Torey Lovullo doesn’t need anyone to spell out what’s at stake in Arizona’s final push. The Diamondbacks are still in the NL Wild Card chase as play begins Sunday, September 20, but the path is narrow, the margin is thin, and their manager appears to know exactly what the next few weeks could mean for him.
USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reported that Lovullo has acknowledged the obvious: if the Diamondbacks miss the postseason, he will likely be out. If they get in, he could keep the job.
“Arizona Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo has publicly acknowledged that the club will likely fire him if they miss the postseason for the eighth time in the last nine years on the job,” Nightengale reports.
Lovullo is not under contract for the 2027 MLB season, which means Arizona would not need a dramatic move to make a change. The team could simply choose not to bring him back.
That reality puts the rest of this season in sharp focus. Lovullo said recently, “I understand it, it's the realities of this game.
And you got to win. That's what it comes down to.
I think we won a lot here. Have we won enough?”
Arizona enters the stretch run 4.0 games back of the Phillies, with a three-game set against the Colorado Rockies offering a chance to chip into that gap. But the schedule does not get any kinder from there, with one game against the New York Yankees and three against the Padres still ahead.
It leaves Lovullo, the former Manager of the Year and the NL Pennant winner in 2023, in a high-pressure race that may decide more than just Arizona’s playoff fate. If the Diamondbacks fall short, he seems to believe his time at the top will be over.
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