SAN DIEGO -- The Diamondbacks came to Petco Park knowing they needed almost a miracle to sneak into the postseason.
Yet they believed that somehow it would happen. After all, the fact they had any chance at all heading into the 160th game of the season had already defied the odds.
"We believed that we were coming to San Diego to win baseball games and we were going to have some things go our way,” Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said, “and we were going to find a way to play in the postseason. But we know now that's not going to happen."
The Diamondbacks were officially eliminated from postseason contention Friday night by falling to the Padres, 7-4.
That, combined with the Reds’ win over the Brewers, means that even if the Diamondbacks were to win their final two games of the season, the best they could do is end the year in a three-way tie for the final NL Wild Card spot. The Reds would win the tiebreaker over the Mets and Diamondbacks in that scenario.
It would be hard to find anyone who could say with a straight face that they believed the Diamondbacks would be in this position following the Trade Deadline.
Arizona dropped eight of nine games heading into the Deadline, leaving GM Mike Hazen with little choice but to sell. After the Diamondbacks lost the first game after the Deadline, they were 51-59. Any thoughts of the postseason seemed, at best, far-fetched.
The Diamondbacks, though, started winning, and the Mets slumped badly. By early September, Arizona was on the periphery of the race and then continued to inch closer over the past two weeks.
There was a belief in the clubhouse that something special was happening and that somehow, some way they were going to get it done.
"I think we're more than disappointed," Lovullo said. "There's just no words you can use that are going to describe how this [clubhouse] is feeling right now. And it was a full investment. It was a group that came together. …
“They didn't know how stacked up the odds were against them. They didn't care, just went out and continued to play good baseball and found themselves in a situation that they deserve. And when you come up short, that hurts. It's very, very painful."
No one felt that more than Friday's starting pitcher, Zac Gallen. One of the few pending free agents who wasn't dealt at the Deadline, he knew that this was likely his last time pitching in an Arizona uniform.
It was telling that long after he departed the game in the fifth inning and after a number of his teammates had showered and dressed, Gallen was still in his full uniform in front of his locker.
"It's tough for me to take [it] off," Gallen said. "Kind of lingered on the mound a little bit too when Torey was coming out [to take me out]. Wearing this uniform for seven years now, as much as I spent some time in other organizations, I think of myself as a D-back, really. Spent most of my career here. And if it's the last time, it'll be a tough pill to swallow.
“I know the last two years didn't go the way we wanted them to. This year didn't go the way I envisioned for myself. But every fifth day I put the uniform on, I was honored. I was proud to put the uniform on. I went out there every fifth day and just tried to give these guys everything I had. Obviously, just this year wasn't enough."
At some point, maybe even soon, the players will appreciate how much they managed to accomplish despite injuries to key players and the departure of other stalwarts at the Trade Deadline.
But Friday was about feeling the emotions of the moment, and those emotions hurt.
"It just sucks," outfielder Corbin Carroll said. "I don't have too much to say. We just didn't do enough."