Arizona Diamondbacks: Can a slight fan base provide a late-season push?

Like most teams, the Arizona Diamondbacks prefer loud, supportive crowds at home.

The Arizona Diamondbacks have won not back-to-back games in over two weeks. That does not bode very well for a team which is among several challenging for a NL wild card position.

Coming into play Monday night, the Diamondbacks’ once substantial lead in the wild card race has dwindled to a slight margin. They have a 2.5 game advantage over the Milwaukee Brewers, four over the St. Louis Cardinals and six over the Miami Marlins. Plus, the Marlins have three games remaining with the Diamondbacks, and that’s Sept. 22-24 in Chase Field.

When they last captured consecutive victories, two were accomplished in Wrigley Field and the third, which created a three-game winning streak, was in AT&T Park. That was during the first week in August. The last consecutive wins at home transpired on July 1 and 2 with victories over the Colorado Rockies.

Swept at Target Field this past weekend and embarrassed by a nine-run, opening frame turned in by the Twins Sunday, the Diamondbacks seem to be free-falling without a safety net. During the last home stand, manager Torey Lovullo told Call to the Pen that his team is “wandering and drifting through parts of the game.” The observation now can be acute.

Numbers help tell the story.

Coming into play Monday night at Citi Field against the New York Mets, the Diamondbacks are playing .540 baseball (67-57). The last time there were at ten games over .500 was May 24 at 29-19. At that time, Arizona was in the middle of a five-game winning streak. So far, they have three five-game winning streaks and a seven-game winning streak, including one stretch in which they won 10 of 11 games. All were achieved before the All-Star game.

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To regain that competitive drive and spirit, the Diamondbacks will have to find a way, some way, to repeat the success of the earlier this season.

At this point, that may have to be accomplished without loud and rabid supporters.

Playing in “a small market,” the fan base in the Phoenix area is considered transient. While the area’s population is growing, people arrive with allegiances other than the Diamondbacks, the NFL’s Cardinals, the NBA’s Suns or the NHL’s Coyotes. It’s not uncommon to drive through the greater metro area and see vehicles with Arizona tags but logos and bumper stickers supporting other teams.

Because allegiance to the Diamondbacks is limited and the franchise itself is less than 20-years- old, there is no generational base of fans.

When the Diamondbacks came off a road trip in early August, they faced an eight-game home stand against three divisional rivals. They opened the home stand on Aug. 8 against the Dodgers and drew merely 24,810 while Chase Field fits 48,686 when filled to capacity. Only when the Cubs followed L.A. did crowds swell. That’s because there are many transplanted from the Chicago area and a weekend, three game set with the Cubs drew a total of 123,110, the highest three-game series in six years.

After lefty Patrick Corbin defeated the Cubs and Jon Lester on Aug,12, a crowd of 42,219 voiced its approval. While the Cubs took the other two games of this series and the Chicago fans were especially vocal during those contests, the combination of the second largest crowd of the season and Corbin’s strong effort caused Lovullo to tell Call to the Pen his team needs to experience that spirit and feeling.

"“Everyone in the dugout could feel the energy,” he said at the time. “Players talk about this all the time. Look, we want the support of all of Arizona, and for me, I’m still learning about the fan base here.”"

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It’s no secret that while the Diamondbacks continue to tread water, the fans will turn their collective interest. The NFL season is about to begin, the Suns are ready to open training camp, and high school football dominates life on Friday night. At this point, the larger crowds may come but only, in this bandwagon town, if the Diamondbacks enter postseason play.