Arizona Diamondbacks: June confidence poll

May results

After a rough first week, the Diamondbacks got off to a decent start of the season, going 10-12 in April. They finished particularly strongly, taking a series from the Dodgers in what seemed like the first time forever, and winning two of the first three in St. Louis. Unexpected by just about everyone concerned, Arizona was powered by particularly good starting pitching, with a 2.73 ERA over the starts. Considering how low expectations had been after last season’s disaster, it’s no surprise that confidence improved. Here are the results from our poll taken at the beginning of May

• 12% - 1 (not confident in the slightest)
• 14% - 2
• 15% - 3
• 20% - 4
• 19% - 5
• 11% - 6
• 7% - 7
• 3% - 8
• 0% - 9 (very, very, VERY confident)

What stands out in particular is the drop at the bottom end of the chart, with the percentage of “1” votes being cut almost in half. At 12%, it’s the first time it has been below 20% for a year, since the end of the false dawn which was the opening month of the 2021 campaign. Those votes appear to have mostly gone up to “2”, with a sprinkling higher, though there was not much change elsewhere in the rankings. The 3-6 range were all within 3% of the score at the start of April, though for once there were no perpetual optimists voting “9”! Still, the overall level of confidence increased by a quarter-point, going up from 3.68 to 3.93, again the highest it has been in 12 months.

Below, you can see the breakdown for the past 12 polls’ results, followed by the line graph showing the trends over this and previous seasons. This month is the closest it has been to a bell curve in quite some time!

June poll

The team went 0-8 against the Los Angeles Dodgers in May... and 15-6 against everybody else. Go figure. Overall though, as has previously been noted, they had a winning record in the month for the first time since 2017. It was certainly slightly better than the 5-24 record through which we all suffered last season. The pitching did regress, especially the rotation, whose ERA went from 2.73 to 5.02, but this was countered by the offense improving significantly, their ops going up by 166 points from .587 (29th in the majors) to .753 (7th). The team continues to hover just below the .500 mark, and might have an easier schedule in June. Though the Pirates sweeping the Dodgers perhaps hints otherwise!

But what do you reckon? As ever, feel free to explain your choice in the comments, especially if it has changed from the April one.