{"id":475889,"date":"2026-09-26T00:24:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-26T00:24:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/475889\/"},"modified":"2026-09-26T00:24:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-26T00:24:09","slug":"diamondbacks-reveal-lineup-for-huge-game-1-in-san-diego","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/475889\/","title":{"rendered":"Diamondbacks Reveal Lineup for Huge Game 1 In San Diego"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"inline-text-0\" class=\"mt-[18px] md:mt-0 mb-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"9t\">The final series of the 2026 regular season has arrived, and the Arizona Diamondbacks are gearing up for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/mlb\/diamondbacks\/onsi\/diamondbacks-entire-season-3-games-padres\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">a win-or-go-home series against the San Diego Padres<\/a> at Petco Park.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"9y\">The Diamondbacks came into play on Friday sitting two games back of the Philadelphia Phillies for the third and final Wild Card berth. The Padres and Cubs have both clinched. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-2\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"a3\">Arizona can catch Philadelphia if the the Phillies are swept and the D-backs take two of three from San Diego. They could accomplish the same feat by sweeping San Diego and seeing the Phillies lose two of three. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-3\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"a8\">If Arizona loses two games \u2014 or loses one game alongside one Phillies win \u2014 they are eliminated.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-4\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"ad\">With that in mind, let&#8217;s take a look at the lineup for Arizona&#8217;s series opener in San Diego. A win would be the first step in an unlikely process.<\/p>\n<p>Diamondbacks reveal lineup for game one vs Padres<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/01m3dcpjgng9m1fgjmgf.jpg\" alt=\"Sep 20, 2026; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Arizona Diamondbacks second baseman Ketel Marte (4) throws to first.\" title=\"Sep 20, 2026; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Arizona Diamondbacks second baseman Ketel Marte (4) throws to first.\" width=\"360\" height=\"203\" class=\"undefined w-full w-full blur-[5px]\" q:id=\"au\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Sep 20, 2026; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Arizona Diamondbacks second baseman Ketel Marte (4) throws to first during the ninth inning against  the New York Yankees at Chase Field. Mandatory Credit: Arianna Grainey-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-7\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"b0\">Here&#8217;s what the Diamondbacks&#8217; batting order looks like for Friday night&#8217;s 6:40 p.m. scheduled first pitch against the Padres:<\/p>\n<p>LF Lars Nootbaar2B Ketel MarteC Gabriel MorenoSS Geraldo PerdomoRF Corbin Carroll3B Nolan Arenado1B Tim TawaDH Pavin smithCF Jordan Lawlar<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-9\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"ba\">Arizona is rolling out a relatively standard lineup against a right-handed starter. The Padres are expected to send righty Casey Mize out for this matchup. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-10\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"bf\">What that means is a start in left field for Lars Nootbaar, who remains in the leadoff spot. The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/mlb\/diamondbacks\/onsi\/why-diamondbacks-decision-pavin-smith\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">returning Pavin Smith<\/a> will start at DH.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-11\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"bk\">It&#8217;s notable that the D-backs are opting to go with Tim Tawa&#8217;s defense at first base, rather than putting Smith there to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/mlb\/diamondbacks\/onsi\/how-jesus-sanchez-fix-diamondbacks-huge-righty-problem\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">allow the lefty-hitting Jesus Sanchez to DH<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-12\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"bp\">Outside that, this lineup looks much like the ones that have been the norm against righties of late. Arizona has struggled with consistent production against righty pitching all season, though they did hammer Mize for eight runs in 3.1 innings in his first start for San Diego post-Deadline.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-13\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"bu\">Mize has not been productive for the Padres. He <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlb.com\/player\/casey-mize-663554?stats=gamelogs-r-pitching-mlb&amp;year=2026\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">has a 7.13 ERA <\/a>so far in the month of September, after posting a 6.26 over his first five starts after being traded. Arizona has an opportunity to cash in for an early lead behind Brandon Pfaadt, with a strong bullpen waiting to secure a win.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-14\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"bz\">If Arizona is going to muscle its way into a Postseason slot, it will likely begin with a win on Friday night. This is a must-win series.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"22\" height=\"22\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.minutemediacdn.com\/platform\/google_discover_icon.svg\" class=\"shrink-0\"\/>Add us as a preferred source on Google<a aria-label=\"Follow si.com on Google News\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=si.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" preventdefault:click=\"\" class=\"flex h-[30px] w-[30px] shrink-0 items-center justify-center rounded-full bg-primary font-group-large text-sm font-medium text-white transition-colors hover:bg-secondary focus:bg-secondary md:w-auto md:gap-2.5 md:px-4 md:py-[5px]\" on:click=\"q-Q5J6J56g.js#s_lDqay9E5m5g[0]\" q:id=\"c5\">Follow<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The final series of the 2026 regular season has arrived, and the Arizona Diamondbacks are gearing up for&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":475890,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[74,76,75],"class_list":["post-475889","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475889","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=475889"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475889\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/475890"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=475889"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=475889"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=475889"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}