Arizona Diamondbacks’ win gives Phoenix reason to smile

After 162 games it came down to just one. And what a single game it was.

By the time it was over, every hand extended for high fives sported fingernails that had been nibbled down to nubs.

Not that anyone cared.

The Arizona Diamondbacks bested the Colorado Rockies in an 11-8 final, one-game, do or die event, at Chase Field. And they’ll live to see another day.

And that day is going to be in Los Angeles on Friday, because the Dodgers have home field advantage in the National League Division Series.

Drama from start to finish

After building and squandering a formidable lead, and watching the energy seep out the closed roof at Chase Field, Arizona scored three runs in the eighth inning and held on for a 11-8 win over the Colorado Rockies in the 163rd, and most important, game of the season.

If baseball qualified for the Tony Awards, this surely would have been nominated for best drama. Pitching that went awry. A huge home run from a recently slumping all-star. Triples upon triples.

Pitcher and fan favorite Archie Bradley asked fans for ‘pandemonium’ before the game.

He got it — particularly after hitting his first ever triple in the 7th inning, a monster drive that netted the D-Backs two insurance runs.

In the end, both teams played as you would expect when postseason survival is at stake. Colorado refused to surrender after falling behind 6-0 after four innings.

The Rockies battled back to 6-5, then 8-7 before the D-Backs closed them out with a wild victory.

A much-needed diversion

The twists and turns added up to grand theater played out on an emerald diamond, and the antics resulted in a game that provided a much-needed escape from recent tragedies.

It wasn’t about forgetting Las Vegas or Houston or Puerto Rico, but it did provide a mental break— if just for a few hours — to indulge in the joy of watching America’s Pastime. 

By the time the contest ended shortly after 9 p.m., tens of thousands of Diamondbacks fans were on their feet in jubilant celebration.

It won’t be long before Arizona faces another do-or-die game, this time against the dreaded boys in blue, the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Fans may hope this is the series that finally washes away the stain that remains in the plaster of the Chase Field pool. For those with short memories, that’s where the Dodgers celebrated the clinching of the NL West title in 2013.

Up next: The Los Angeles Dodgers

Arizona now heads to Los Angeles for the best-of-five divisional series.

Dodger Stadium hosts the first two games Friday and Saturday before the teams return to Chase Field Monday and Tuesday (the latter if needed).

While plenty of tickets were available before Wednesday’s game started, they were sold out by the time D-Backs manager Torey Lovullo was addressing the media after the Diamondbacks’ wild card victory.

You can still buy them from resellers — just expect the appropriate markup. 

A remarkable turnaround

But for now, savor an improbable season that got off to an auspicious beginning with a walk-off win against the San Francisco Giants.

The Diamondbacks then went on a 6-1 start, the best since the fabled 2001 team that won the World Series against the New York Yankees, shortly after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

The fact that Arizona solidified its place in October baseball Wednesday night is remarkable in part because the Diamondbacks ended the 2016 season with 93 losses.

Then again, this is a franchise that knows how to claw its way up from the cellar: scrappy and hungry, they’ve gone from worst-to-first three times (1998-99, 2006-07 and 2010-11).

In late August the Diamondbacks went on a tear, winning 13 games in a row and going 97 consecutive innings without trailing their opponent.

A mini-September slump brought Arizona and its fans back to earth, but ultimately only postponed — but not derailed — a wild card berth celebration.

All of which leads us to Chase Field on Wednesday — an unseasonably hot fall afternoon.

Game day excitement

A few hours before first pitch, thousands of fans filled the plaza outside Chase Field’s main entrance, sporting the home team’s primary color palette of red, gray and black.

Many shirts were faded; others had the crisp feel of newly purchased threads.

But on this day, it didn’t matter. The diehards blended with the bandwagon rookies. After all, playoff baseball is a different beast — one where newcomers are welcome.

The camaraderie followed them through the metal detectors and into the stadium, creating an electricity that faded briefly when the Rockies fought back in the middle innings.

Police presence was noticeable but not overwhelming (though who knows how many undercover officers roamed in D-Back gear). One three-man team with a bomb-sniffing dog was spotted checking passengers as they poured out of a packed light rail train.

Our season… Take 2017

Fans were back on their feet in the seventh when a most unlikely player took center stage.

Relief pitcher Bradley earned a standing ovation with his two-run triple, a hit that gave the D-Backs, and certainly their fans, some much needed breathing room.

In the ninth, Fernando Rodney closed out the game without his usual theatrics.

Had Colorado been able to come back and steal a victory from the hometown team, D-Backs fans might be filling Twitter with howls of protest, upset how one game can render the other 162 meaningless.

Instead, they are celebrating #ourseason and the D-Backs’ improbable push deeper into October Baseball.