The Arizona Diamondbacks will not be going into the postseason on the highest of notes, but they at least know now where they are heading.
With their 8-1 loss to the Houston Astros on Sunday, the D-backs finished with the No. 6 seed in the National League, meaning they will open the postseason on Tuesday in Milwaukee against the Brewers in the best-of-three wild-card round.
Arizona finished the regular season on a four-game losing streak and watched as its offense descended into another mini funk. Over their past 42 innings, the D-backs are just 19 for 134 (.142) with three runs scored.
In the Brewers (90-72), the Diamondbacks (84-78) will face the pitching staff that had the best ERA in the league and is led by a pair of dominant starters in right-handers Corbin Burnes and Brandon Woodruff, both of whom are rested and lined up to start in the first two games of the series.
The Diamondbacks are expected to give the ball to rookie right-hander Brandon Pfaadt in Game 1 with right-hander Zac Gallen set to go in Game 2.
If Game 3 is necessary, it would be Diamondbacks right-hander Merrill Kelly against Brewers right-hander Freddy Peralta.
The winner of that series will face the No. 2-seeded Los Angeles Dodgers (100-62), who have a bye.
The D-backs finished 10 games better than 2022, when it went 74-88. The year before, they lost 110 games.
“You definitely want to finish on a high note, but it’s whatever and you’ve got to throw it away,” Arizona outfielder Alex Thomas said. “Now we’ve got October baseball to focus on.”
The Astros and Diamondbacks had dual celebrations Saturday night after clinching playoff spots.
Houston did it with a 1-0 victory over Arizona that led to a muted reaction in the clubhouse for the reigning World Series champions.
Arizona’s Jordan Lawlar, right, pauses at home plate after fouling off a pitch as Houston catcher Yainer Diaz, left, reaches for the bouncing ball Sunday.
The Diamondbacks celebrated in the dugout when Cincinnati’s 15-6 loss to St. Louis clinched their first playoff berth since 2017. They had a much more raucous celebration after the game, a party that spilled over into the pool behind Chase Field’s right-center wall.
Houston’s win over Arizona on Sunday in Phoenix helped the Astros clinch their third straight AL West title.
Christian Javier pitched six strong innings and Alex Bregman hit a two-run homer to help the Astros complete the three-game sweep.
“A lot of people wanted to know what it’s like if the Astros didn’t win the division,” Bregman said before popping the cork on a champagne bottle. “I guess we’ll never know.”
Needing a win and a Texas loss to win the division, the Astros did their part by jumping on Kyle Nelson (7-4) from the first pitch. Houston had a 5-0 lead after two innings, and Javier (10-5) held an Arizona lineup mostly devoid of everyday players to three hits.
Kyle Tucker had a sacrifice fly to finish with 112 RBIs, most in the AL and third in the majors. José Abreu added a two-run homer in the seventh to clinch Houston’s sixth AL West title in seven years after the Rangers lost 1-0 to Seattle.
The Astros have a first-round bye in the AL playoffs.
“Maybe we were a little flat, most of us were probably up a little late last night,” Arizona manager Torey Lovullo said of Sunday’s loss. “For sure there was a little lull in focus and energy. I get that, but let’s push that aside.”
Attendance numbers
The Diamondbacks drew 30,703 fans for their final home game, finishing with 1,961,182 for the season. It was Arizona’s highest home attendance since eclipsing 2.1 million in 2019.
VIDEO: Despite losing to the Astros, the D-backs clinched an MLB playoff berth Saturday by way of the Cincinnati Reds losing. Full game highlights from 9/30/23 (MLB YouTube)
