Zac Gallen and Michael Soroka Are Back to Save the Diamondbacks' September

The Arizona Diamondbacks are reportedly pulling the rip cord on their injured list, with MLB Trade Rumors noting the team is likely to activate Zac Gallen and Michael Soroka.

Getting your ace back in September is the baseball equivalent of finding a hundred-dollar bill in your winter coat, except this coat also comes with a veteran innings-eater attached to the pocket.

"MLB Trade Rumors reports the D-Backs are likely to activate Zac Gallen and Michael Soroka."

Arizona has been grinding through a tough stretch of the schedule, recently taking two out of three from the Houston Astros before heading to Kansas City. They scraped out a 5-4 win against the Royals to open their current series, but surviving the late-summer gauntlet requires actual starting pitching, not just bullpen duct tape.

Gallen returning completely changes the math for a team trying to lock down their postseason plans. You can only survive so many bullpen games before your relievers start looking like they have aged a decade since the All-Star break. Adding Soroka to the mix gives them a guy who has battled through enough career injuries to make a medical textbook look like light reading, but who still knows how to get big league outs.

For anyone staring at the daily betting board, Arizona suddenly becomes a much tougher out. Fading a depleted rotation is easy money, but stepping in front of a rested Gallen in a playoff race is how you end up deleting your sportsbook app.

The Diamondbacks wrap up their series with the Royals on September 9 before heading into the final stretch of the season. If Gallen and Soroka can immediately eat innings and keep the line moving, Arizona just became the team nobody wants to see on their upcoming schedule.