Two more winning opponents faced, and the Diamondbacks saw more realistic results. Was the sweep at the hands of the Mariners or the split with the Dodgers more indicative of where the team is in reality?
Spencer: I think it shows we are mercurial. If we can beat horrendous teams the rest of the year, we might sneak in.
DBacksEurope: I think both. The Diamondbacks aren’t one of the best teams in the league, nor will they be, but on any given day they can battle fiercely against the top teams, because there is some superb quality on this team in the form of Corbin Carroll and Ketel Marte. For that to happen, we need to take advantage of a solid pitching performance, which is more than likely not to happen with
this rotation, but if everything clicks, then this team could beat any given opponent. This happens on 2 out of 7, say 25% of the time each time we meet one of the top teams in this league? Yeah, that doesn’t sound that crazy to me.
James Attwood: Probably the series against the Dodgers. Mostly, I think the big takeaway is that, for the most part, the team has largely found ways to remain in games and to lose them by the narrowest of margins. A bit more roster depth might have salvage two extra wins in that stretch of seven games.
Makakilo: In the two series against the Mariners and Dodgers, most games were close and hard fought. Four of seven games were decided by 1-run. The two low-scoring 1-run games were split (win vs Dodgers and loss vs Mariners). The two high-scoring games were lost. Contention possibilities were shown by the awesome 4-1 win over the Dodgers. Bust possibilities were shown by two games with a combination of almost no runs scored and weak starting pitching.
1AZFan1: The split with the Dodgers. The Mariners hit HRs at an outlier rate that series. D-backs pitchers are not going to give up homers at that rate all year, though the Nats appear to be testing that theory.
Dano_In_Tucson: I don’t think it’s a simple “either-or” choice. As such, I would say both, but in different ways. Unfamiliar teams with good pitching are going to give us trouble. They’re going to give anyone trouble–that’s what good pitching does–but our offense, while feasting sometimes on more substandard starting pitching and bullpens, can’t seem to really compete convincingly at this point against rotations that are in the upper tiers. As for the Doyers, we know them a lot better, especially their bullpen, and their lineup, and they are less fearsome at the end of the day than their reputation might suggest. FTD are in some respects paper tigers, and I do expect that we’ll see that more clearly as the season progresses.
The LuJames Groover era begins. Do you see this youth movement as the correct path towards a winning season, or is it showing a focus towards the future?
Spencer: I think it’s leaning future with the small hope of catching lightning in the bottle. I wouldn’t reject the idea that some of these promotions are showcases for trades. But competition within the organization is most likely.
DbacksEurope: It is probably the only “correct” way we are able to achieve a winning season because Hazen didn’t do anything this past off-season to replace the batting champions we lost during the 2025 season. So, I think it is his way to try and scrap some necessary wins in so he isn’t on his way out after this season. Could be that it is also with an eye towards the future but in this case I think Troy, Waldschmidt, Groover and whomever Wesley thinks who might get a call up any time soon are all here to try and boost that offence to get wins now.
James Attwood: Both is good.
Makakilo: MY VIEW. The Diamondbacks are focused on reaching the playoffs more than the future. Any move to younger players was made to make the team better now rather than the future.
MY POINTS. First, the opening day roster was older than the MLB average (for each of batters and pitchers) per a Baseball America article from 26 March 2026. Second, my estimated average age for yesterday’s roster of pitchers is unchanged from opening day (30.7 years old). Third, my estimated age of batters got younger (29.8 years old got younger by maybe 2 years); batters are now possibly about the seventh youngest in the Majors. The Diamondbacks traded away Alek Thomas (age 26), resulting in two younger players in center field: Ryan Waldschmidt (age 23.7) and Jorge Barrosa (age 25.3). Also, the Diamondbacks called up younger players (Jordan Lawlar, Tommy Troy, and LuJames Groover).
1AZFan1: It’s the correct path towards a winning season this year when the veterans who were in front of them are Carlos Santana, Pavin Smith, and Alek Thomas.
Dano_In_Tuscson: Again, I can’t really buy into the “either-or” construction here. Again, my answer is “both,” because while I’m not sure we come to the end of 2026 with a winning season, calling up Waldschmidt and Troy and Groover seems like it’s our best path forward right now, and it gives us our best shot, right now. It also has the added benefit for giving a lot of our AAA prospects an extended audition, so we can get a better sense of who we’ve got down on the farm who can contribute at the major league level in future and plug some holes that we’d otherwise have to look to free agency or trades to fill.
Who has been the most surprising team, either good or bad, to you so far this season?
Spencer: I think the Nationals offense needs to be here. But both the White Sox success and Tigers utter uselessness deserve an honorable mention. Cardinals too but I don’t buy it throughout the season.
DBacksEurope: I certainly didn’t expect the Giants to be this bad and I didn’t expect the Diamondbacks to be this good, with a 33-29 record before the series against the Nationals. Outside of the NL West, maybe the strength of the NL Central in general surprises me, especially the Cardinals. In general we still have more than 50% of the games left. Blue Jays can easily slip back into the wild card, just like the Astros.
James Attwood: While I always expected the Mets to struggle more than the roster indicated they should, I certainly did not expect them to spend time as the worst team in the game after more than a week’s worth of games had been played. They are still one of the four worst teams in the National League. The Tigers are surprising for the same reasons. Neither team should be as bad as those two have been, though losing Tarik Skubal certainly has not helped Detroit any.
Makakilo: BACKGROUND. Preseason, I projected 85 wins for the Diamondbacks. My 4 May article argued that 85 wins gives a 50% chance to make the playoffs. In games through 5 June, they are on-pace for 85 wins, albeit FanGraphs shows only a 42.6% chance of playoffs.
THE SURPRISE. There is a strong possibility that the Diamondbacks will end the season in second place in the NL West, ahead of the Padres. The Diamondbacks, after 40 consecutive games in third place (11 April to 26 May), now are in second place. Tankathon and FanGraphs show the Padres will play stronger teams through the rest of the season. What is really exciting is that the Diamondbacks can decide their fate because they will play the Padres 11 times in July/August/September. Finishing the season in second place in the NL West would be a nice consolation prize, should the Diamondbacks fall short of the playoffs.
1AZFan1: Gotta go with my NL West bias and say the Giants. Fully expected them to be right in the thick of the Wild Card race next to us and the Padres instead of cellar dwelling.
Dano_In_Tucson: Honestly, I think probably the Tigers. They nearly made it to the World Series last year, and now they’re tied with the Royals and the San Francisco Giants for the second-worst record in the major leagues. When it’s coming up on mid-June and you’re 13 games under .500, I’m pretty sure not going to climb back into contention. For Detroit, that was certainly not on my bingo card. Sure, Skubal got injured and that has hurt them, but when you’re rocking a 26-39 record on June 6, you’ve got way more problems than one ace can solve or be held responsible for.
If the Diamondbacks had never existed, who would you be following now?
Spencer: Cubs or Phillies. I was born on the north side and my mom made me a baseball fan and she was a Phillies fan growing up. But realistically, not a single sportsball team. As a family, we struggle to enjoy any sport outside baseball.
DBacksEurope: Atlanta Braves
James Attwood: Cubs and Mariners with some love for the Tigers and Giants.
Makakilo: Perhaps, instead of baseball, I would watch women’s volleyball, which is big in Hawaii. On the other hand, when I attended a game with a group of people, our seats were so high and so far from the game that I regretted not bringing binoculars.
1AZFan1: The Cubs. Before the D-backs existed, I watched a ton of Cubs games because we had WGN. I really don’t have much of a soft spot for them anymore, though. I wasn’t even rooting for them in the ’16 World Series.
Dano_In_Tucson: I honestly have no idea. Maybe, at the outside of maybe, the Phillies, because they were my team when I was a kid in southern New Jersey? But probably none….finding the Diamondbacks at the direction of my mom when I was living in NYC in 2001, and then moving back to Arizona in 2005 and watching games every night with her while I was living with her in Prescott Valley, and later discovering the Snake Pit and all you lovely people and eventually starting to write about baseball here from time to time is what got me back to being a baseball fan again after many years of not really following it. So thanks, everyone!
