SAN DIEGO -- By the time the Diamondbacks finished up their at-bats in the top of the first inning Sunday, they were already behind.
With the final NL Wild Card spot on the line, Arizona knew it needed to win and the Phillies had to lose in order for the Diamondbacks’ chartered jet to be headed for a late-night flight to Atlanta and Tuesday's Game 1 of the NL Wild Card Series.
Before they got settled into the game, the Phillies were already beating the Rays, 4-0, and by the time manager Torey Lovullo went to the mound to remove Justin Martinez from the game in the seventh inning, Philadelphia had closed out a 7-3 win.
It was all over for the Diamondbacks, who fought so hard and came so close, but in the end the deficit of the last week was just too great to make up.
After he took the ball from Martinez, Lovullo comforted the infielders gathered on the mound, putting his arm around shortstop Geraldo Perdomo and hugging second baseman Ketel Marte.
At that point, it didn't matter what the Diamondbacks did. They were going home for the winter, so the eventual 9-4 loss was a footnote on the day.
When it was over, the Diamondbacks trudged back to the clubhouse and Lovullo closed the door to address his team for the final time this year. He saw long faces and heads down and wanted to thank them for their effort. They had fought hard, particularly over the last 10 days, and he wanted them to know they didn't need to be ashamed.
"It was a really special group," Lovullo said. "We played hard for every inning of every game, and we came up one game short, or a couple games short. And it's happened in the past, we've come close."
They sure have. In 2023, they made the postseason by one game and went on to make a surprise run to the World Series.
In 2024, they struggled in the season's final week, losing four of six games to finish in a three-way tie with the Braves and Mets with 89 wins, but missed the playoffs due to the tiebreaker.
Then in 2025, after a losing streak before the Trade Deadline forced GM Mike Hazen to sell off his veteran players, the Diamondbacks somehow clawed back into the Wild Card race before dropping their final three games of the season -- also to the Padres -- to once again finish just short.
Arizona was beset by injuries this year. They expected to get closer A.J. Puk and ace Corbin Burnes back from Tommy John surgery by midseason. Puk, however, suffered a setback and never pitched an inning for them.
Burnes, too, suffered a setback with a shoulder issue and then made his season debut on Sept. 8. He wound up making three starts and was scheduled to start Saturday's game in San Diego before a shoulder issue popped up again and he was scratched.
The Diamondbacks went with a bullpen game instead and it blew up on them in a 10-7 loss. Even though the Phillies also lost that night, it put the Diamondbacks in a place where they had no margin for error heading into Sunday.
"I think yesterday's game took its toll on our team emotionally," Lovullo said. "It was a big emotional [letdown] for us."
Veteran third baseman Nolan Arenado agreed.
"Philly probably felt a little extra life," Arenado said about Arizona's Saturday loss.
There is still a lot for the Diamondbacks to be proud of with an 86-win season, despite the injuries and a determination to fight to the end. No deficit seemed too big for them this year, as they made late-game comebacks feel commonplace.
Arizona's 47 comeback wins were the most in the Majors.
It's hard to pinpoint one thing that caused the Diamondbacks to come up short. At times this year, the rotation was inconsistent, though it stabilized. Their offense was really good for stretches and, other times, struggled with runners in scoring position.
"I thought we played pretty well in September this year," outfielder Corbin Carroll said. "I think the record was pretty solid, so I think just over the course of 162 games, it's hard to pin on a game, or a week, it's just kind of the totality of it. We just have to play better."
How exactly they accomplish that will be the subject of much discussion during the long winter that started Sunday night.