There aren’t many teams more fun to watch in Major League Baseball than the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2023. Led by the smooth-swinging rookie Corbin Caroll and a pair of National League Cy Young candidates, the D-backs are on their way to the franchise's first winning season since 2019. They could also clinch a playoff berth for the first time since 2017, but there is work to be done for that to happen.

The Diamondbacks enter the final day of August a half a game out of the last wild card spot in the National League, currently occupied by their NL West rival San Francisco Giants. Arizona held first place in the division for the entire month of June but has tapered off since then going 20-31 over the last two months. The Diamondbacks' four-game lead in the division is now a 15-game deficit behind the juggernaut Los Angeles Dodgers, who swept Arizona this week in the final series between the two teams in 2023.

The Diamondbacks need more than a good offense and two workhorse starting pitchers to get them over the hump in September. Their remaining schedule has some favors, but five of the nine opponents left are currently in a playoff spot. The D-backs are certainly still firmly in the playoff mix, but pitching like they did in the Dodgers series will get them nowhere. The starting rotation was Arizona's demise against LA, but its bullpen may be what keeps it from reaching the playoffs.

Arizona needs more from its bullpen

There's no secret that pitching wins championships in the MLB. Plans tend to get thrown out the window during the postseason with every arm on the roster having to be ready at any given moment. The stakes are so much higher in the playoffs, making bullpen management a priority more than it is in the regular season. Having multiple reliable pitchers is something managers need to succeed in the postseason and that's something Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo doesn’t have right now.

Some of the stats regarding the D-backs bullpen this year are staggering. Arizona currently has the 25th-ranked bullpen in the league in terms of ERA. 26 different pitchers have thrown in relief for the Diamondbacks in 2023. Nine of them have recorded a save with three others getting save opportunities. The lowest ERA among pitchers who have thrown at least 15 innings as a reliever is 2.32 (Kevin Ginkel). Only two other pitchers out of 11 who fit that category have an ERA under four with the D-backs this season.

Arizona has 35 blown leads in 2023, the most by any of the 16 teams currently with a winning record. A blown lead in the playoffs is tough to come back from, meaning the Diamondbacks have to do everything they can to prevent that from happening. Of course, they have to make the postseason first, which starts with preserving leads now.

Which Diamondbacks will rise to the occasion?

Knowing this was an issue, Arizona acquired closer Paul Sewald from the Seattle Mariners at the trade deadline. His first month with the D-backs did not go very smoothly though. Sewald recorded a 4.66 ERA, his highest in a single month this season, and blew two of his nine save opportunities.

Though his recent track record suggests that August will be an outlier, the Diamondbacks do not want to have to worry about Sewald down the stretch. They'll likely call his number a lot in the next month. It's hard to see a path to the playoffs for Arizona if he doesn’t pitch like an All-Star.

While on the subject of All-Stars, Joe Mantiply has been awful for the Diamondbacks this season. He was Arizona's lone representative at last year's Midsummer Classic but has been nowhere near as effective in 2023. His 6.23 ERA is the worst of any D-backs pitcher who's appeared in at least 15 games, a far cry from his 2.85 ERA a season ago. Mantiply's strikeouts per nine are way down from last year too, falling from 9.2 to 6.9.

If the Diamondbacks want to get to the playoffs, it starts with Sewald and Mantiply. Arizona can rely on a couple of other arms that have proven they can help the team win, particularly Andrew Chafin, Kyle Nelson and the aforementioned Ginkel. It needs more though and the team's All-Star reliever and quality closer have to be just that for October baseball to be played in the desert.