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The Arizona Diamondbacks will face the Philadelphia Phillies in a best-of-seven series to determine the National League's representative in the World Series. The Dbacks named the three starters that are expected to take the mound ahead of the series with the Phillies, with fans keeping a close eye on it.
Arizona have only needed three starters in the five postseason games they have played. Thanks to sweeps over the Milwaukee Brewers and the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLWS and NLDS, respectively, their rotation depth wasn't tested much. But the NLCS, if it goes all the way, will be seven games in nine days.
Regardless, the Diamondbacks have gone ahead and named their best two pitchers to start the series in Philadelphia. Zac Gallen will start on Monday, and Merrill Kelly will start the following day. As the series moves back to Arizona for game 3, manager Torey Lovullo will be starting Brandon Pfaadt.
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The team is indeed without a starting option for game 4, as they have only three main starters. They have the option of adding someone to their postseason roster. For the NLDS, they had gone with 14 batters and 12 pitchers including their three starters. With a drawn-out schedule for the NLCS, Lovullo has said they are considering adding an option on the mound.
All three Arizona starters earned a combined two runs during their starts against the Dodgers. Still, the Phillies feel they are confident enough to take all three games from the start. They took to X (formerly Twitter) to voice their opinions.
Possible backup starting options for the Arizona Diamondbacks
As per Lovullo, the Dbacks will not start a pitcher on short rest. That means they will have to look to their bullpen or call back someone from the Injury List for the fourth starting rotation in the series.
Ryan Nelson, who has been playing in the postseason from the bullpen, has 27 regular season starts this season. Slade Cecconi is also an option for the management.
