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Chip Hale’s 79 wins were the second most by an Arizona manager in their first 162 games, trailing only Bob Brenly’s 92 in 2001.
Manager | Wins | Years |
Bob Brenly | 92 | 2001 |
Chip Hale | 79 | 2015 |
Bob Melvin | 77 | 2005 |
Kirk Gibson | 77 | 2010-11 |
A.J. Hinch | 72 | 2009-10 |
Buck Showalter | 65 | 1998 |
Al Pedrique | 22 | 2004 (83 games) |
The D-backs’ 79 wins were 15 more than their total of 64 in 2014. The 15-win difference from last season was the third largest in the NL, behind the Cubs (+24) and Mets (+21) and fourth-best increase in a single-season in franchise history. he largest improvement in club history was 35 games from 1998-99, followed by 29 from 2010-11 and 26 from 2004-05. The D-backs ranked second in the NL with a +134 run differential improvement from 2014, trailing only the Cubs (+174). Arizona was a -127 in 2014 and was a +18 this season.
Arizona featured 50 different players (27 pitchers and 23 position players), the third most in franchise history. The club record was 52 in 2004, followed by 51 in 2011. The D-backs used 17 rookies, down from 19 in 2014. 12 of the 17 made their Major League debut, as follows (for the record, the other five were Nick Ahmed, Andrew Chafin, Jake Lamb, Robbie Ray and Jamie Romak):
- Archie Bradley, April 11
- A.J. Schugel, April 12
- Yasmany Tomas, April 15
- Danny Dorn, April 21
- Enrique Burgos, April 29
- Oscar Hernandez, July 12
- Zack Godley, July 23
- Keith Hessler, August 8
- Silvino Bracho, August 30
- Brandon Drury, September 1
- Socrates Brito, September 8
- Peter O'Brien, September 11
The D-backs finished the season with the youngest team in baseball, 26 years, 341 days [source: STATS, LLC]: Here's the rankings for all 30 teams. Interesting side-note: none of the ten youngest teams won more than 81 games this year; maybe there is something to be said for "veteran presence"...?
RK | CLUB | YR | DAYS |
1 | ARI | 26 | 341 |
2 | MIL | 27 | 61 |
3 | MIA | 27 | 279 |
4 | ATL | 27 | 282 |
5 | TB | 27 | 319 |
6 | CLE | 28 | 10 |
7 | COL | 28 | 24 |
8 | DET | 28 | 41 |
9 | CWS | 28 | 61 |
10 | BOS | 28 | 62 |
11 | HOU | 28 | 92 |
12 | PHI | 28 | 113 |
13 | BAL | 28 | 133 |
14 | SEA | 28 | 139 |
15 | SD | 28 | 172 |
16 | NYY | 28 | 172 |
17 | OAK | 28 | 199 |
18 | CIN | 28 | 199 |
19 | TEX | 28 | 235 |
20 | NYM | 28 | 274 |
21 | LAA | 28 | 288 |
22 | CHC | 28 | 329 |
23 | MIN | 28 | 330 |
24 | LAD | 28 | 354 |
25 | WSH | 29 | 9 |
26 | STL | 29 | 159 |
27 | KC | 29 | 211 |
28 | PIT | 29 | 314 |
29 | TOR | 30 | 64 |
30 | SF | 30 | 124 |
The Diamondbacks won nine more games on the road, fueled in particular by the offense scoring over a run per game more (3.35 to 4.37), thanks to a road OPS that was improved by 82 points, from .639 to .721. That's the highest figure posted by Arizona since 2005, and was also helped by a club-record 74 steals outside of the state. The team also did a better job of defending its turf against the rest of the NL West, going 39-37, an eight-game improvement and the most wins since the division champion team of 2011. We and the Padres were the only teams in the National League to win more games on the road than in their home park.
Paul Goldschmidt became the first D-back to be elected to start multiple All-Star Games. He is now one of four Arizona players with three or more All-Star appearances, joining Luis Gonzalez, Randy Johnson (five apiece) and Brandon Webb (three). A.J. Pollock was the first D-backs outfielder to be selected since Justin Upton in 2011, and became the first position player from the University of Notre Dame to make an All-Star Team. The pair were All-Star teammates for the second time in their careers, having participated in the 2011 Southern League All-Star Game, where Goldie went 1-for-4 with a homer, two RBI and a run scored, and AJ was 2-for-3 with a walk, stolen base and two runs.
Arizona led the Majors with an average time of game of 3:09:43, slightly ahead of Detroit (3:09:23) and the New York Yankees (3:08:20) [source: STATS LLC]. Probably factoring into that, the team were second in the majors for plate appearances by their hitters, behind only the Pirates, while the Diamondbacks' hurlers threw a total of 24,252 pitches, the most in the major leagues this year. and fourteen more than the Yankees.
The Diamondbacks had 16 players spent time on the disabled list, totaling 1,055 days, which is almost two entire seasons (362 days) fewer than last year's figure of 1,417 player days lost [source STATS LLC]. Here's the full list, with details, and our W-L record while they were out of action.
PLAYER | DAY | INJURY | ON | OFF | W-L |
Arroyo | 60 | Tommy John surgery (R) | Apr 4 | N/A | 33-35 |
Corbin | 15 | Tommy John surgery (L) | Apr 4 | July 4 | 39-41 |
D.Hernandez | 15 | Tommy John surgery (R) | Apr 4 | June 7 |
27-28 |
Ó.Hernández | 15 | Broken left hamate bone | Apr 4 | July 4 |
39-41 |
Stites | 15 | Right elbow inflammation | Apr 4 | June 1 |
23-26 |
Laird | 60 | Back-lumbar micro disectomy | Apr 12 | Aug. 20 |
55-59 |
Bradley | 15 | Right sinus fracture | Apr 29 | May 16 |
6-8 |
Burgos | 15 | Right shoulder tendinitis | May 26 | June 22 |
13-12 |
Gosewisch | 60 | Torn left ACL | May 28 | N/A | 58-58 |
Bradley | 15 | Right shoulder tendinitis | Jun 4 | Aug. 24 |
37-34 |
Inciarte | 15 | Strained right hamstring | Jun 16 | July 17 |
11-13 |
Saltalamacchia | 15 | Strained left neck | July 17* | July 27 |
5-7 |
Anderson | 15 | Right triceps inflammation | Jul 19 | Aug. 7 |
10-8 |
Delgado | 15 | Sprained right ankle | July 29^ | Aug 17 |
10-8 |
Marshall | 60 | Fractured skull | Sep 8 | N/A | 13-11 |
* Retro-active to July 12
^ Retro-active to July 28
Diamondbacks' broadcasts on FOX Sports Arizona were the No. 1 rated television program during primetime programming hours in Phoenix during the baseball season. Additionally, FSAZ saw large increases for the viewing audience over last season in the following demographics:
- Adults 18-49: +48%
- Men 25-54: +55%
- Adults 25-54: +62%
- Women 25-54: +77%