What are your far-too-early takeaways from the first couple games of the season?
Spencer: West coast baseball is too late and needs to adopt old Wrigley standards so us Dbacks fans on the east coast can watch them. (this is sarcasm)
Wesley: Love the ABS challenge system already, and I hate the new broadcasters. (Netflix and Peacock)I realize both are lacking in experience so hopefully they’ll iron out the kinks in the meantime. Hopefully, the actual D’Backs broadcasts aren’t as bad.
1AZfan1: tHe DoDgErS aRe GoOd FoR bAsEbAlL. That and the bullpen is going to be maddeningly close
to being competent, but will not, in fact, be competent. The bullpen has pitched in 11 innings so far and they’ve only allowed earned runs in 3 of those innings. Unfortunately, 2 of those 3 directly led to losses and the third put the game effectively out of reach. We really need the starters to get lengthened out and cover as many innings as possible as quickly as possible. Asking the bullpen to throw 4+ innings on any given night is going to be a recipe for disaster. There is no way that we’ll have 4 relievers all throwing good ball on the same night.
Makakilo: My early takeaways are in this AZ Snake Pit article , which will post on Tuesday.
Any big red flags showing for you?
Spencer: I don’t know if it’s fair to call out the pitching when they’ve been going up against The Chosen Team, but they haven’t looked great.
Wesley: I’ll be honest, I was expecting a Dodgers sweep and my early evaluation of the D’Backs for this season won’t begin until the next series.
1AZfan1: Santana’s not as sure-handed as I thought he’d be. Not hitting was kinda baked into the purchase price with him, but if his fielding doesn’t improve, I’m not convinced he finishes the season with us. Start playing Groover at first in Reno.
Makakilo: My view, similar to Wesley, is that the season starts with the home opener series against the Tigers. My series preview will post on Monday.
Any early positives?
Spencer: The bats I expected to be good/great (Marte and Perdomo) have been. And Thomas might have turned a corner. Seeing Lawlar play is a good sign.
Wesley: I am extremely happy to see Lawlar finally get his bat going.
1AZfan1: The defense looks mostly good enough even with Santana being a little wobbly; it certainly appears to be improved over last season. We gave the Dodgers all they could handle in 2 of the 3 games. Clearly they’re in a different league than we are – we can’t afford to make ANY mistakes against them – but we certainly could’ve won 2 out of 3 in LA if we played clean ball.
Makakilo: Two of the first three losses were decided by 1-run. Those are solid performances against the Dodgers! 1AZfan1 is correct that we could have won 2 out of 3 against the Dodgers.
What new food item at Chase Field are you most interested in this season?
Spencer: None. They all feel gimmicky to me. The cottage cheese thing is especially disgusting. But I hope they are all great for anyone brave enough to spend a tank of gas on them!
Wesley: I can’t get excited for the food items when the last game I went to the Donut and Churro in my Churro Dog was STALE. I get that may have been a result of the previous company in charge of concessions, but for now I am reserving my judgment until I actually am in the ballpark with food in hand.
1AZfan1: I’m likely not getting back out to Chase this year so I’ll have to just say that I’d probably get the pork belly nachos. I’ll give anything with gochujang a shot.
Makakilo: The Plant Powered Burrito Bowl sounds like an adventure worth the trip! Diamondbacks, let’s reach the playoffs!
