{"id":670503,"date":"2026-04-08T15:54:19","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T15:54:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/670503\/"},"modified":"2026-04-08T15:54:19","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T15:54:19","slug":"the-d-backs-have-one-glaring-problem-and-its-not-what-you-think","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/670503\/","title":{"rendered":"The D-backs Have One Glaring Problem \u2014 And It’s Not What You Think"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Arizona Diamondbacks are 5-6 to open the 2026 regular season, though it feels as if the D-backs have hardly come close to scraping the ceiling of their capabilities \u2014 and there’s one particular reason that stands out.<\/p>\n

No, it’s not the bullpen. <\/p>\n

For as much as the Diamondbacks have generally been a pitching-weak team \u2014 and they’ve certainly had their head-scratching bullpen moments<\/a> this season \u2014 the biggest issue plaguing their win-loss column isn’t their pitching staff; it’s an offense that has almost entirely failed to live up to its repuation.<\/p>\n

Diamondbacks offense underperforming early in 2026\"Mar<\/p>\n

Mar 31, 2026; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Arizona Diamondbacks second baseman Ketel Marte (4) scores under the tag by Detroit Tigers catcher Jake Rogers (34) in the eighth inning at Chase Field. Mandatory Credit: Rick Scuteri-Imagn Images | Rick Scuteri-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

The Diamondbacks have been, for the most part, in contention for a top-10, often even top-five offensive group. Ketel Marte, Corbin Carroll and Geraldo Perdomo man the top of the order, but the D-backs have experience and talent up and down the lineup, as well. <\/p>\n

It’s still early, obviously, but Arizona’s offense owns a sixth-worst .631 OPS. They rank bottom-10 in total hits (74), home runs (eight) and RBI (36) on the young season. <\/p>\n

In terms of clutchness, Arizona is a mere 18-for-78 (a .231 average) with runners in scoring position \u2014 the 22nd-best number in baseball.<\/p>\n

The D-backs have not had an explosive start from their top three hitters, in general. Though Carroll’s .981 OPS does rank eighth in the National League, it’s been a slow start for Marte (.209 average, .603 OPS) and Perdomo (.162 average, .535 OPS).<\/p>\n

To a degree, both of those slumping hitters have suffered from some poor batted ball luck. The important point is not who’s hitting and who’s not, but rather the poor timing thereof.<\/p>\n

Because Arizona’s pitching has been, believe it or not, quite sturdy since their 17-2 blowout loss<\/a> to the Atlanta Braves. <\/p>\n

Diamondbacks’ pitching staff surprisingly solid \"Apr<\/p>\n

Apr 1, 2026; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Juan Morillo against the Detroit Tigers at Chase Field. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Arizona’s wholesale team ERA is 4.07. That is the 17th-best figure in baseball<\/a>. <\/p>\n

The D-backs’ starting rotation ERA is 3.16 \u2014 the 10th-best in baseball and fourth-best in the National League. Three-fifths of Arizona’s rotation \u2014 Zac Gallen, Eduardo Rodriguez and Michael Soroka \u2014 have combined to give up five runs over their collective seven starts to open the year. <\/p>\n

The bullpen is a shakier 6.02, which is the fifth-worst. However, five of their earned runs came off catcher James McCann in a meaningless ninth inning, with six more in a different blowup inning charged to right-hander Joe Ross, who was designated for assignment earlier <\/a>in the week.<\/p>\n

Removing those two outlier performances, Arizona’s bullpen ERA suddenly becomes 3.72. In other words, an above-average 14th-best number in all of baseball. Taking those runs away from the overall team ERA puts it at 3.10 \u2014 which would rank sixth in baseball.<\/p>\n

Yes, those blowup innings are certainly an issue. But they’ve also held their opponents to relatively reasonable full-game run totals (again, with the exception of the Braves blowout) for much of the year. If the offense cannot get itself into a rhythm now, benefitting from sturdier pitching, it may become ugly if the effort on the mound begins to worsen as 2026 progresses.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Arizona Diamondbacks are 5-6 to open the 2026 regular season, though it feels as if the D-backs…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":670504,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2404],"tags":[146,22,4314,5,38,4],"class_list":{"0":"post-670503","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arizona-diamondbacks","8":"tag-arizona","9":"tag-arizona-diamondbacks","10":"tag-arizonadiamondbacks","11":"tag-baseball","12":"tag-diamondbacks","13":"tag-mlb"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116369901628838835","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/670503","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=670503"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/670503\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/670504"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=670503"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=670503"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=670503"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}