Diamondbacks’ Manager Lovullo To Return For His 10th Season In 2026

Arizona Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo will return for the final year of his contract in 2026, team sources said Monday, getting out in front of speculation regarding his future following a second straight close-but-no-cigar season.

Lovullo signed a three-year extension after the Diamondbacks unexpectedly make the 2023 World Series, but they have come up short the last two seasons despite being in contention in the final weekend.

The D-backs (80-82) were eliminated from the NL wild card race in a loss to San Diego on Friday, the third game of a season-ending five-game losing streak. They were eliminated via tiebreaker on the final day of 2024, when the New York Mets and Atlanta Braves split a doubleheader to permit both to advance.

Lovullo received strong and vocal support from his players, who credited him with orchestrating their post-trade deadline surge into the playoff picture this season after falling a season-low eight games under .500 on Aug.1 when they lost lost five potential free agents.

“Torey kept us in it,” said right-hander Zac Gallen, who is a free agent this winter and is not expected to return.

“What I think a lot of people outside of this space in the world of baseball don’t understand is what it is to be a manager. It is not always the ‘x’s and the o’s. There is a lot of managing personalities, the things people don’t really see.

“Obviously the last years haven’t gone the way we intended, but for me Torey is the person who had my vote of confidence. Hopefully he gets a team next year that is somewhat healthy and is able to show the naysayers and baseball wrong.”

Lovullo is 664-692 in nine seasons. Only Tampa Bay’s Kevin Cash, the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Dave Roberts and the Atlanta’s Brian Snitker have a longer tenure.

Lovullo navigated through a series debilitating injuries, primarily to the pitching staff, in a season in which the D-backs were built to contend.

Starter Corbin Burnes, who signed a six-year, $210 million free agent deal in the offseason, made only 11 appearances before undergoing season-ending Tommy John surgery in June. He said he expects to return near the All-Star break next season.

Top closing candidates Justin Martinez and A. J. Puk also suffered season-ending elbow injuries before the mid-way point, leaving the D-backs without their best high-leverage options.

Catcher Gabriel Moreno missed 10 weeks with a fractured right index finger that was not immediately diagnosed, second baseball Ketel Marte was out for five weeks with a hamstring injury and outfielder Lourdes Gurriel Jr. was lost after suffering a season-ending knee Sept. 1. He had seven homers and a major league-high 32 RBIs in August.

“Sellers at the trade deadline and we still have a chance to make the postseason obviously says something about what he can do with this group,” Burnes said.

“Three wins” short of the playoffs. “What happens if myself and ‘J-Mart’ and Puk and the other pitchers who went down … maybe a few of us are healthy. Are three wins that difficult to come by? It’s definitely hard to look at what could have been if we had been healthy.”

Management has never expressed anything but belief in Lovullo, the NL manager of the year when the D-backs reached the playoffs in his first season in 2017.

When Lovullo faced heat after the D-backs finished 52-110 in 2021, general manager Mike Hazen said that he, not Lovullo, should be fired for not giving Lovullo enough to work with.

The NL West has lost two managers this season — Colorado fired Bud Black in the May in the worst season in franchise history, and the San Francisco Giants fired Bob Melvin on Monday after they failed to make the playoffs.

Neither Lovullo nor Hazen were made available Monday as players gathered in the clubhouse to clean out their lockers for the final time.

Lovullo has faced recent scrutiny for two decisions he made in a series against the Dodgers last week. The D-backs used a bullpen game in the last game of the series Thursday, when they entered one game behind Cincinnati and the Mets for the final wild card spot. They lost 8-0.

They pushed Gallen back to start on five days’ rest in the first game of a three-game series in San Diego on Friday. The D-backs had gone to a four-man rotation in the previous week, so one of their final six games was to be a bullpen game if the starters pitched on regular rest.

“We all love to be Monday morning quarterbacks and go, ‘Oh, we should do this,’” Gallen said. “They made the decision and we had to live with that.”

The day before, Lovullo opted to have Geraldo Perdomo bunt with a runner on second and no outs in the 10th inning in a 4-4 game. They failed to score and lost 5-4 in 11 innings.

“We kind of drew the short straw with some adversity this year,” said reliever Ryan Thomason, who said Lovullo has a special bond with the relief corps.

“Something that I find that is special about Torey is that he cares about the team dynamic a lot. You see him in ‘bp’ (batting practice). He comes around talks to all the relievers.

“Relievers, we’re like (NFL) kickers. No one cares about us. They just want to get mad at us when we miss a kick. Torey loves on us. The family comments are cliche for sure, but I feel that way with this team.

“I’d go to war for Torey. I’d go to wear for my dad. I’d go to war for my mom. He’s family to me. We all make mistakes all year long. It’s easy to look at the guy in charge and say it is his fault, but it’s everybody’s fault. It’s everybody’s fault. It really is.”