The 5: Best starts to a season by an Arizona team

Though they have cooled off a bit recently, the Arizona Diamondbacks’ 7-3 start to the 2017 season was enough to vault them to the top of the NL West and position themselves, at least early, as a team that could make some noise this summer.

As exciting as it is, it got us thinking about other great starts Arizona teams have put together, and after doing a bit of research we discovered the D-backs are not alone in getting out of the gates quickly.

So with that, here are five of the best starts Arizona teams have ever put together:

2004-05 Suns (31-4)

Little did the Suns know their up-and-down style would revolutionize the NBA. Steve Nash, in his first season with Phoenix, was too busy leading a talented team to a 31-4 start with the dangerous starting lineup that also included Joe Johnson, Quentin Richardson, Shawn Marion and Amare Stoudemire.

Mowing down opponents and the end to the hot start in the form of a six-game losing streak thereafter said a lot about the Suns’ season.

One of Phoenix’s four losses in its first 35 games was at San Antonio, where the Spurs won big, 115-94, despite Stoudemire’s 37-point outburst. The Suns reached their season-best mark before losing six straight games, a stretch that included an OT loss to San Antonio in Phoenix. It was a sign of things to come, as Phoenix would eventually fall to San Antonio in the Western Conference Finals in five games.

2013-14 Arizona Wildcats (21-0)

It’s not as if the path was easy.

Sean Miller’s team featuring three NBA-caliber players (T.J. McConnell, Aaron Gordon and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson) went through three other teams who could say the same about their rosters.

Arizona went through No. 6 Duke (Jabari Parker, Rodney Hood and Quinn Cook) in Madison Square Garden and later visiting Ann Arbor took out Michigan (Nik Stauskas, Glenn Robinson and Caris LeVert) before dropping UCLA (Jordan Adams, Kyle Anderson, Norman Powell and Zach LaVine) at Pauley Pavilion.

The streak of 21-straight wins ended at California, where the Wildcats lost starting power forward Brandon Ashley early to a foot injury and played tough before the Golden Bears’ Justin Cobbs hit a game-winning shot to bring the fans down from the stands and send the Wildcats to their first defeat. Arizona went on to lose just four more times the rest of the way, the last of which was a 64-63 OT loss to Wisconsin in the Elite 8.

2014 Cardinals (9-1)

The Cardinals finished the 2013 campaign winners of seven of their last nine games, which led to some optimism heading into 2014.

A close home win over San Diego on Monday Night Football was followed by a road win over the New York Giants and a home victory over San Francisco with backup Drew Stanton at QB. Arizona lost its first game in Week 5, on the road at Denver, before winning its next six games.

The winning streak, which included victories over Washington, Oakland, Philadelphia, Dallas, St. Louis and Detroit positioned the Cardinals with the best record in the NFL, but like other blistering hot starts witnessed in the Arizona sports scene, the 2014 Cardinals fell back down to earth hard when injuries hit.

The biggest injury was the one suffered by Carson Palmer, who had missed three games earlier in the season due to a nerve issue and then was lost in Week 10 to a torn ACL. Stanton led the Cardinals to wins over St. Louis and Detroit — adding on to that previously mentioned winning streak — but with him under center the team was not quite the same and struggled to score points. Stanton then suffered his own knee injury in Week 15 against the Rams, a game the Cardinals won to improve to 11-3, but would not win again the rest of the season.

2007 Sun Devils Football (8-0)

With a new coach in Dennis Erickson, the Sun Devils entered the season with optimism and, perhaps more importantly, a pretty loaded roster.

Rudy Carpenter was under center for his second full season as the team’s starting quarterback, and he was joined in the backfield by fellow junior Keegan Herring and sophomore Ryan Torain. The offense also featured playmakers at receiver in Rudy Burgess, Kyle Williams, Chris McGaha and Michael Jones. And on defense,  Troy Nolan, Omar Bolden, Mike Nixon, Justin Tryon and Dexter Davis led the way.

The Devils got off to their fast start by taking advantage of a schedule that was not particularly difficult. Home wins over San Jose State, Colorado, San Diego State and Oregon State got things going, and ASU followed those games with road victories over Stanford and Washington State. They returned home and beat Washington and No. 18 California, with the latter win vaulting Erickson’s squad to No. 6 in the AP Poll.

Of course, the Sun Devils went on to lose in Eugene against fourth-ranked Oregon, and then sandwiched a road win over UCLA with a 44-24 home loss to No. 11 USC. ASU knocked off Arizona, 20-17, to claim the Territorial Cup before losing to Texas 52-34 in the Holiday Bowl.

2008 Diamondbacks (20-8)

In 2007, the D-backs surprised many by winning 90 games and reaching the NLCS. They followed it up with an offseason that saw them land them A’s star Dan Haren, and then looked every bit the contender again in the season’s first full month.

Led by ace Brandon Webb and Haren — as well as veteran Randy Johnson — the D-backs raced out to start that gave them a 5.5 game lead in the NL West when the calendar turned to May. Unfortunately, their 19-8 April was followed by an 11-17 May, and an 11-16 June all but wiped out their lead in the division.

From there it was a battle to not only stay atop the division, but above the .500 mark. The D-backs failed in the former but succeeded in the latter, finishing 82-80 but two games back of the Dodgers, who claimed the NL West crown.

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