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On a Saturday afternoon in Phoenix, beneath the retractable roof of Chase Field and the lingering echoes of last year’s triumph, the Arizona Diamondbacks took another determined step toward defending their World Series crown. Their 6–2 win over the Chicago Cubs didn’t just clinch the Wild Card Series—it reaffirmed that this team, forged in last October’s pressure, still possesses the poise and precision that championships demand.
It began with a spark in the first inning, and it grew into a blaze in the third. Five runs in all—an inning that unfolded like a slow-building overture: the double by Tony Flores, the gap-shot from Jose Chapa, and the sense, even then, that the Cubs were suddenly playing uphill on a very steep grade. For Chicago, a club that scraped and clawed its way through the back half of the season, the third inning was a reminder of baseball’s often unforgiving nature. You can hit line drives, you can tally ten hits—but if the big swing never comes, the postseason can feel like a door closing softly, but firmly.
And in the middle of it all stood Tony Flores. The third baseman from Valencia, Venezuela, became the steady heartbeat of the series. No towering home runs, no showmanship—just an unerring knack for the timely swing. A .375 average, four RBI, and an on-base percentage north of .580. Numbers that don’t shout, but instead whisper something more important: reliability, calm, presence. The kind of performance October baseball remembers.
Arizona didn’t rely on offense alone. A. Mendoza, working with a patience that bordered on serene, gave the Diamondbacks 6.2 innings of bend-but-don’t-break pitching. Ten hits against him, yes—but only two runs. The Cubs touched him, but they never dented him. And when the bullpen took over, the door, gently but unmistakably, shut.
For the Cubs, the season ends with regret, perhaps, but also with the knowledge that baseball’s rhythms rarely reward the faint-hearted. They battled. They simply ran into a champion that remembered how to be one.
So the Diamondbacks—last year’s darlings, this year’s defenders—move on to meet the Atlanta Braves, another rested titan awaiting their shot. October will ask more of them. It always does.
But today in Phoenix, they answered every question. And the road to another title, as improbable as it once seemed, remains open.
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