Dbacks Dispatch 2nd Half Preview

he All Star Break is always the longest 4 days of the regular season for baseball fans, yet can be the perfect rest and reset for teams like the Diamondbacks that are in need of a late season push for the postseason. Obviously not all players and coaches get to rest for the 4 full days, especially for Ketel Marte, Torey Lovullo and the rest of the Diamondbacks coaching staff who got to celebrate the festivities in Arlington.

The fellas started off briefly discussing how they went about their days without Snakes baseball before briefly Mondays HomeRun Derby and how the new format is interesting but still has some kinks to work out. One thing they can work on is to not give Pete Alonso an All Star Roster spot, just for him to only hit 9 HR before his final round of swings (Christian Walker was snubbed for THAT?). The crew also brought up Manfreds comments on the ASG jerseys and how a return to each team’s individual uniform being represented could bring back some more excitement to the midsummer classic.

With the All Star Game talk wrapped up and out of the way, we all got out our crystal balls as we attempted to predict the end of season results for division winners along with MVP, CY Young and ROTY winners in each league. Some of the division winners seem obvious (Phillies and Guardians) which made it easy for the crew to all be on the same page, but when predicting the AL West and East it gets much more difficult considering both the Mariners/Astros and Orioles/Yankees are only a game or so apart at the top of the standings.

The crew then moved onto the end of season award predictions and these could come down to the wire should the dominoes fall the way they need to. While there are some clear frontrunners for AL and NL MVPs in Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani, that doesn’t mean a guy like Gunnar Henderson won’t be fighting Judge for that crown the entire way to the finish line. One award we could all agree on being basically done and over is NL All Star Game Starter Paul Skenes being named the 2024 NL Rookie of the Year.

The episode and the seemingly long 4 day all star break wrapped up with a look at the Diamondbacks 2nd half opening series against the last place Chicago Cubs and the probable starters that are listed for this weekend series.

Friday @ 11:20 AM: Ryne Nelson (6-6 / 4.96 ERA) VS Justin Steele (2-3 / 2.71 ERA)

Saturday @ 4:15 PM: Zac Gallen (6-5 / 3.87 ERA) VS Kyle Hendricks (2-7 / 6.78 ERA )

Sunday @ 11:20 AM: Brandon Pfaadt (4-6 / 3.97 ERA) VS Shota Imanaga (8-2 / 2.97 ERA)