Diamondbacks have best record by Memorial Day since 2023

SAN FRANCISCO — Memorial Day is usually right around one-third of the way through the baseball season, a place on the calendar when sample sizes are no longer considered too small to figure out what teams are all about.

The Arizona Diamondbacks won their Memorial Day game against the San Francisco Giants 6-2, improving to a 29-24 record.

That is Arizona’s best record after playing on Memorial Day since the 2023 season, its last postseason appearance:

• 2023: 31-23
• 2024: 25-28
• 2025: 27-27
• 2026: 29-24

“I think the first month can be a little bit tricky, I think guys are just finding their way,” manager Torey Lovullo said. “But this is when things start to really show up and become a trend or a habit. I think right around this time, I usually say June 1, what you see is what you’re most likely going to get. You’re a couple hundred at-bats into a season if you’re playing every single day.”

The Diamondbacks have taken care of business against sub-.500 baseball teams this year, especially lately.

Their 12 wins since May 9 (12-4) are the most in Major League Baseball, and nine of those have come against the Colorado Rockies and Giants. The D-backs have a 23-9 record against teams under .500 (and a 6-15 record versus teams .500 or better), which is how a team can stay competitive, especially in the expanded playoff landscape.

If the postseason started on Tuesday, the D-backs would be in it as the third NL Wild Card team– albeit by a half-game over the Chicago Cubs and with 109 games left to play.

MLB.com took a look at Memorial Day standings over the past four years with 12-team playoff brackets, and 70.8% of the time, the teams in position to make the playoffs at this time of year held on.

After the opening six weeks supplied enough ups and downs to keep the D-backs around .500, all three phases of the game have really looked great lately. The D-backs were 13-8, fell to 17-20 and are back to a season-high five games over .500.

“I think that’s the beauty of playing 162 games,” pitcher Merrill Kelly said. “If you would have asked the Phillies if they’d be .500 right now at the beginning of the season, a lot of people probably would have said no. And look where they are now. I just think that’s the ebbs and flows of the season.

“I think we are playing some good baseball right now, top to bottom. I think we’re playing some pretty good defense. We’re pitching well. And we’re starting to see the offense be who we know that they are. We want to keep that momentum going. Obviously, just take one game at a time.”

When asked on Sunday what the main keys have been to the recent success, Lovullo first pointed to the starting pitching, followed by the right hitters getting going and better overall at-bats from the team.

In the month of May, the Diamondbacks’ 2.80 team ERA is the third best in the league, only trailing the Milwaukee Brewers and Tampa Bay Rays, who are both leading their respective divisions. The rotation has accounted for 15 quality starts in the past 20 games, leading the league in that stretch. Four each have come from Kelly and Ryne Nelson.

The lineup is ninth in runs this month, but just looking at the past 15 days, the D-backs have scored the second-most runs behind the Washington Nationals. That timeline coincides with Ketel Marte and Corbin Carroll catching fire, as the two D-backs are first and second in MLB in batting average in that span.

Marte has hit .444 and Carroll .429, and they have combined for 20 extra-base hits.

“It feels good to get on this rhythm, and the good vibes of the team,” catcher Gabriel Moreno said. “We are together, so that’s the thing that I have seen this year. Especially with the young guys right here, trying to translate that good vibe to them. And they help us.”

When the Diamondbacks struggled with a brutal slate at the end of April and into May, the outlook was clear. They had to get back on track with a lighter schedule in order for the season to not start slipping, and they have done so in a way where they hope to have built better habits (checking off unfavorable pitches, working walks, throwing strikes and playing sharp defense).

The D-backs will be tested on translating those habits when the Los Angeles Dodgers enter Chase Field for a four-game series next week, an opportunity to close the gap in the division race entering the summer. The Dodgers swept the D-backs to start the season.

Before then, the D-backs have two more games against the Giants and three against a talented yet struggling Seattle Mariners club.

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