Preview, #131: 8/25 @ Brewers

The D-backs again find themselves sitting at the lower edge of their long-running dance around the .500 mark. The team is currently at two games below .500, needing a win this afternoon to become the all-time most mediocre franchise in baseball history. Well, providing you measure it by length of streak within two games of .500, anyway. As mentioned in the recap yesterday, the D-backs have been there for 56 consecutive games, which ties the record. The streak has teetered on the edge of being broken multiple times, since they entered the two-game zone after losing to the Rockies on June 18. Here are the previous times, and the results.

• Jun 19, 38-36: L 3-6 vs. COL
• Jun 23, 38-40: W 3-2 vs. SFG
• Jul 5, 43-45: W 8-0 vs. COL
• Jul 13, 47-45: L 2-4 @ STL
• Jul 18, 49-47: L 1-5 vs. MIL
• Jul 20, 50-48: L 3-8 vs. MIL
• Aug 3, 54-56: W 18-7 vs. WSN
• Aug 10, 59-57: L 0-4 @ LAD
• Aug 14, 61-59: L 6-7 @ COL
• Aug 18, 61-63L W 6-1 vs. SFG

That’s ten consecutive games in which the result went the necessary way. If you assume a 50/50 shot in each, you have odds of more than a thousand to one against (1,023-1, to be precise). Can the D-backs make it 11 (and odds of 2,047-1)? A lot will have to do with what Robbie Ray manages, on his return to the rotation after a brief IL stint due to back spasms. If he’s 100% fit, and throwing like he’s capable, then we’ll be in with a chance. On the other hand, the offense has hit a feeble .103/.188/.138 over the first two games, for an OPS of just .325. If that continues, then what Ray does becomes almost irrelevant. I think it’s time for a breakout, and suspect Arizona might win a blow-out and continue that mediocrity,