The Arizona Diamondbacks are aware of the challenge ahead as they get set to travel to Philadelphia for Games 1 and 2 of the National League Championship Series.
It’s why the team played an intrasquad game on Friday at Chase Field with artificial crowd noise, according to Bob Nightengale of USA Today.
According to Arizona Sports‘ Alex Weiner, the crowd noise was heard from outside Chase Field.
The Diamondbacks are 5-0 in the postseason, including four wins on the road against the Milwaukee Brewers and Los Angeles Dodgers.
After Arizona’s Wild Card round sweep over Milwaukee, a D-Backs player reportedly told ESPN‘s Jeff Passan that the team was glad they did not begin the postseason on the road in Philadelphia.
“I talked to a Diamondbacks player last night and he said that I’m really glad that we weren’t in Philly because Milwaukee was a much easier place to play when we have the young guys that we do to get acclimated,” Passan said.
If you can recall, the Diamondbacks were the Phillies’ most likely Wild Card opponent during the last week of the season — until they lost four straight to end the regular season and dropped down to the No. 6 seed in the National League.
We’ll see if this strategy proves to be effective. Some Braves players were affected by the crowd noise and some were not. Spencer Strider, despite being the losing pitcher in Game 4, pitched a great game as the fans chanted his name and made as much noise as possible while he was on the mound. Orlando Arcia, the Braves’ shortstop who yelled “Atta boy, Harper” after Game 2, seemed rattled when Phillies fans heckled him from behind the visiting dugout.
While the Diamondbacks can prepare to deal with the noise, there’s no way for Arizona to prepare for the way the crowd energizes the entire Phillies team.
It’s something they will have to confront immediately as the Phillies have home field advantage in a non-Wild Card playoff series for the first time since 2011. Zack Wheeler and Zac Gallen will go at it in Game 1 while Aaron Nola and Merrill Kelly get the ball in Game 2.
It’s important for Arizona to take at least one game in Philadelphia with their two best pitchers on the mound. Brandon Pfaadt, who has not pitched more than five innings in the playoffs, is expected to start Game 3 opposite of Ranger Suárez. Game 4 could be a bullpen game for Arizona. Cristopher Sánchez or Taijuan Walker could start Game 4.
Kelly said that he attended Game 3 of last year’s World Series with his brother, so he’s aware of just how crazy Citizens Bank Park can get.
“I’ve seen them probably as loud as they can possibly be,” Kelly said. “They hit five homers that game so I have a hard time believing anything I’m about to experience is louder than that.”
Diamondbacks closer Paul Sewald, a former New York Met, spoke about an inlet in the visiting bullpen that he expects to use frequently to avoid the rowdy fans standing above in Ashburn Alley.
“There’s a little inlet there that I think a lot of us are going to spend a lot of our time in away from the fans.” Sewald said. “I’ve been there like more than a half-dozen times. When you go from a New York team, they really are not excited to have you. This is the postseason, it’s gonna be different. I think I’m going to spend a lot of time in the inlet.”
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