Betrayal, Boos, and a One-Game Lead: Inside the D-Backs' Uncomfortable September

The math says the Arizona Diamondbacks are sitting pretty. At 77-68 through 145 games, they own the third and final National League wild card spot as Tuesday's matchup with the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium approaches. The margin, however, is alarmingly thin — exactly one game over the San Diego Padres, who share Arizona's 68-loss total.

The story wrapped around that math is messier than a September pennant push is supposed to be.

Ketel Marte is back in the lineup after his mysterious no-show before a Boston road game, and the home fans have made their feelings clear: Marte drew boos in his first game back at Chase Field. He acknowledged as much this week, telling reporters he "failed" manager Torey Lovullo. Lovullo, for his part, said he felt "betrayed," confirmed this wasn't Marte's first unexcused absence, and declined to guarantee it won't happen again — even while insisting he remains in the three-time All-Star's corner.

And here's the funny thing about this edition of the D-backs: while the clubhouse drama simmers, the team has quietly turned itself into a pitching-first operation.

Arizona is 4-1 across its last five games despite a lineup that has gone ice cold, hitting just .196 in that stretch. The wins look like the product of a lockdown bullpen rather than any offensive explosion: a 1-0 squeaker over Philadelphia, a 4-3 and a 3-2 pair against Houston, and a 5-4 road victory Monday to open this series in Kansas City. Over those same five games, the staff owns a 2.335 ERA and a 0.946 WHIP, and the relief corps has been excellent all season — a 3.05 ERA with a 1.066 WHIP and 23 saves, with an MLB.com headline this week crediting the 'pen for shutting out the Astros and propelling the club back into a wild card position.

The bullpen's workload is no accident. The rotation has been decimated, with Zac Gallen, Corbin Burnes, Ryne Nelson, A.J. Puk and others on the 60-day injured list and Michael Soroka on the 15-day shelf. Arizona is essentially riding its relievers down the stretch, and so far those relievers are answering the bell.

Marte's return matters precisely because of that offensive cold spell. For the season he's slashing .251/.317/.446 with 22 home runs in 124 games. Since rejoining the active roster for the Phillies series, he's played in each of the club's last five contests and produced at a .263/.364/.474 clip with a home run — a stabilizing presence in the middle of a lineup that has spent September scuffling.

The broader picture remains delicate. The Cubs and Phillies are both at 81 wins, leaving Arizona trailing in the race for the second wild card spot. The Padres lurk one game behind, which makes every series — even one against a Royals club sitting at 64-81 with a 1-4 September entering the week — feel like October.

Arizona opened this Kansas City set with a win Monday, and the market has installed the D-backs as a slight road favorite (right around -120, an implied probability near 55 percent) for Tuesday's rematch.

The real test isn't whether this team can win pretty — it clearly can't right now. It's whether a club with a fractured superstar-manager relationship, booing home crowds, and a bullpen carrying an unnatural load can keep grinding out one-run games through the season's final fortnight. Seventeen games of daylight remain between the D-backs and the finish line. If Marte stays in the lineup and the 'pen keeps dealing, Arizona's soap opera of a September could end with a very real October.