The Luis Gonzalez bloop single will live forever in Arizona Diamondbacks history.
It was 25 years ago that Gonzo dropped a jam-shot blooper into centerfield off a Mariano Rivera cutter to walk-off the World Series for the Diamondbacks against the New York Yankees.
It’s fitting that that series gets a bit of an anniversary moment this weekend. The Diamondbacks are hosting the Yankees for a three-game series.
And while it’s just the regular season, these games are set to have a ton of meaning.
The Yankees have already clinched a playoff spot, but they want to chase down the AL East Division title and the first-round bye that would come with it.
The Diamondbacks are still trying to get into the playoffs as an NL Wild Card team.
The weekend series will give fans plenty opportunity to look back on that World Series of a quarter-century ago. But for the players on these teams now, there’s still a ton to play for.
How Diamondbacks Can Ruin Yankees’ AL East Chances
The Diamondbacks can’t keep the Yankees out of the playoffs entirely. They’ve already clinched at worst an AL Wild Card spot.
Arizona can stop the Yanks from winning the AL East, though.
The Yankees enter the weekend with a 5.0-game deficit in the AL East Division to the Tampa Bay Rays. The Yanks have 10 games left to play.
There’s actually a scenario where they get eliminated from division contention this weekend. If Arizona sweeps the Yanks, and the Rays sweep the Red Sox, New York would be 8.0-games back with seven to play.
That’s an unlikely combination, but any winning that the Diamondbacks do will make it tougher for the Yankees to win the AL East.
New York plays Tampa Bay in a four-game series next week, and the Yankees may be looking ahead to that a bit. It’s a chance for the Diamondbacks to play an early spoiler while also helping themselves.
Diamondbacks’ Playoff Chances
The Diamondbacks can’t win the NL West, which the Dodgers, clinched, and now they’ve got to get hot after losing their last two games prior to the Yankees series.
The San Diego Padres hold the final NL Wild Card spot at 84-69, and the Cubs and Phillies have the other two at 85-68.
The Diamondbacks are 80-73, which is 4.0-games behind the Padres (and 5.0 behind the others).
Arizona has nine games left to play. That’s almost no time to spare to catch the Padres.
The Diamondbacks close the regular season against San Diego, but they’ll have to get themselves close enough by then for that to potentially matter. They get the lowly Rockies between the Yankees and the Padres, which could help the cause, too.
How Diamondbacks Can Ruin Yankees’ Playoff Chances