LOS ANGELES — Arizona sports fans are locking into their “Beat LA” mentality this weekend as the Diamondbacks take on the Dodgers in the National League Division Series beginning in Los Angeles.
The NL West division rivals know each other very well but this will be just the second time the clubs meet in Major League Baseball’s postseason. The last time these division rivals met in the playoffs was during the 2017 NLDS, which resulted in the D-Backs getting swept.
The Dodgers took the 2023 regular season series 8-5 but the Diamondbacks are coming into the series after two gutsy wins in their Wild Card series against the Brewers. First baseman Christian Walker told 12Sports it’s easy to flip the switch back to competition mode after celebrating a series win on the road.
"I think when the stakes are this high, it's easy," Walker said. "It's exciting with what's on the line and it's easy to stay locked in. It’s all about giving yourself the best chance to be successful because there's so much that can happen and there's a lot that that goes on out of our control.
“Hopefully we can use what we've seen throughout the course of the season to our advantage," Walker continued. "But, at the end of the day, the postseason feels different than the regular season. Leashes are shorter and the energy’s higher.”
Playing under the bright lights of L.A.’s iconic Dodger Stadium in the postseason is just a step toward the big stage manager Torey Lovullo is hoping to bring Arizona back to. The D-Backs skipper delivered an epic, champagne-soaked postgame speech in Milwaukee that reminded players and fans why General Manager Mike Hazen chose to extend Lovullo.
“It's emotional," Walker said. "It's mostly fun, it’s passion, it's a lot of built-up things from over the years. Torey prides himself on bringing the best out of everybody around him and it starts with the energy that he brings. You see the passion when he talks to the team. We feel that passion and it's easy to go to war for somebody like that every day.”
For the first time in six years, playoff baseball will be coming to Chase Field in Downtown Phoenix and a familiar face will be coming back as well. Former D-Backs outfielder David Peralta, who spent the first nine years of his MLB career in Arizona, will be focused on eliminating the Snakes and not the storyline of his return to the Valley.
"I don't care who's over there," Peralta said. "To be honest, I don't care who's over there. The D-backs or another team, like, we just have to play the game and when I step into the lines, I'm just going to do whatever it takes to help the team to win."
The best-of-five NLDS is broken down into a 2-2-1 format with the series shifting to Arizona for Game 3 on Wednesday.
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