The season is on the brink, again. And it's a little bit hard not to feel like this will be the only opportunity for this group of Diamondbacks. I know, rationally, that they should contend for the next few years. But I also know that it's been 21 years since the Diamondbacks reached the postseason in consecutive seasons, and they've only managed that once. Recently, postseason appearances have come regularly: every six years, that is.

Some would feel disheartened by the fact that, even with a win tonight, the Diamondbacks would have to go on the road to win the series. However, of the 14 times in major league history that a team has come back from a 3-1 deficit, eight occurred away from home.

Also (although the same people aghast at the Diamondbacks for being in the World Series despite being outscored will not mention it) the Diamondbacks have outscored the Rangers on the series, 22-21. It's almost like actually winning games is more important in the grand scheme of things than run differential...

1958 World Series

The Braves had won the first two games in Milwaukee, and also had the confidence of this being a rematch of the 1957 series they had won, in that case clinching the series in New York. However, bad pitching decisions may have doomed them when the series returned to Milwaukee. Warren Spahn was brought back on two days of rest for Game 6 instead of being held back for Game 7, and worked into the tenth inning. In Game 7, Lew Burdette (also on two days of rest) ran out of gas in the eighth inning. The better pitching depth of the Yankees, and Casey Stengel's willingness to use his bullpen, made the big difference.

1968 World Series

I think most of us are aware of what happened here. Two days of rest actually worked for the Tigers' duo of Denny McLain and Mickey Lolich, although Lolich struggled early on in Game 5. Note to Zac Gallen: if you give up three runs in the first inning, it doesn't mean the game is over, and you can blame the anthem singer for it. For Lolich blamed Jose Feliciano's slow anthem performance for his allowing three runs in the first inning. Conservatives, who are aghast at such "descrations" of the national anthem (at least when it is performed by people of color) would be interested to know that it was none other than born-again Christian Ernie Harwell who invited Feliciano to make this performance.

At any rate, the Tigers scored 10 runs in the third inning in Game 6, and then Curt Flood slipped in Game 7, which led to three runs and a Tigers lead from which the Cardinals never recovered.

1979 World Series

It was the "We Are Family" Pirates, and they had an advantage due to the rules at the time. From 1976-1985, the World Series was played according to the rules of the league that did not have home-field advantage. (This means that the first DH ever to appear in a National League park was Dan Driessen of the Cincinnati Reds, although officially it was Lou Pinella of the Yankees. Because Driessen was at the plate in the first inning when Tony Perez was caught stealing, and Pinella led off the second.) Anyway, in the series which arguably had the worst weather of all time (or at least of the TV era) the Pirates and Orioles combined to commit 18 errors. In contrast to the series so far this year, which has featured just a single error and had three errorless games, every game in 1979 had at least one error. The Orioles, who had scored 24 runs through the first four games, scored just two runs in the final three, although they led at one point in both Game 5 and Game 7.

1985 ALCS

The Royals were in bad shape. A combination of bad luck and poor defensive play saw them lose the first two games in Toronto, then they lost Bret Saberhagen in Game 3 due to a line drive off his leg. In Game 4, the pitcher with the worst postseason luck in all of history, Charlie Leibrandt, took a shutout into the ninth inning and then lost the game. But then Danny Jackson (who is almost the bizzaro Leibrandt) pitched a shutout in Game 5 to send the series back to Toronto. With Saberhagen still questionable, the Royals went with Mark Gubicza, who had only appeared in relief so far in the series, against postseason veteran Doyle Alexander. The move paid off, and the Royals forced Game 7, and Saberhagen could start. However...he got hit by another comebacker, this time in his pitching hand, and left with the Royals up 1-0. Who should come on but Charlie Leibrandt? He worked into the ninth inning, but gave way to Dan Quisenberry after allowing two hits.

The Royals advanced to the World Series despite their best pitcher being literally knocked out of both of his starts, and having to dig into their pitching depth. Of course, they would also come back from a 3-1 deficit in the World Series, but that was at home.

2003 NLCS

Through four games, the Marlins had lost three and been outscored 32-19. Furthermore, the Cubs had demolished their young pitching. Josh Beckett allowed four runs in the first inning of Game 1, although the Marlins came back to win in extra innings. Brad Penny was tagged for 7 runs in Game 2. Dontrelle Willis gave up 6 runs in 2.1 innings in Game 4. It looked like the Cubs were waltzing their way to their first World Series in 58 years.

Beckett took the mound for Game 5, and this time pitched lights-out, allowing just 2 hits in a shutout. Carl Pavano, who had only been used in relief so far in the postseason and was the fifth starter, was tabbed to start Game 6, and he pitched well. He gave up one run in the first, and then a second run was charged to him when Willis, appearing in relief, threw a wild pitch. Of course, with the Cubs up 3-0, everything fell apart thanks to their temperment being essentially the opposite of the 2023 Diamondbacks. While the Diamondbacks are essentially unflappable (except Merrill Kelly when he's being removed from the game early) the Cubs were visibly upset after Bartman kind of, sort of, interfered with a ball in play. The chances of Moises Alou actually making the catch seem pretty slim in retrospect, and Bartman certainly didn't interfere with Alex Gonzalez on a ball that might have gotten the Cubs out of the inning, nor did he throw meatballs to Mike Mordecai. When it was all said and done, the Marlins scored 8 runs and won the game.

Also forgotten is the fact that the Cubs got to Mark Redman in Game 7, chasing him after just 3 innings and 5 runs. After 3 innings, the Cubs held a 5-3 lead. But the Marlins took a 6-5 lead in the fifth, and Josh Beckett came on to pitch in relief and worked 4 innings allowing just one hit, a home run to Troy O'Leary, and the Marlins would go on to beat the Yankees in the World Series.

2004 ALCS

This one has already been discussed ad nauseum. The Red Sox won. Curt Schilling pitched with either ketchup or blood on his sock, depending on either your fandom or your political leanings. David Ortiz did something or another. Dave Roberts stole a base.

2016 World Series

The 2016 World Series was the moment when everyone should have realized that bullpens cannot do everything, but that message apparently was never communicated to the Diamondbacks' baseball ops department...

For the Indians were short on good starting pitching. Extremely short. As in, they had Corey Kluber. Trevor Bauer had not yet become either a good starting pitcher or (once again, depending on your political leanings) a predator. Josh Tomlin (who posted a career ERA+ of 89) was the third starter, and there was no fourth starter.

At first it seemed to work. The Indians took Game 1 behind Kluber, and leaned on their bullpen in Game 3, pulling Tomlin after 4.2 shutout innings. Kluber came back to start Game 4, and that is where Terry Francona made his first blunder, as with a 7-1 lead, he went with Andrew Miller again, instead of turning to a lesser figure out of the bullpen. At the time, things looked good for the Indians.

Miller got to sit out in Game 5, but Bryan Shaw and Cody Allen both pitched in relief despite the Indians trailing. Aroldis Chapman worked 2.2 innings. All those looks at bullpen arms would prove vital in the future.

The Cubs jumped all over Josh Tomlin in Game 6, but, again with a big lead, a manager turned to his top reliever. Chapman came on for the Cubs and gave up a run.

We likely all remember Game 7. Kluber made his third start, attempting to pick up his third win. It didn't go particularly well. He was pulled in the fifth and replaced by Miller, with the score 4-1. The Cubs instantly scored on Miller. An error and a wild pitch made it 5-3, but Miller gave up a home run to David Ross to give one of those runs back. The Cubs looked like they would cruise to victory, but they put Chapman back in the game in the eighth. He gave up three straight hits, including a home run to Rajai Davis of all people, to tie the game. But the Cubs had also seen a lot of Bryan Shaw, and they would capitalize on him in the tenth inning.

The 2016 series does have a lot of similarities to this series, so far. Texas has won games 1, 3, and 4 just as Cleveland did. Texas is also short a starting pitcher, just like Cleveland was. Bruce Bochy has made some ill-advised bullpen moves, just like Terry Francona did. (And Torey Lovullo has made some of his own as well, just like Joe Maddon.) If the series makes it to Game 7, it would seem that the Diamondbacks would have the advantage. (Although I think that advantage is overblown with Jon Gray waiting in the wings for the Rangers.) The key is getting to that point. In order to do that, the following things need to happen.

• See a lot of pitches. Getting Leclerc in the game last night was huge for the Diamondbacks. But it took them too long to get to Andrew Heaney. The sooner Nathan Eovaldi and Jordan Montgomery get taken out of the game, the better from the Diamondbacks' perspective.
• Keep getting hits and scoring runs. The Diamondbacks have 22 runs and 42 hits. The Rangers have 21 runs and 29 hits. The Diamondbacks have an astounding seven players with at least 4 hits in the series. No team has had more than seven players with at least 4 hits in a series since the 2017 Dodgers, and that was in seven games. Just 41 teams have had a span of four World Series games with 42 hits in the entire history of the World Series. Seriously. It first happened in 1903; you can look it up. Furthermore, the Diamondbacks are only the fourth team to have a run of 4 World Series games with 42 or more hits and lose three of them. The others were the 1960 Yankees, the 1979 Pirates, and the 1993 Phillies. (Those Pirates got 48 hits and scored just 17 runs, which is a possible good sign for a future turnaround.)
• Do the things that got you here. The Diamondbacks got to the World Series by playing good defense, running the bases well, and getting good enough pitching. They've gotten to the brink of elimination by making bad pitches to Corey Seager, committing baserunning blunders, and making a key error. It's easy to say that the Diamondbacks are two pitches and one error away from a series sweep. It's also likely true. Fix those things, and you have a decent shot at winning the last three games.
• Have some bounces go their way. Seriously. Ketel Marte hits the hardest hit ball that has ever been a postseason double play. If that's one inch further away from Seager, it goes differently. Alek Thomas hits one off of Scherzer and it bounces straight to Jung. The longer the series goes, the more likely these things even out.