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Zac Gallen talks about pitching 1,000th strikeout for the Diamondbacks

Zac Gallen joined Randy Johnson and Brandon Webb as he pitched his 1,000th strikeout during the DBacks-Giants game at Chase Field on Sept. 15, 2025.

The Arizona Diamondbacks enter the final week of the regular season in contention for a National League wild-card spot.Arizona will face the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Diego Padres in their final two series.

The final week of the regular season has arrived for the Diamondbacks, and they will go into it still alive for the last wild-card spot in the National League.

That was widely unexpected, but the Diamondbacks have played with nothing to lose this month. And as they wrap up a series with the NL East champion Phillies on Sunday, Sept. 21, hope remains alive.

The Diamondbacks moved to a four-man starting rotation to aid their bullpen down the stretch. So, late in the week, no starting pitcher had been announced for Sept. 21, although LHP Eduardo Rodriguez lines up as the starter that day.

Following an off-day on Monday, Sept. 22, the Diamondbacks begin the last week of the regular season with a three-game series against the Los Angeles Dodgers, whose bullpen problems have allowed the equally average-of-late San Diego Padres to stay alive in the race for the NL West Division title.

The Dodgers, at this point, are a long shot for a bye in the first round of the MLB postseason and will likely have to play a wild-card series. This series could be a preview of a possible matchup with the Diamondbacks, should Arizona somehow get the No. 3 wild card and L.A. take the division.

Arizona and Los Angeles have evenly split the 10 games between them this season.

But a lot can happen in between, and while the Dodgers’ starting rotation is formidable, the bullpen has struggled to hold leads. Offensively, everything for the Dodgers starts with DH/pitcher Shohei Ohtani, who hit his 50th home run of the season on Sept. 16.

Mookie Betts has heated up this month, and the Dodgers could have star catcher Will Smith back for the Diamondbacks series, which would be a big boost to their lineup.

The final home game of the regular season is Sept. 25, a 12:40 p.m. game against the Dodgers, and then the Diamondbacks travel to San Diego for three games against the contending Padres from Sept. 26-28.

Much could be on the line that weekend for both teams. The Padres could still be alive for the division title or might still be looking to clinch a wild card.

The Diamondbacks are 5-5 against the Padres this season.

Reach the reporter at jose.romero@gannett.com, as well as @RomeroJoseM on X and @romerojosem on Instagram.