs are 10 games out in the wild card race, so any run toward the postseason likely has to be in the NL West.
After three games against the A's this weekend to close out a seven-game home stand, the D-backs play 26 of 29 games within the division, including seven against the Dodgers and six against the Giants.
"That's what we want to do; we want to play meaningful games later in the year," Pollock said.
If so, at what point will Goldschmidt take a glance at the standings? Mid-September? Later? When someone informs him the D-backs overtook one of the teams currently ahead them?
"I don't know," Goldschmidt said. "I'll worry about that if it happens. ... If we can finish the season strong, who knows what can happen?"
