The biggest playoff game in the Valley in more than two decades takes place more than 2,000 miles east of the city, near the banks of the Delaware River.
That’s where Arizona will look to bolster its record in do-or-die playoff games to 3-1 since the club’s inaugural season in 1998. Tonight, the Diamondbacks face the Philadelphia Phillies, one night after the Diamondbacks pulled off a 5-1 Game 6 win to stretch the best-of-seven series to its brink.
Now, the Torey Lovullo-managed club will look to do the same again at 5:07 p.m. Arizona time in a game TBS will televise nationally. It’s the first Game 7 the D’backs have played in since they upset the New York Yankees, 3-2, in the 2001 World Series. This is the Diamondbacks' first playoff appearance since Arizona sports betting debuted.
Ahead of tonight’s Game 7 of the NLCS, BetArizona.com broke down how the D’backs have fared in do-or-die playoff games.
D’backs Win Or Go Home History
- 2001 NLDS: Beat Cardinals (Game 5), 2-1
- 2001 World Series: Beat Yankees, 3-2
- 2011 NLDS: Lost to Brewers (Game 5), 3-2
- 2017 NL Wild Card Game: Beat Rockies 11-8
Texas, which knocked off defending champion Houston in a Game 7 of the ALCS on Monday, is the Arizona betting apps World Series favorite at -135.
D’backs Look to Build on Game 7 Resume
While Arizona’s Game 7 repertoire is thin — with just the one victory over the Yankees — the franchise has won three of their four “win or go home” games, defeating St. Louis 2-1 in Game 5 of the 2001 NLDS to even get to the point they could face the Yankees.
The team’s lone loss in such a scenario came in the 2011 NLDS, when Arizona fell to Milwaukee on the road, 3-2 in extra innings. The D’backs’ only postseason appearance between 2011 and 2023 was in 2017, when they beat Colorado in the NL Wild Card game (11-8), before being swept by the L.A. Dodgers in the NLDS.
As for Tuesday night’s Game 7 of the NLCS, oddsmakers from Caesars Sportsbook Arizona aren’t riding high on the D’backs’ chances of springing another upset, with +143 odds for the visitors (to -170 for the Phillies).
Still, anything can happen in October, which has been proven time and time again by this year’s 84-win Arizona club that swept Milwaukee in the best-of-three NL Wild Card, then did the same to the vaunted Dodgers in the NLDS.
