DAN BICKLEY
Arizona Sports
Pinch yourself in disbelief. Splash cold water in your face. No matter what you do, a stunning reality remains:
The Diamondbacks are going to the World Series.
This feels like a dream, a gift, the party we never expected. It feels like the sporting gods are finally smiling on the Valley, rewarding us for decades of torment.
How else does an 84-win team storm the scene a year ahead of schedule, sweeping the Brewers, sweeping the Dodgers and winning their final two games in the crucible of Philadelphia, muting the loudest, proudest sports town on the planet?
Related 1: World Series schedule for Arizona Diamondbacks against Texas Rangers
Related 2; Diamondbacks’ Ketel Marte is NLCS MVP, extends playoff hit streak to record 16 games
Related 3: Brandon Pfaadt’s outing keeps D-backs in the game
Related 4: Corbin Carroll posts historic 3-hit night in D-backs’ Game 7 vs. Phillies
But that puts too much faith in faith. And the 2023 Diamondbacks deserve more credit than that.
Their romp through postseason has been defiant, unexpected and exhilarating. Corbin Carroll was the engine behind Tuesday’s 4-2 clinching victory, joining a new cluster of stars that now includes Ketel Marte, Gabriel Moreno, Merrill Kelly, Brandon Pfaadt and Kevin Ginkel. Maybe more.
Game 7 doesn’t come with safety nets and it doesn’t care about your feelings and the Diamondbacks never flinched. They were playing with house money on Tuesday and that still wasn’t good enough. It will take a while for the city of Philadelphia to shake off this defeat.
What a series. What a story. What a show.
