'It's paying off': Diamondbacks fans exude excitement and hope in playoffs

The energy inside Chase Field became positively electric recently as the Arizona Diamondbacks made their way through the playoffs for the first time since 2017.

It wasn’t hard to see why.

The DBacks swept the Milwaukee Brewers in the Wild Card round and the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League Divisional Series — clinching a spot in the Championship Series against the latter in front of a sold out Chase Field.

Suddenly, a team that had only six more wins than it did losses and ranked 20th in home-game attendance with an average of 24,212 people was playing in front of an audience nearly double the size for a spot in the World Series.

Downtown Phoenix was abuzz with activity as countless cars clogged the one-way streets. Frustrated drivers laid on their horns as overly eager motorists accidentally blocked intersections in their search for a parking lot that wasn’t full.

One man could be seen slamming his steering wheel in frustration as the traffic light went from red, to green, to yellow and back to red with barely any forward progress.

Those who managed to reach the stadium were met with vendors who hawked bottled water, chips and other snacks with promises that their prices would be a mere fraction of what stadium’s stores would demand. And with $16 “churro dogs” and $10.50 caramel apples offered inside the stadium, among many other items, it wasn’t a difficult promise to keep.

Inside the stadium, DBacks and Phillies fans intermixed sea of red — a color both teams shared — as they found their respective seats. Lines for bathrooms often rivaled the lines at concession stands, though fans could sometimes find shorter wait times if they moved toward the upper floors.

While plenty of fans hoped to see the Diamondbacks earn a spot in the World Series, some appreciated the team found a modicum of success in the post-season.

Frank Gostyla, who became a DBacks fan ever since he moved to the Phoenix-area in 2007, said it’s been heartening to see the team improve after plenty of frustrating seasons.

“This year, it’s paid off,” Gostyla said. “They’re coming through. We’ve put up with them, we’ve supported them — we did everything we can up to this point—and now it’s paying off.”

Gostyla said he wouldn’t fault the DBacks if they didn’t continue on to the World Series—much less secure the championship.

“If that doesn’t happen, I don’t think any of us were really expecting them to get this far,” Gostyla said. “So it’s a great feeling. It’s a bonus being a fan and being here at this time.”

Phil Letts, who was visiting the Valley for a mens-over-50 baseball tournament he was playing in, said watching professional players also in a playoffs setting was inspirational. Letts, who switches between playing pitcher and second base, said he wasn’t a die-hard fan of either team, but would like to see the DBacks score a victory at their home stadium.

“It’d be nice to see the underdog come through,” Letts said.

Becky Stewart, a Diamondbacks fan for more than two decades, said she watched every game and sometimes even rewatched games that she had attended. Stewart said the Oct. 11 game against the Dodgers was the best, most intense Diamondbacks game she had ever attended.

“By the third inning I was exhausted,” Stewart said.

Stewart said she wasn’t sure earlier in the season whether the DBacks would make it to the playoffs, but was overjoyed to see them compete in the National League Championship Series. However, she wished the team of young players competed more aggressively.

“I just kind of wish they would unleash and play like they should play,” Stewart said. “They’re playing scared, I feel like, and I think they just need to be the young kids they are and just let it rip.”

Stewart said she was disappointed the game was scheduled to start in the afternoon, and worried that not as many Diamondbacks fans would be able to skip school or work to cheer the team on.

But at the top of the seventh inning, an announcer’s voice echoed across the stadium over a loudspeaker declaring that the game had been sold to 47,075 attendees.

Game 3 reached a crescendo at the bottom of the ninth inning when the Diamondbacks’ Ketel Marte struck a walk-off single to break the tie and win the game 2-1. DBacks fans, many of whom remained for the final two innings, erupted with cheers and hopped with joy as their scrappy underdog of a team shortened the Phillies’ lead to one game.

Chants of "two and one!" could be heard as people poured out into the warm October evening, though it wasn't immediately clear whether they came from DBacks fans celebrating being on the board or Phillies fans reminding everyone that they still held the lead.

Whether the Diamondbacks made it to the World Series or not, the team had given Chase Field a game to remember.

Game 4 begins at 5:07 p.m. on Friday at Chase Field. Fans can tune in to TBS to watch.