Arizona Diamondbacks: September Confidence poll

August results

How long ago August 1 seems. At that point, the team had just split a four-game series in Los Angeles, but that very day, suffered a 16-4 mauling at Wrigley Field. July had been a problem, the team having gone through its first losing month, posting only a 10-14 record, which included a spell where they lost eight out of nine games. That, inevitably, all factored into the results when we polled you.

• 7% - 1 (not confident in the slightest)
• 1% - 2
• 2% - 3
• 7% - 4
• 18% - 5
• 21% - 6
• 29% - 7
• 12% - 8
• 4% - 9 (very, very, VERY confident)

That’s a sharp drop at the top of the chart: 72% had voted seven or better when we asked you at the All-Star break, but that dropped to 45% here. The 6.5% of gloomy Gusses who voted “1” was the highest percentage in that category since February, when the figure was 7.8%. At the other end, the 3.7% of happy Horaces with a “9”, was the lowest since March’s 3.3%.

Below, you can see the breakdown of voting for the past year. Time progresses from the top down, beginning with the September 2016 poll.

The overall mark was 5.92, ending a string of six consecutive months where optimism had increased, going from 4.21 in January to 6.82 at the All-Star break. The drop of almost a full point (0.90), was the largest drop since July 2016’s poll matched the figure, and has not been surpassed since the month prior to that, where the decline was -1.36. This isn’t too surprising, given July represented the first significant dent in the surprising progress of the 2017 Diamondbacks. So we have still to crack the all-time high, set around Opening Day 2016.

This month’s poll

I would probably expect a bit of a rebound this month, with the team’s record since August 1 to this point being a robust 23-15. That includes, of course, the franchise best winning streak, which was almost evenly split between August and September, and has brought the team to the brink of a playoff spot. The final in-season poll will take place after the last regular season game on October 1, but let’s see where we stand as we enter the last three weeks of the season. As usual, feel free to explain your choice in the comments.