Can Tommy Pham and Alek Thomas Turn Up With Some Home Cooking? | If Diamondbacks Want To Comeback In NLCS These MLBbros Have To Get Hot

by DA Gambler | Oct 18, 2023 | 4TH SLOT

After tearing up the baseball, making clutch plays and helping the Arizona Diamondbacks plow through two elite World Series contenders, MLBbros Tommy Pham (0-for-8, 3Ks) and Alek Thomas (0-5) are a combined 0-for-13 in the first two games of this NLCS, which will be extremely brief if the bats of these two igniters don’t start popping off some hits. 

Related: TAKE THAT | Alek Thomas & The Raking Rattlers Have Arizona Diamondbacks Hunting Playoffs

During the historic sweep against the LA Dodgers that catapulted the Arizona Diamondbacks to the franchise’s first NLCS in 16 seasons, Pham, who came over from the underachieving NY Mets in August, had six hits, batted .429, slugged .632 with a 1.072 OPS. 

Thomas contributed three hits and a clutch homer to help lift the Diamondbacks into MLB’s final four teams. 

The tandem was a combined 2-for-6 in a Wild Card series sweep of the higher-seeded Milwaukee Brewers, but those hits were timely enough to contribute to a winning outcome.

Against a Phillies team that hits tons of playoff homers and is getting lights out pitching performances, however, a lack of production from these MLBbros has definitely contributed to the Diamondbacks being outscored 15-3 in the first two games of the seven-game series. 

The series is far from over, but sweeps have been the theme throughout these playoffs, so the vibe doesn’t suggest that this will last long if the Bros bats don’t wake up immediately. 

Diamondbacks Lineup Scuffling In National League Championship Series  

There’s been enough of an offensive funk throughout the D-Backs lineup for the blame to be spread equally. The team has a combined total of eight hits and Ketel Marte is responsible for three of them. No player has more than one hit in the series and Geraldo Perdomo has the only homer, in Game 1. 

The Diamondbacks have to now approach each game like it’s a single-game elimination, attacking with a controlled desperation that elevates players in moments of truth. 

Some home cooking should also help.

“We’re going back home for three games,” first baseman Christian Walker told reporters. “We’ve got to win all three.”

Definitely.

And the offensive surge needed to win three games at home and match the Phillies’ energy will have to be led by two MLBbros who played prominent roles in helping the Diamondbacks get to this point.