Happy Tuesday! I hope your week is off to a nice start.

I’ll get to the Diamondbacks below, but first, did you enjoy those storms yesterday? (assuming you’re in the Phoenix area reading this). Nice to see the “non-soon” give a little reprieve, and I soaked in every second of it. It sure is nice, unless you’re on the road, of course. I saw some crazy footage out of Sky Harbor Airport when the dust storm rolled through.

Speaking of airports, the D-backs had a tough flight to Milwaukee, as they didn’t arrive until almost 4 a.m. yesterday after experiencing mechanical issues. Listening to Todd Walsh on yesterday’s TV broadcast, he said the Cincinnati Reds, who flew from Phoenix to Los Angeles, were kind enough to send their plane back to pick them up. The crews then switched before heading to Milwaukee.

Love stories like that.

On to the show!

Defining Diamondbacks Success in the Last 30 Games of the Season

Barring a miracle run, there are exactly 30 games left in the Diamondbacks’ season.

Even without a postseason berth, there’s still plenty for them to play for.

Yes, Arizona has underachieved massively this season — many of us had visions of an NLCS (or more!) heading into the year, but that has not panned out. Instead, the D-backs are four games under .500, a mile out of first place and 6.5 back from the Wild Card picture.

Monday’s 7-5 loss was Arizona’s second straight, and the team has three more games against the MLB-best Brewers before heading to L.A. for three games to face the Dodgers.

The playoffs sure look like a tall order, though there technically IS still a mathematical chance: .4 percent.

What to Watch for From the Diamondbacks Down the Stretch

It’s been tumultuous to say the least. The Diamondbacks replaced Shaun Larkin with Tim Bogar as their third base coach just last week (Larkin has remained with the team as an infielders coach), have weathered reports about internal strife around All-Star Ketel Marte’s time off requests and dealt with a slew of injuries to their pitching staff.

Even so, there’s still plenty to watch for, especially as September call-ups loom.

• The Kids can Play

The Diamondbacks’ roster transformed dramatically at the trade deadline, and more new faces will likely arrive via September call-ups. Keep an eye on the performance of some of the club’s top prospects, who will provide a glimpse of the team’s future. A few names to look out for:

• Jordan Lawlar: He recently returned from the injured list and remains the D-backs’ top prospect despite not quite finding his groove in the MLB just yet.
• Kohl Drake: The lefty was part of the trade that sent Merrill Kelly to the Rangers, is the eighth-ranked prospect in Arizona’s system, and he may get a look at the Big League level before it’s all said and done.
• Tommy Troy: The 23-year-old infielder is making the most of his first 16 games with Triple-A Reno, hitting .299 with two home runs and eight RBI.
• Remain Competitive

Stating the obvious here, but with rumblings around the job status of Torey Lovullo continuing to get a bit louder, the Diamondbacks need to remain competitive down the stretch. Has the manager “lost the room,” so to speak? These last 30 games will likely help paint that picture.

This current stretch, in fact, will show us a lot.

Take yesterday’s 7-5 loss to the Brewers as an example. Not great on paper, until you look at the box score and realize Arizona rallied from a 6-0 deficit to pull within a run, and that’s the type of effort fans hope to see down the stretch.

I’ll stop short of saying wins and losses don’t matter, but just remember there are a lot of players who are still trying to establish a solid foundation for 2026 and beyond, whether they’re on an expiring contract or trying to earn a shot as an everyday player.

• You Never Know – Miracles Do Happen

This one’s a little far fetched, but what if I told you just last season a team that had a .2 percent chance to make the playoffs in October made a run all the way to the Division Series?

Welp, the Tigers made that happen, and honestly had a similar makeup to the Diamondbacks of this season.

Detroit sold at the deadline and was a team made up of basically role players (not counting Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal, of course), but they went on a tear to finish the season and storm right into the Wild Card round. They had a similar record at this point of the season — the Tigers were 66-66 and the Diamondbacks are 64-68 — and won 20 of their final 30 games to make it happen.

The First Cut is the Deepest: The Cardinals started their cuts yesterday, releasing 12 players in a bid to get the roster down to the required 53 spots by today’s 1 pm deadline. Can’t say there many surprises on the list — third string quarterback Clayton Tune was included in the cuts — but Arizona still remained at 79 players as of the time of this writing.

Players who were cut yesterday were:

• WR Andre Baccellia
• CB Ekow Boye-Doe
• TE Oscar Cardenas
• OL McClendon Curtis
• CB Steven Gilmore
• DL Patrick Jenkins
• LB Vi Jones
• OL Roy Mbaeteka
• WR Nate McCollum
• QB Clayton Tune
• OL Dohnovan West
• LB Benton Whitley

Make sure you stay tuned to our PHNX Cardinals crew all day today for updates!

Back to it: The Mercury are back in action tonight, facing the Sparks in Los Angeles at 7 pm (NBA TV). Phoenix has won three of its last four games while staying right in the thick of the playoff race, currently fourth overall but just 1.5 games out of second.

The Mercury return home to host Chicago on Thursday, kicking off a three-game home stand at PHX Arena.

Book it: Our PHNX Suns team debated whether Suns star Devin Booker could make history next season, and become the team’s first 30-point-per-game scoring average for a single season. Has Booker peaked, or is there still some room for growth? Tune in today!

Impressive bounce-back by the Snakes after this start 😬