Arizona Diamondbacks 2024 Season Review: September

A late-season collapse results in the Diamondbacks missing the playoffs.

Sep 24, 2024; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Arizona Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo (17) watches against the San Francisco Giants in the eighth inning at Chase Field. Mandatory Credit: Rick Scuteri-Imagn Images / Rick Scuteri-Imagn Images

This is the final monthly review of our series looking back at the Arizona Diamondbacks' 2024 season. Related Content: Arizona Diamondbacks 2024 Season Review Links Hub.

The Arizona Diamondbacks entered the month of September with a 76-60 record. At the end of play on August 31 they were in a virtual tie with the 77-61 San Diego Padres for the first NL Wild Card berth. Baseball Reference calculated their playoff odds at 91%.

The D-backs had just lost four of five games to finish out August however. They lost two of three to the New York Mets at Chase Field. Then the Dodgers came in for a four game series, taking the first two games. It was against that backdrop that September began.

The D-backs responded to losing the first two games by thumping the Dodgers 14-3. That game included an eight run outburst in the second inning. Randal Grichuk got it started with a leadoff double, and capped off the inning with a three-run homer.

After dropping the series finale, and losing three of four to the Dodgers, that squashed any hopes of contending for the NL West division. All attention turned to just securing a Wild Card spot.

A road trip up to San Francisco started well with two wins behind Ryne Nelson and Zac Gallen against the scrappy Giants. An excellent seven inning, two-run outing by Merrill Kelly was wasted in the third game. After scoring two runs in the first inning, the D-backs offense was shut down for the rest of the game. The Giants tied it up in the fourth, and walked it off with a run against Kevin Ginkel in the ninth.

The D-backs dropped two of three to the Astros in Houston, but salvaged the final game of the series. They scored eight runs off future Hall of Famer Justin Verlander in a 12-6 victory.

Back home to Chase Field they went, taking two games from the Rangers, outscoring them 20-4 in the process. It seemed like everything was going to be alright. But the D-backs stumbled once again, dropping two games to the Milwaukee Brewers at home.

The D-backs managed to take the series finale once again, walking it off in extras 11-10, despite blowing an early 5-0 lead. It was a harbinger of things to come.

The league's best offense, far and away the leaders in runs per game in all of MLB, inexplicably went into Coors Field in Colorado and couldn't hit. The D-backs scored just four runs on 14 hits in the first two games, both losses. Once again they had to salvage a series finale, doing so by a score of 9-4.

The road trip continued for a big four game series against the Brewers. The D-backs played great baseball for three games and three innings. They took the first three games by a score of 17-5. They got excellent outings from Brandon Pfaadt and Merrill Kelly, and the bullpen was outstanding for those three games, throwing 10 scoreless innings.

The D-backs went into the Sunday, September 22 series finale in the second Wild Card Spot. Baseball Reference playoff odds showed a 97.5% chance of making the Postseason. They jumped out to a 8-0 lead with a seven run third inning. At that point their game win expectancy was also 97%.

And they blew the lead. Zac Gallen allowed three runs to give the Brewers hope. Kevin Ginkel gave up four more to make it a one run ballgame. The offense was shut down, not scoring again until the top of the eighth.

The Brewers then scored four runs in the bottom of the eighth off Joe Mantiply and Justin Martinez to pull ahead 10-9. The D-backs failed to score in the top of the ninth, thus blowing the biggest lead in franchise history.

The D-backs took the unhappy flight home, and clearly had been flattened by the experience. After the season was over, Torey Lovullo referenced that game as a turning point from which they could not recover.

"We had a couple days where I think we were hungover. That's something I wish we had cycled through and gotten through from the experience we had last year. But I think something happened to this team, from that game, that's my gut feel."

Indeed, the Giants came in and beat them 6-3 and then put an 11-0 thumping on Arizona. Once again they salvaged the series finale, ahead of the big three game season ending series against the Padres.

Arizona lost the first two games 5-3, and 5-0, as once again the offense mysteriously disappeared. They won 11-2 on the last day of the season after San Diego had already punched their Postseason ticket. Then they had to await the results of a doubleheader to be played the next day between the Mets and the Braves as a makeup game due to Hurricane Helene.

Due to head-to-head season record tie-breakers, the resulting split in the doubleheader by the Mets and Braves meant the D-backs were eliminated despite all three teams having identical 89-73 records.

Related Content: How the Loss in Milwaukee Ruined the Diamondbacks' Season

September by the Numbers

Team Record: 13-13, 157 runs scored (2nd best in MLB), 145 runs allowed (worst in MLB).

Ketel Marte came back from injury to play in 20 games, including 18 starts. He hit .250 with six homers and a .944 OPS. It was a painful end to an MVP quality season, as back and ankle soreness continued to plague him, even causing him to ask out of the lineup during the last week of the season.

Christian Walker came back from an oblique injury September 3, but hit just .231 with three homers and 13 RBI in 23 games.

Gabriel Moreno returned from his groin strain September 15 and played in 11 games, going 9-for-30, .300 but with just one double. He could not run hard as he was nursing the groin.

Pavin Smith had a great month hitting six homers, including three in one game. Overall he hit .290 with a 1.061 OPS and 19 RBI in 22 games.

Eugenio Suarez hit .347 with nine homers, 18 RBI, and a 1.029 OPS, reaching the 30 homer/100 RBI milestone on the last day of the season.

Randal Grichuk only started eight games and had 51 PA, but hit .404/.451/.957 as he popped an incredible seven homers in that limited playing time.

Zac Gallen went 4-0 with a 2.67 ERA for the month, righting his ship towards the end of the season and finishing with a very strong outing.

A.J. Puk had 12 scoreless outings before giving up three runs in his 13th outing the second to last game of the year. He was spectacular for the entire month up until that point, and struck out 21 batters in 12.2 innings.

There were few other strong performances on the pitching side, as evidenced by the 5.23 September ERA.