Led by a Rookie and Worse Than the Mets, This Is Why No One Expected the Diamondbacks in the World Series

The 2023 World Series contenders have demonstrated that impossible things can be achieved. Though the Texas Rangers are a less surprising contender, The Arizona Diamondbacks have crossed all the limits of astonishment. With their poor season stats, no one expected them in the World Series, but the team made it possible. For the last two decades, the MLB has witnessed no repeat champions. However, things have heightened a bit this year as the league will get a Champion from the Wild Card club. Though it’s exciting for both teams, the D-backs fans are overwhelmed as their team is in the race to win the World Series straight after 22 seasons.

After defeating the heavy-weight New York Yankees in 2001 to get the World Series, The D-backs never really got into the fight again throughout these years. However, this year, the team made an exception that no one ever considered. They closed the dream season of the Philadelphia Phillies in the NLCS even after two back-to-back blows in the beginning. MLB enthusiasts are surprised, but that’s not their fault entirely. Several reasons actually strengthened the Diamondbacks’ underdog status throughout the season.

D-Backs had the worst run differential

The Arizona Diamondbacks had gone through ups and downs in the season, mostly downs. As their stats indicate, they had the worst run differentials of this season. While the Minnesota Twins have been standing at the first position since 1987 with a negative run differential of -20, the D-backs this year almost touched their record with -14. The Diamondbacks surpassed the New York Mets’ worst season. While the latter has a -12 run differential, the former overcame them with 2 more points. However, the team is currently progressing at an excellent speed that can prove troublesome for the Rangers.

There’s another potent reason that MLB enthusiasts always consider before claiming a team to be a powerful competitor. Performance of the players, or appearance of the star players.

The Arizona Diamondbacks lack star players and payroll strength

Almost every team has a star player to rely on who appears to save the team during critical situations. The New York Yankees have Aaron Judge and Gerrit Cole, the Philadelphia Phillies have Bryce Harper, The Houston Astros have Jose Altuve, etc. However, these are all renowned names with years of playing experience. For the D-backs, the situation is entirely different.

Their highest-paid player, Madison Bumgarner, was not even on the team this season after April. The team signed him for a five-year, $85 million deal in the 2019-2020 offseason but released him in April 2023 after he gave away 7 runs on 7 hits and three walks against the St. Louis Cardinals. The team announced him as the designated for assignment, with more than $34 million remaining on his contract.

Since the team doesn’t even have experienced star players leading them to the postseason and the World Series, they mainly depend on the rookie player Corbin Carroll. He is not even the team’s captain but is still leading the team. Carroll is not only a potent NL Rookie of the Year contender for this year, he has the greater responsibility to lead the team in the World Series fight. With his 6.0 fWAR this season, this rookie is also a robust MVP Candidate.

Another major point that fans consider negative for the team is the lack of a strong payroll. While the Texas Rangers have Nathan Eovaldi, Corey Seager, and Marcus Semien in their team with the ninth-highest Opening Day payroll of the season, The Diamondbacks hardly secured the 21st opening day payroll spot.

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These are the primary reasons that fans thought would hold back the team from the postseason run. However, there are a few more things that impacted the team’s performance.

The Diamondbacks overcame the biggest obstacles

As the NLCS began, the Phillies took the 2-0 lead that fans took as an indication of the D-backs losing the series. That’s a point from where only 14 teams made their comeback over these years. However, from Game 3 onwards, the underdog team enrolled their name on the list and won the series 4-3, dragging the Phillies to the Game 7. Astonishingly, they won the last game at the Citizens Bank Park, the territory of the Phillies.

The Pitch Timer and other MLB rule changes significantly impacted the team’s improvement. There’s a massive incline if one compares last season’s stats with the current one. While the team has a .230 average, .272 BABIP, and 22.2 percent K in 2022, this year, they have a .250 team average, a .293 BABIP, and a 20.4 percent strikeout rate. The improvement is pretty transparent.

Whether the team will win their 2 World Series this year is not certain, considering these factors will give them a substantial chance to give a tough fight to the Rangers.

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