The Arizona Diamondbacks are figuratively on fire recently, taking three of four games from the Mets and sweeping the Pirates as they embark on 20 road games out of 26 in a 28-day span. The 12-inning win over the Pirates put Arizona at 50-59, which is the kind of record you'd rather literally set on fire.
However, there are still two months of baseball left, and at this point you gotta still play for something.
.500 baseball it is then. (I set the goals from afar.) To reach the fabled 81-win mark, that would require a finish of 31-22. It's difficult but not impossible; the Rangers, Brewers, Yankees, Phillies, Dodgers, and Red Sox had at least that record in their first 53 games. And looking at the rest of their schedule, it can be done without any stretch of the mind:
Ten games against the Dodgers: suppose they go 5-5 against them
Nine against the Giants: 5-4
Six against the Rockies: 4-2
Six against the Astros: 4-2
Six against the Padres: 4-2
Three against the Brewers: 2-1
Three against the Phillies: 1-2
Three against the Nationals: 2-1
Three against the Mets: 2-1
Three against the Cubs: 1-2
One against the Braves: 1-0
Total: 31-22
The fact that 19 games are against the Dodgers and Giants are going to kill them. They're just a combined 4-10 against the two, so playing .500 ball against them will probably be difficult. Fortunately the rest of the plan assumes, say, no sweeps of the Nationals, Mets, or Padres. Any sort of flawless victory over those teams creates room to suck.
Playing great in the second half is the greatest legal performance-enhancing supplement in baseball. The Rangers, until this year, were notorious first half paper tigers, while 2007's remarkable run by the Rockies in the second half actually got them to the World Series.
Much like how the cavemen in Quest For Fire had to, um, find fire to live (I'm assuming that was the plot, I was just a little kid when we watched that in school), reaching .500 would be a fantastic survival technique for many de facto role players on that team, most notably unlikely manager A.J. Hinch.
Article comments
1 - Maddy Pumilia
I'm not really a baseball fan. So, I know nothing about the Diamondbacks.
However, living in L.A., I know the Dodgers are good (although my sister likes the Angels) so I understand you saying that it might be hard to be .500.
My Dad's a Pirate fan (surprise, surprise) so he's always talking about being under .500 for 18 years(?) So, good luck to the Diamondbacks.
Anyway, nice article.
Maddy
2 - Matthew T. Sussman
Thanks, and I'd say two losses to Washington pretty much ruins the optimism surrounding this quest.