A normal baseball season is a marathon. The 2020 season will be a sprint.
Major League Baseball announced Monday it would implement a 60 game season beginning on July 24th. Assuming everybody agrees to show up and play ball, let’s examine what the Arizona Diamondbacks could look like over the course of an unprecedented 1/3 of a regular season.
Let’s look at the previous three seasons under manager Torey Lovullo for our data.
Record Over 1st 60 Games
2019: 30-30
2018: 32-28
2017: 35-25
The trend here is not in the D-Backs favor. It shows the club getting off to a slower start year over year. In the past, the Diamondbacks have struggled at home and team officials have blamed that on spending too much time in Arizona for spring training and perhaps needing a road trip getaway to hit the reset button.
Record Over Final 60 Games
2019: 34-26
2018: 26-34
2017: 34-26
The data here can be optimistic if you consider the 2018 season had bullpen meltdown issues on nearly a nightly basis. That was a very good team that spent 125 days in first place in the NL West but suffered a late season collapse and finished in 3rd place. The 2019 finish looks strong record-wise, but remember the D-Backs had a 6-game losing streak in mid-September that knocked them out of the Wild Card race. Note: Game 103 of the regular season usually falls on or near July 24th, which is the scheduled date for the 2020 season to start.
Record vs. NL West
Another trend that does not bode well for the D-Backs is their record against division opponents the last three seasons. They went 45-31 against NL West foes in 2017; 39-37 in 2018; and 38-38 in 2019. While no schedule for 2020 has been released as of this writing, there’s large speculation that most games will be played against divisional opponents. The D-Backs can’t afford to settle for a .500 record against those teams this year and expect to make the playoffs.
