Athletics visit Diamondbacks unable to win back-to-back games in weeks

The Athletics head to Chase Field for Tuesday's game against Arizona carrying a prolonged losing streak, per CBS Sports — one that has left them reportedly unable to win back-to-back games in weeks.

What happened

Per CBS Sports, the Athletics have been struggling heading into Tuesday's matchup against the Diamondbacks, with the inability to win consecutive games stretching back weeks. The report does not specify a win total, a game-by-game breakdown, or a precise start date for the skid — only that the pattern has been sustained long enough to qualify as prolonged.

The Diamondbacks, for their part, are not exactly riding a wave of momentum themselves. Arizona enters the series on a two-game losing streak of their own, sitting at 86-76 (.531) on the season.

Why it matters

Two teams in varying states of slide meeting in late July is, in one sense, just baseball doing what baseball does. But the operational stakes here are real, even if they cut differently for each club.

For the Athletics, the inability to chain wins together is the kind of pattern that tends to define a season's final shape. A prolonged stretch without back-to-back victories is not a slump in the traditional sense — it suggests something more structural about how the roster is holding up, how the bullpen is being deployed, or how the lineup is sequencing production. CBS Sports does not specify the cause, and neither will this desk. What the report establishes is the pattern, and the pattern is notable.

For Arizona, the context is different but no less pointed. The Diamondbacks are 14 games back in the NL West and have been eliminated from the division race. They are also eliminated from the Wild Card race, sitting fourth in Wild Card positioning at 2.0 relative to the cut line. That means this series, and the games that follow it, are playing out in a landscape where the standings math has already rendered its verdict. Tuesday's game against the Athletics is not a must-win in the playoff sense. It is, however, a chance to stop a two-game skid and avoid handing a reportedly struggling opponent the kind of consecutive-win streak they haven't reportedly managed in weeks.

There is a certain symmetry to it: a team that can't win two in a row visiting a team that would very much like to win one.

The numbers

Arizona's season line sits at 86-76 (.531). They are third in the NL West, 14 games back of the division leader, and fourth in Wild Card positioning with a mark of 2.0 relative to the cut line. The two-game losing streak they carry into this series is the most recent data point in what the standings already describe as a season that has run out of postseason runway.

Where the club stands

### Is Arizona still playing for anything?

No — at least not in the traditional sense. The Diamondbacks have been eliminated from both the division race and the Wild Card race. At 86-76 (.531), they are a winning team by record, third in the NL West, and 14 games back. The gap between what the record says and what the standings allow is one of the more quietly strange places a baseball team can find itself in late July.

The upcoming schedule does not offer any obvious relief from the competitive pressure of irrelevance. After Tuesday's game against the Athletics, Arizona hosts the A's again on Wednesday, July 22, with Merrill Kelly taking the mound against Gage Jump. The club then travels to Busch Stadium on Thursday, July 23, where Brandon Pfaadt is the probable starter against Michael McGreevy of the Cardinals. Friday, July 24, brings a trip to Nationals Park, where Eduardo Rodriguez is listed as the probable against Washington's Carson Palmquist.

Three series, three different opponents, and a rotation that is still being asked to take the ball every fifth day regardless of what the Wild Card standings say. That is the quiet dignity — and occasional absurdity — of a baseball schedule that does not pause to consult the elimination column.

What we don't know yet

CBS Sports does not specify how many games the Athletics' back-to-back drought covers, when it began, or what the underlying causes might be. The report establishes the pattern without quantifying it, which means the full shape of the A's recent stretch remains unspecified beyond the characterization of "weeks."

It is also not reported whether Tuesday's game features any lineup changes, injury-related absences, or roster moves for either club. The probable pitchers listed for this series — Merrill Kelly and Gage Jump — are for Wednesday's game, not Tuesday's, so the starting pitching matchup for the game CBS Sports is reporting on is not detailed in the available material.

The Athletics' record, division standing, and Wild Card positioning are not included in the available material, which means the full standings picture for the A's heading into this series is not something this desk can report.

What to watch

The most straightforward thing to monitor is whether the Athletics can end the pattern CBS Sports describes — a back-to-back win drought measured in weeks is the kind of streak that tends to either quietly snap or quietly extend, and Tuesday's game in Arizona is the next data point either way.

For the Diamondbacks, the question is whether a team that has been eliminated from postseason contention can find the kind of internal motivation that keeps an 86-76 roster playing sharp baseball through the end of July and beyond. The schedule ahead — Cardinals, then Nationals — does not get easier in terms of travel, and the rotation will be asked to perform regardless of what the standings say about the stakes.

Wednesday's probable matchup between Merrill Kelly and Gage Jump is the next pitching assignment on Arizona's calendar. How the club comes out of Tuesday's game against a reportedly struggling Athletics squad will set the tone for that one.

Two teams, two losing streaks of different lengths and different meanings, meeting in the desert in late July. The standings have already done their work on Arizona. For the Athletics, per CBS Sports, the more immediate problem is reportedly simpler: winning two games in a row — something that has eluded them for weeks.