D-backs Searching for a Win As NLCS Moves to Chase Field

The National League Championship Series could not have gotten off to any worse a start for the Diamondbacks. The D-backs find themselves down 2-0 in the series, struggling in every facet in the game. Their offense struggled to score on both Zack Wheeler and Aaron Nola, the running game completely nonexistent, and their pitching staff has been under constant pressure against a Philadelphia Phillies lineup that can slug with the best of them.

In last night's 10-0 loss, the D-backs unraveled late as they began to make uncharacteristic mistakes in the field to go with bad at-bats in key situations. In two games against Philadelphia, they looked more like the team that backed into the postseason than the one that steamrolled the Brewers and Dodgers en route to the NLCS. That may also play into the fact that Philadelphia looks like a team that's clicking on all cylinders so far this postseason, hungry to win a championship after coming up just short last year.

Down 2-0, Game 3 of the series presents itself as a "Do or Die" game for Arizona. In a best of seven postseason series, only 14 of the 89 (16%) teams that fell behind 2-0 came back to win the series. Only one team, the 2004 Boston Red Sox, has ever come back from a 3-0 series deficit. The good news for the D-backs is 11 of the 14 teams that came back to win the series were in a similar position to where they are today, with three home games coming up. To have any chance of making this a series again, they will need to take at least two of their three home games if not all of them.

For the D-backs to win Game 3, they need to take the same approach that's worked for the Phillies so far in this series. Establish an early lead to get the crowd revved up, a strong start from Brandon Pfaadt, and play downhill baseball. That's was the formula that enabled them to take down the Dodgers in Game 3 of the NLDS at home, and this Game 3 needs to follow a similar script. The type of urgency and energy we see from the team tomorrow night will determine if they can fight their way back in a series against the reigning NL champions.

D-backs Face Uphill Battle After Another Loss to Phillies