The Diamondbacks might not be making the playoffs but they can widely affect the Playoffs
Just because the Diamondbacks aren’t going to make playoffs doesn’t mean that they can’t greatly affect the current playoff race in the MLB. The Dbacks have 40 games left to play this year. Guess how many of those are against teams currently trying to make the playoffs?
Out of those 40 games, 31 of them are against the teams contending for playoffs. You might be wondering which teams are considered “playoff contending teams”. To solve that query, I will turn your attention to a tweet by Jeff Passan. The tweet is why I wrote this article.
There are seven (and a half) really bad teams in MLB right now. I looked to see who plays them the most.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) August 16, 2021
Their awfulness could have a demonstrable effect on the playoffs. Could the schedule be what puts Cincinnati in and San Diego out?
Analysis at ESPN+: https://t.co/38jo4KSZBz pic.twitter.com/2bSOSIvUMm
The Diamondbacks play 7 of those 16 teams. That’s nearly half the playoff race. The Dbacks could cause teams to fall out of the race all by themselves. Obviously, the teams in that race should be expected to beat the Dbacks. I mean, it’s obvious, just look at records, stats, and the games. They should win.
Yet, everyone said that of the most recent series against the Padres. Thanks to the Dbacks winning 3/4 of the games against the Padres, San Diego’s wildcard lead over the Reds has shrunk to 1 1/2 games. Before the series, that lead was 4 1/2 games. The Dbacks caused that lead to shrink. All standings and games behind are current as of 8/17/2021 and were taken from here.
So, who might the Dbacks cause to miss the playoffs, hurt their positioning in the playoffs, or otherwise affect them?