To say this season for the Arizona Diamondbacks has been abysmal would be the understatement of the year. Their play has been atrocious. Each game they seem to find new ways to snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory. Even that is somewhat of a rose-colored view of how bad this season has gone. It suggests that the Dbacks are competitive in each contest. Yesterday’s second game of a three-game series against the Los Angeles Dodgers proved how non-competitive they have become. When your starting pitcher gives up five runs in the first inning then is pulled in the second after giving up another four runs before recording an out you know things have gotten bad. So bad you didn’t think it could get worse then they show you there is no rock bottom or if there is, this team hasn’t found it yet losing the game 22-1.

I’ve played enough baseball and heard enough coaches to know what the cliches will be after that. “The best thing to do is put a game like tonight’s in your rearview mirror and forget about it.” “While the score didn’t show it, there were some positives you can take from tonight.” Or my personal favorite, “This team is better than the record or the scoreboard shows, I think we’ve turned a corner.”

To put things into perspective, the worst season in Diamondbacks history was 2004. That team finished with a record of 51-111, the worst record in baseball. At game 92 the 2004 team’s record was 31-61. Compare that to the 2021 Diamondbacks whose record is 26-66 and you see that they are a full five games worse than they have ever been in the history of the franchise.

The final game of the series against the Dodgers showed again how this season has progressed for the Diamondbacks. They led the world champions by a score of 4-1 after seven innings. It looked as though the team might actually win a series on the road (a feat more elusive than an 80 degree day in an Arizona summer). But as the team has shown time and time again, no lead is ever safe. The Dbacks gave up three runs in the eighth inning to let the Dodgers tie the game then gave up a three-run home run in the ninth for a 7-4 loss. Mercifully the first half of the season has come to a close with the All-Star break coming not a moment too soon. At least for the next four days it will be impossible for Arizona to lose another game.

For the fans of a last-place team the All-Star festivities hold very little solace. The All-Star team will have one mandatory participant as a reminder of how poorly the players and the team have played so far. None of the conversations will revolve around potential playoff runs in the second half or what the GM may be planning to bolster the roster. Instead, any talk of the Diamondbacks will likely revolve around how many pieces will be moved making the likelihood of any hopes of better play an impossible dream.

If history has taught us anything it is that when a team has played this poorly not just in one season but as a continuation of another; change is inevitable. During the 2004 season, Manager Bob Brenly who had guided the Diamondbacks to their only World Championship was fired on July 3, 2004. The team had just lost two games to the Minnesota Twins and had a record of 29-52. At the time management stated that it wasn’t just the poor play of 2004 but also that 2003 had been a disappointment. The team suffered from injuries to key players but the roster could not live up to what was needed to field a competitive team. Third-base coach Al Pedrique was named interim manager for the remainder of the season.

Looking at the 2021 ballclub. The team is likewise struggling (even more so than the 2004 squad). The injured list reads like a who’s-who of key players that prior to the beginning of the season were touted as the key to the team’s success. Last season was likewise a disappointment but has been forgiven as the result of a pandemic. Still, the writing is on the wall that the Diamondbacks are ripe for a change. Torey Lovullo is likely not the reason for the team’s poor performance but it’s easier to replace a manager than it is to replace a 25-man roster.

While I always hate to see a coaching/manager change in the middle of a season, I also realize that team owners rarely look at timing and convenience when making changes especially if they feel that a roster is underperforming based on talent. The problem is, very little will likely change if Lovullo is fired. As if the scorching temperatures of an Arizona summer were not hot enough, it looks as though Lovullo’s seat may be even hotter.