Good morning — the brutality of the Valley summer appears to be waning, and that means two things: football and playoff baseball.

It’s been an… interesting week in the baseball world, to be sure, while fans across the country eagerly await the arrival of real-stakes football at both the NFL and the college level.

But first, let’s take a look at the Diamondbacks drama that was (hopefully) resolved this week.

— Alex D’Agostino, PHNX WKLY Editor

Ketel Marte returns to Diamondbacks as playoff race heats up

By now, we’re all pretty tired of this. If you’ve been mercifully oblivious to the drama surrounding Arizona Diamondbacks star second baseman Ketel Marte, here’s the quick summary:

Ketel Marte unexpectedly no-showed to Fenway Park on August 17 after traveling to Boston with the team. That led to his placement on the Restricted List as he dealt with a reported “personal issue.”

Marte was sent back to Arizona to have an MRI on his knee, which he tweaked a few games earlier, and to have a meeting with Torey Lovullo and Mike Hazen. The imaging revealed inflammation, the meeting was “productive,” and Marte was placed on the 10-day IL instead of the Restricted List.

One “bad look” casino sighting and 10 days of speculation later, Marte made his return to the Diamondbacks’ roster. He addressed the media, saying he “failed” Lovullo by not showing up to the ballpark and he regretted not reporting. He said he planned to apologize to his teammates “like a man.”

Marte did so, and his teammates accepted his apology. Whether or not it was enough to truly resolve the issue, everyone involved seems more than ready to move on.

Arizona’s All-Star second baseman played in two games against the Phillies — both as the DH. He singled twice, worked a walk and was hit by a pitch. He was met with some boos and some cheers. His hits might not have looked like massive-impact moments, but he worked counts and took controlled swings. Arizona needs more of that.

The Diamondbacks lost both of those games, however, thanks to an overall poor offensive performance. Marte sat in the finale (that was part of the plan due to his injury, according to Hazen and Lovullo), which Arizona salvaged by utilizing seven pitchers in a 1-0 bullpen game shutout victory. They came out of that contest a half game up for the final Wild Card berth.

My Take: Are we done with this? Can we please be done with this? The Diamondbacks don’t need Marte to do much more here, other than hit. They need the MVP version of him — the version that earned the boos from Phillies fans this week.

A .251/.317/.444 slash and a .761 are anything but poor, but they’re not what we all know Marte is capable of doing. It’s time for him (and his teammates) to hit the ground running with just 21 games left to play.

Now, let’s see what else is going on in Arizona sports this week:

The Cardinals are preparing for week one against the Los Angeles Chargers, but the real news happed yesterday. Arizona signed WR Michael Wilson to a three-year, $75 million contract worth up to $78 million with $47 million guaranteed. Mike Willy gets a well-deserved bag, and the Cards’ “Puka Nacua” gets locked up for the next few seasons.
On Saturday, College football begins in this great state. The Arizona Wildcats will take on the NAU Lumberjacks at 6:30 p.m. in Tucson, while Kenny Dillingham’s Sun Devils get Morgan State at Mountain America Stadium at 7:00 p.m.
Phoenix Rising took a 2-1 win over Indy Eleven on Saturday — they’re still in the midst of a rough season at 7-8-7 and in 10th place.
The Mercury won 101-69 over the Toronto Tempo on Saturday, though their playoff hopes are long-dead. Phoenix is 14-26 on the year.