The NL playoff picture remains just a little bit murky following Saturday September 17 action as the Giants gained another game on the Arizona Diamondbacks. The Giants escaped with a 6-5 win over the Colorado Rockies and coupled that with a 3-1 Padres win over the Arizona Diamondbacks.
With the win, the Giants move to within five games of the Diamondbacks with ten games to go. When you factor in three games between the two teams at Chase Field next weekend, this division is all the more interesting. The Giants were considered dead in the water as recently as a few days ago. Suddenly they've won seven straight behind an unexpected mix of solid veterans, older role players and an infusion of youth. While the Giants were still trying to win games, I don't think even they could have expected this recent run with their new lineup.
The Giants are also five games back of the Atlanta Braves in the wildcard race, although the St. Louis Cardinals are half a game in front of the Giants for now in second place. For the Giants purposes, the division race is where it's at. With four games before the Chase Field series, things could get really interesting really quickly.