Arizona Diamondbacks look to keep spring momentum going into regular season
Mar 31, 2016, 1:56 PM
Arizona Diamondbacks' Paul Goldschmidt, right, celebrates his home run with third base coach Matt Williams during the first inning of a spring training baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers, Saturday, March 26, 2016, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
(AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Whether Cactus League success equates to regular season success can be debated.
There can be no debate, however, over the importance of a good start.
The Arizona Diamondbacks open 2016 with seven straight home games and 17 of their first 27 at Chase Field.
That bodes well considering the D-backs were the kings of Cactus League play, winning their fourth title in franchise history, and now will relocate some 20 miles down the road from their spring training home of Salt River Fields.
“To keep it going would be great,” manager Chip Hale said. “There’s going to be tough times through the year, so hopefully it doesn’t happen early.”
Entering play Thursday, no major league team had better offensive numbers than the D-backs, who lead the Majors in batting average (.321), on-base percentage (.376), slugging percentage (.536), runs (226), hits (373), extra-base hits (148), doubles (87), triples (20) and total bases (623).
Breaking down the numbers even further, the middle-infield combination of Nick Ahmed, Brandon Drury, Chris Owings and Jean Segura is batting .414 (103-for-249) with 22 doubles, seven triples, 10 home runs and 44 RBI.
“The energy has been great all spring,” Owings said. “Everybody kind of being on the same mindset. This spring everybody has kind of been doing that; just showing up everyday ready to play. I don’t think that ever changes, but this year it’s just been kind of something a little bit different. We got some great guys on the mound right now (the D-backs rotation has recorded 12 wins and 103 strikeouts, both the highest totals in the National League), and I think that’s given us some confidence and then just going up to the plate and doing what we’ve been doing since last year and just trying to continue that.”
And that’s the big question mark: will the D-backs be able to maintain their spring momentum?
While the schedule sets up well in terms of the number of home games, it’s who those games are against that has Hale’s attention.
“We have an extremely challenging schedule early,” he said.
On paper, the D-backs appear to reside in the best division in all of baseball.
The D-backs will face each of their NL West brethren in the first three weeks of the season with three-game series against the Rockies, Dodgers and Padres plus a four-game set at San Francisco.
“Our division is outstanding,” Hale said. “The Giants are going to always be tough. They’re the toughest-minded team that I know of with (manager) Bruce Bochy. The Dodgers are good. I think the Rockies are really improved.”
The opening month also sees the D-backs play last season’s three-winningest NL teams in the Cardinals (100 wins), Pirates (98) and Cubs (97).
The Cubs in the 2015 postseason knocked off both the Pirates and Cardinals before falling to the Mets in the National League Championship Series.
“We play the best teams from the other divisions. It is a tough first month,” Hale said. “We have to really bring our game, and right now, are we playing at a high level? Yeah. Our guys are really playing at a high level, but Monday everything changes. Everything starts back at zero, so we have to remember that.”
