How D-backs Began to Turn 2025 Around

The Arizona Diamondbacks' 2025 season was growing old, and things looked bleak as they entered the month of August.

Yet, somehow, the following 28 games were when Arizona began to turn their season in a positive direction. For the first time since early in the year, there was genuine hope they could make a run at an improbable postseason berth.

Arizona Diamondbacks On SI continues the journey through an up-and-down 2025 season with a look at August, just following a heartbreaking fire-sale Trade Deadline.

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Arizona Diamondbacks Began to Turn Season Around

The D-backs lost their first game out of the break, and sat eight game below .500 at 51-59 in Sacramento, facing the Athletics.

It was then that GM Mike Hazen gave a message to the team about their responsibility to up their level of play following the Deadline.

That message resonated with players and coaches alike, and suddenly, Arizona began to come to life. After dropping the first game of that series with the Athletics, the D-backs put together a hot streak.

They won their series in Sacramento, then won seven of their next 10 games, including a sweep of the Colorado Rockies and a wild series with the Texas Rangers.

That Rangers series featured not one, but two ninth-inning home runs by Ketel Marte, as the D-backs suddenly looked like a team capable of contending.

But in the aftermath of those heroics, a report surfaced saying some members of Arizona's clubhouse and front office were frustrated with Marte's tendency to ask for days off — particularly with regard to Marte's absence from the team following the burglary of his Phoenix home.

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Not long after, the wind came out of the D-backs' sails. They lost a truly devastating four-game series to the lowly Rockies, as their weakened bullpen imploded twice.

But after losing four straight, they then engineered a four-game win streak, including two walk-off wins against the Cleveland Guardians at Chase Field.

A failure to sweep the Reds in their next series handed Cincinnati the postseason tiebreaker, but Arizona was still on a roll, splitting a series with the MLB-leading Brewers in Milwaukee and winning two of three from the Dodgers at Dodger Stadium.

The D-backs climbed all the way back to 68-70 when August came to a close, gaining six games with a 17-11 monthly record.

Part of that resurgence can be owed to Zac Gallen, who seemed to flip a switch in the midst of his brutal 2025 season. Over six August starts, the righty posted a 2.57 ERA and five Quality Starts.

Suddenly, Arizona was back in the playoff race. Though it was still an uphill battle, there was hope in the young roster that they could make a run down the stretch, with less than a full month of games left to play.

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