With a win over the Nationals on Tuesday night, the Diamondbacks claimed sole possession of the third wild card spot in the National League.

-Jesse Friedman

The Diamondbacks are (currently) a playoff team

With the Diamondbacks' win over the Washington Nationals on Tuesday, they pulled within one game of .500 for the first time since April 23. Their record was 36-37. And, somehow, entering play on Wednesday, that would be good enough to make the playoffs.

If it started today, the Diamondbacks would play the Milwaukee Brewers in the wild card round. If they won that, they would play the Los Angeles Dodgers in the division series. If they won again, their most likely NLCS opponent would be the Philadelphia Phillies.

...Sound familiar?

That would be a wild coincidence were it September 19. But it is June 19, and there is plenty of time for things to change.

Last June 19, the Diamondbacks were 44-29. They led the Dodgers by 4 1/2 games in the NL West. They went on to finish the season 16 games behind the Dodgers.

Of the 12 teams that were in the playoff picture last June 19, four of them — the San Francisco Giants, Cincinnati Reds, Los Angeles Angels and New York Yankees — wound up missing out. The Brewers and Phillies were among the teams that ultimately did make the playoffs but were not in it at this time last year.

Suffice it to say that the end-of-year standings will probably look way different than they look right now.

Nonetheless, it still feels remarkable that the Diamondbacks occupy a playoff spot at all. Three-fifths of their starting rotation is on the injured list. Their best player from a year ago, Corbin Carroll, had a .631 OPS entering play on Wednesday (although he has looked much better lately). Several other key players from last season, such as Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and Gabriel Moreno, have yet to hit their stride.

More than anything, the fact that the Diamondbacks are squarely in the playoff race is a testament to how top-heavy the National League has been.

Following Tuesday night's game, just four of the 15 NL teams had records above .500. That includes only the Dodgers, Phillies, Brewers and Braves. The door to the NL playoffs is wide open.

According to Fangraphs, the Diamondbacks had a 37.9 percent chance to make it entering Wednesday, despite the fact that they occupied one of the spots. There were also seven teams within a game and a half of them in the standings.

The Diamondbacks have a long way to go, but, somehow, at 36-37, they are right in it.

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QUOTE OF THE DAY

"I can just tell by the way the body's moving, by the way he's walking ... He's got that swagger back. He's got that little edge to him. And when he steps into the box, good things are happening."   Torey Lovullo last week on Corbin Carroll GEAR UP ​