Diamondbacks Gameday Thread, #81: 6/28 vs. Rays

Ranking the power rankings

• MLB.com: #5 (last week #5) - “The D-backs still sit atop the NL West despite losing two of three to the Giants over the weekend. Arizona won the finale Sunday to avoid the sweep, but things won’t get any easier this week as the D-backs welcome the MLB-leading Rays to Chase Field on Tuesday to begin a three-game set. National League Cy Young candidate Zac Gallen figures to be on the mound for the series opener, which should bode well for the D-backs, considering he’s 7-0 with a 1.00 ERA in eight home starts this season.”
• CBS Sports: #6 (last week: #5) - “Corbin Carroll continues to play like an MVP while Lourdes Gurriel, Christian Walker and Geraldo Perdomo will have All-Star cases. How about Ketel Marte, though? Remember, he finished fourth in NL MVP voting in 2019. He is absolutely on fire right now. He’s scored 27 runs and has driven home 20 in 21 games this month. He’s hitting .333 with six homers in June.”
• USA Today: #5 (last week: #5) - “Corbin Carroll a no-brainer All-Star. Likely Rookie of the Year. Maybe MVP?”
• FOX Sports: #6 (last week: #5) - “There were reasons to believe the Diamondbacks could make a jump, given the presence of Corbin Carroll among other young talents, but few could’ve predicted the degree to which they’d ascend after winning 74 games last year. Arizona currently leads the division, 2.5 games ahead of a San Francisco team that has won 12 of its past 14 contests with the help of its own standout rookies, Patrick Bailey and Luis Matos. It’s setting up for a captivating second half, with the D-backs, Giants and Dodgers all within three games of one another.”
• ESPN: #5 (last week: #7) - “Fred Lynn (1975) and Ichiro Suzuki (2001) are the only players to ever win Rookie of the Year and MVP in the same year. Corbin Carroll might make a run at that, though. The D-backs’ dynamic outfielder was slashing .304/.386/.596 through his first 70 games, leading the National League in OPS while adding 16 home runs and 19 stolen bases. The D-backs have held first place for 16 consecutive days and seem poised for their first playoff appearance in six years, and Carroll — along with the electric Zac Gallen — stands as one of the biggest reasons.”

The surging Giants have surpassed the D-backs in two of the five listings, in the wake of their taking two of three from us over the weekend. Overall, they’re now tied with the Dodgers, and it’s very tight at the top. However, the ESPN ranking, which came out on Friday, so before that series, balances the D-backs’ drop out exactly by moving the team up two places. We’ll see how the rest of this series works out, but it’ll be interesting to see what happens if Arizona can win a series against Tampa. They are still the consensus #1, but their luster has dimmed quite considerably of late. They’ve won 6 of 14, and their last series win was June 11. The D-backs may be catching them at a good time.

1. D-backs 5.4
2. Dodgers: 6.6
3. Giants: 6.6
4. Padres: 18.8
5. Rockies: 27.8