Diamondbacks need Zac Gallen to rediscover his best at World Series

After sweeping the division-winning Milwaukee Brewers and Los Angeles Dodgers in consecutive series, the Arizona Diamondbacks took the Philadelphia Phillies to seven games to reach the World Series, picking up ace Zac Gallen every step of the way.

Now with Game 1 Friday against the Texas Rangers fast approaching, it will be in their best interest if Gallen can return the favor as they look to pull off one more grand upset. Per OddsChecker, the Rangers are favored.

In two starts before the National League Championship Series, Gallen worked 11.1 innings against the Brewers and Dodgers, scattering 10 hits and allowing four runs and just one home run. He battled control issues — five walks to eight strikeouts — but they didn't come back to haunt him then. The NLCS was a different story.

The Phillies feasted on Gallen, picking up wins in both his starts and scoring nine runs on 14 hits (including five home runs) across 11 innings against him. They worked four walks as well and struck out only five times.

So, which version of Gallen will show up in Game 1 and beyond? The man who finished fifth in Cy Young voting in 2022 and earned an All-Star appearance this season, or the man whom Philadelphia bullied twice in quick succession? Whether history is on Arizona's side or not as it prepares to face the Rangers, they'll be hoping for the former.

The 28-year-old, now enjoying his fourth full season with the Diamondbacks, led their rotation once again in 2023. While his ERA jumped nearly a full run — from 2.54 in 2022 to 3.47 this season —  his underlying numbers remained consistent despite lesser luck on batted balls in play.

Gallen saw his K% dip slightly from 26.9% in 2022 to 26% this year, per FanGraphs, and his walk rate improved from 6.6% in 2022 to 5.6% this season. However, it was the batting average of balls in play (BABIP) that did the heavy lifting, increasing from .237 in 2022 to .301.

But in the small sample that has been four postseason starts, Gallen has been off. His strikeout rate has plummeted to 13.5%. He's also walking 9.4% of hitters, racking up a 5.24 ERA despite a more manageable BABIP (.269).

It could simply be a matter of increased mileage on his arm. After all, Gallen pitched 26 more regular-season innings in 2023 than in 2022. Given the fact that this is his first postseason, it means he's never pitched this far into a season before. It's just that timing-wise, it couldn't be more unfortunate.

Yet despite Gallen's shakiness, the D-backs held the Phillies to just three runs over the final two games of their NLCS comeback, and they will surely look to lean on their bullpen again throughout the World Series. But in Texas, they're facing a team that ranked in the top three in batting average (.263, second); on-base (.337, third) and slugging percentage (.452, third) as well as home runs (233, T-3rd), whereas the D-backs didn't place higher than 14th in any of those categories.

Arizona needs all the help it can get, and there's no time like the present for Gallen to rediscover his All-Star form.