Two teams clawing for the same handful of October spots meet for a weekend set at Chase Field, and neither club can afford to spend it standing still.
SAT SEP 12, 6:40 PM
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Rangers
Diamondbacks
Arizona hasn't confirmed a starter for this series yet, but the rotation picture got a lot more interesting this week: Corbin Burnes was activated off the injured list Tuesday, his first big-league mound appearance for the Diamondbacks since June of last season, and the club is working to build him back toward a full starter's workload before October. Texas, for its part, is trying to win games with a staff already missing Nathan Eovaldi and Jack Leiter — no small thing against a lineup that's shown all year it can scratch out wins late.
Both injury boards run long. Josh Jung is working back from a calf issue with Double-A Frisco, Kyle Higashioka is still on a rehab assignment behind the plate, and Texas has also lost relievers Cole Winn and Peyton Gray to the injured list in the last two weeks. Arizona's list is just as deep — Zac Gallen, Ryne Nelson and Michael Soroka are all still working their way back — but the lineup Torey Lovullo has been running out there is finding ways to win anyway. No line's posted yet for this series, so there's nothing on the market side to read into just yet.
What's already decided for each club is on the record. Texas is 2-3 over its last five, having dropped a game to the Athletics before splitting the first four of a set with Tampa Bay. Arizona's been the sharper team lately — 4-1 in that stretch, capped by a win over the Phillies and a series win at Houston, its first there since 2012.
Neither team gets to hold onto those numbers as-is. Texas still has three games at Seattle and Arizona has two more against Kansas City before this series even starts, so both records will look different by the time first pitch rolls around. What won't change by then is the shape of the race: the Diamondbacks have been holding roughly a half-game edge over the Padres for the final NL Wild Card spot, while the Rangers are bunched with Cleveland and Baltimore for the AL's last berth, with about three weeks left to sort it all out.
That's what makes this set worth watching beyond the box score — every game down the stretch either tightens a race or blows it open, and both rosters know it. Texas needs length out of a rotation that's already shorthanded; Arizona needs its late-game resilience to hold up now that Burnes gives the staff a real workload boost for October. First pitch is 6:40 PM MT on Friday, September 11, at Chase Field.
