Leaning back with his outstretched legs crossed in front of him, Dylan Cease spent much of Saturday afternoon in the rolling chair in front of his locker. His gaze was fixated on the bank of flatscreens closest to his locker — specifically, the one playing the Astros’ fourth-inning rally against Arizona left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez — as teammates and coaches passed between him and the exit leading out to the field.

As the singles started to fall in and commotion rose throughout the clubhouse, Joe Musgrove joined Cease and locker-mate Michael King to witness a critical development in the increasingly tight NL wild-card race.

The two pitchers ultimately dispersed to go about their between-start work.

Cease stayed put.

He watched in silence.

Then Cease coughed up a lead in a loss that prevented the Padres from padding their wild-card lead. On Sunday, it was Musgrove’s turn to stumble, only this time the Diamondbacks won to crawl back to within a half-game of the Padres atop the wild-card race.

The Padres remain in the driver’s seat, but they feel the traffic backing up behind them.

“It’s frustrating at this point to lose any of them really,” Cease said. “We know every opportunity that we have is big. We definitely want to capitalize on all of them.”

1   |   Los Angeles Dodgers (86-57, Previous: 2)

• The Dodgers are crossing their fingers that Teoscar Hernandez, hit on the foot by a pitch on Friday, won’t join a crowded injured list that now includes Gavin Stone.

2   |   Philadelphia Phillies (85-58, Previous: 4)

• Good thing the Phils have a seven-game cushion, because Alec Bohm (hand) on the injured list and J.T. Realmuto hobbling after fouling a pitch off his foot Friday.

3   |   Milwaukee Brewers (82-61, Previous: 1)

• Is there another Jackson (Chourio) forcing his way into the NL Rookie of the Year race? The Brewers’ 20-year-old has 19 homers, 20 steals and a .273/.328/.463 batting line.

4   |   Baltimore Orioles (82-62, Previous: 5)

• With 36 homers, Gunnar Henderson is already leaving his mark in the O’s record book as no other shortstop in franchise history has hit as many homers as him.

5   |   New York Yankees (82-61, Previous: 3)

• “Now they do this:” Nestor Cortes is not happy that he, the workhorse of the rotation, in his words, has been moved to the bullpen.

6   |   Cleveland Guardians (81-62, Previous: 7)

• Old friend alert: Scott Barlow, whom the Padres gave up for Enyel De Los Santos (who was later traded for a minor league outfielder), was DFA’d by the Guardians with a 4.25 ERA.

7   |   San Diego Padres (81-64, Previous: 9)

• He’s baaaack: Luis Arraez has three hits in each of his last two games and is hitting .413 over his last 15 games.

8   |   New York Mets (78-65, Previous: 13)

• Nothing like a nine-game winning streak to breathe life into your wild-card hopes.

9   |   Arizona Diamondbacks (80-64, Previous: 6)

• Corbin Carroll has flipped a switch in the second half, pairing 14 homers with a .943 OPS after going into the break with a .635 OPS.

10   |   Houston Astros (77-66, Previous: 8)

• Is the Justin Verlander era coming to an end? He allowed eight runs in three innings on Sunday, has a 7.27 RA over his last seven starts and a 5.30 ERA on the season.

The rest

• 11. Kansas City Royals (79-65, Previous: 10)
• 12. Atlanta Braves (78-65, Previous: 11)
• 13. Minnesota Twins (76-67, Previous: 12)
• 14. Chicago Cubs (73-70, Previous: 14)
• 15. Seattle Mariners (73-71, Previous: 15)
• 16. Detroit Tigers (73-71, Previous: 16)
• 17. Boston Red Sox (72-71, Previous: 17)
• 18. St. Louis Cardinals (72-71, Previous: 18)
• 19. Cincinnati Reds (69-75, Previous: 20)
• 20. San Francisco Giants (71-73, Previous: 19)
• 21. Texas Rangers (70-74, Previous: 22)
• 22. Tampa Bay Rays (71-72, Previous: 23)
• 23. Toronto Blue Jays (68-76, Previous: 21)
• 24. Pittsburgh Pirates (67-76, Previous: 24)
• 25. Washington Nationals (64-79, Previous:25)
• 26. Oakland Athletics (62-82, Previous: 26)
• 27. Los Angeles Angels (59-84, Previous: 27)
• 28. Miami Marlins (54-89, Previous: 28)
• 29. Colorado Rockies (54-90, Previous: 29)
• 30. Chicago White Sox (33-111, Previous: 30)