Hey, it’s another NL West team!
Due to the late arrival of the preview, this is, entirely deliberately, going up just before first pitch. So I imagine most people won’t read it in detail, so I’ll save the planned (moderately) detailed analysis of team performance for tomorrow. Instead, I’ll just note that for the first time this season, we are playing another team in the National League West! I’m sure we will probably get sick of seeing the Dodgers eventually, as well as the Padres and Giants. Not the Rockies though: the easy wins available there, always do a good job of staving off ennui. But right now, after having already faced the Cubs seven times and the Mets six, seeing Los Angeles seems like a fresh and original experience.
Tonight also marks the debut of the new City Connect threads. Reaction to them seems to have been pretty positive, with 79% of fans rating them as “Great!” or “Good” in our poll. To each their own. I would say they’ll potentially cause confusion with all the visiting fans when the Rockies come to town… But I’m not sure I have ever seen a visiting Rockies fan at Chase Field. And the way their season has started, I’m even less certain anyone would want to travel to the end of the street to watch them play, never mind to Phoenix. Oh, well: I’ll save further snark on this matter, for when the Diamondbacks play them, next weekend.
The D-backs are, of course, the last team to play within own division. There are a few yet to play other divisions in their league: the Cardinals haven’t yet seen anyone in the West, and the same goes for the Yankees and Orioles in the AL. There are some other quirks too. The Cubs have played against the NL West twenty-three times this year: that’s the same tally as all five teams in the division combined (D-backs 0, Dodgers 3, Padres 5, Giants 6, Rockies 9). Meanwhile the Padres have spent half their games (18 of 36) facing American League opposition, though that’s not the same as it used to be when the leagues had different rules. I dunno who created the schedules this year. But I hope they don’t do it again in 2026.