Arizona Diamondbacks: A Look Back at the First Half
Before the season, if you would have told me that the Arizona Diamondbacks would be 42-45 at the All-Star break I would have laughed.
If you would have told me that the Diamondbacks were sitting in third place in the National League West I would have thought you were crazy.
And if you said that the Diamondbacks were just 7.5 games behind the first-place Dodgers, despite having a payroll $198 million lower I would have just nodded at you and flashed a fake grin.
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However, all of these are true as we head into the second half of the MLB season.
The Diamondbacks have surprised us all and have a legitimate shot at reaching the postseason for the first time since winning the National League West in 2011. Arizona sits just five games behind the Chicago Cubs for the second National League Wild Card spot and only has two teams to jump (New York Mets and San Francisco Giants).
The offense has been the reason for the success thus far as the Diamondbacks sit in 5th overall in the MLB and 1st overall in the National League in runs scored (392). Incredibly so, the five National League West teams are the top-five scoring teams in the National League and all rank in the top-13 in the MLB in runs.
Paul Goldschmidt is having quite possibly the best year of his career. Through 87 games he carries a slash line of .340/.455/.610, hit 21 bombs, knocked in 70 runs, and is 16-for-20 on stolen base attempts. He leads the National League in batting average, at-bats, runs scored, RBIs, intentional walks and (normal) walks. He has 68 walks on the year compared to just 75 strikeouts. Goldy was just named to his third consecutive All-Star Game.
A.J. Pollock joined Goldschmidt in Cincinnati as the Diamondbacks’ representatives at the 2015 MLB All-Star Game. Pollock is slashing .299/.350/.464 on the season and has swiped 19 bases as well. He already has career-highs in home runs (11) and RBIs (42) with 51 less games played than his career-high 137 games in 2013. Pollock (100) and Goldschmidt (107) are two of just five National League players with at least 100 hits.
With just 75 games remaining we are a little past halfway, but there’s still plenty of time for the Diamondbacks to make a run at a playoff berth. It should be interesting to see whether or not the team will be “buyers” or “sellers” at the trade deadline. The next two weeks are huge in which the team will decide whether or not taking on some rental players would be worth it.