None of that changes what's actually on the line for Arizona. The Diamondbacks sit roughly a game and a half out of the final NL Wild Card spot, in a race that's come down to the final week in each of the past three seasons — which means the next couple days matter a lot more to them than to a Giants club playing out a rookie manager's debut season with the standings long since settled.
Arizona took 2 of 3 from the Cubs before this series and needed every bit of it to stay in the picture, while San Francisco is still shaking off a wild 9-10 shootout loss to Cincinnati that burned through a chunk of its bullpen before this set even started. Neither trend is especially stable — that's what a Wild Card scrap and a lost season both tend to look like in late August.
Vitello has been candid about how brutal the year's been running this roster, and the injury list backs it up — the Giants are down key names at catcher, shortstop and in right field all at once. Arizona's situation is more survivable — Arenado's questionable, not out, and Marte's return is close — but neither team is walking into Saturday at full strength.