u/violetsteam

I’m sure most of us are aware that the DBacks have struggled recently with dropping games against “easy” teams- the Giants, the Royals, the Reds, ec. We never seem to be able to sweep.

In fact, the last time we completed a sweep of a team was before the all-star break, when we swept the Dodgers.
I decided to get a good reference for this, we should look at the other teams we are competing with and the last time they swept a team.

Diamondbacks: July 12th, 56 games ago, vs the Dodgers

Cubs: August 5th, 37 games ago, also vs the Dodgers

Marlins: August 23rd, 21 games ago vs the Nationals

Phillies: August 30th, 15 games ago vs the Angels

Pirates: September 10th, 4 games ago vs the White Sox

Padres: September 13th, 2 games ago vs the Giants

I don’t really know what the take away from this is, other than it’s really annoying to keep dropping at least one game of every series. Everyone else has been getting those extra wins against the easy teams and we just don’t seem to be able to pull through, and it’s hurting us here.

Ok. Stay with me here, this is gonna sound crazy.

As we have seen, the Diamondbacks offense needs some serious help. They struggle to get runners across the plate. But at the same time, they have the most comeback wins of any team. And so I propose an idea:

Lets hang up a fake sign over the scoreboard. Have one or two of the groundskeepers just get on top of the scoreboard and hang a fake sign that shows, from the beginning, that the opposing team has 3 or 4 runs. Then, the Diamondbacks will look up like "Oh no!!! We are down 3 runs! Its time to lock in and answerback!" (they would presumably all nod and do a cool handshake and then Corbin would do like a sick move here like a backflip or something).

This would motivate them to get put it in gear, score some runs. Ideally they score more runs than the fake sign shows. However, if they don't? BAM. Drop the sign and its revealed that we have won 3-1 Diamondbacks. Everyone goes nuts, free hotdogs for everyone in the stands, Randy Johnson descends the field and personally shakes every players hands.

Of course this plan is not without its flaws, I am aware. It would only work at home games. But it could be enough to motivate this offense and win these need-to-win games. And of course, if the other team scores during the game, that could cause some problems. For that I would just probably send a 3rd groundskeeper to cross out the number and change it in between inning to not make it look too suspicious.

Here is a little mock up of what it would look like(Obviously not to scale)

https://preview.redd.it/t0bwvl8estph1.png?width=1280&format=png&auto=webp&s=daf35c4dcdae8b3239329025d53c66d4dcc788b2

Anyway please let me know how to improve this plan or any potential holes in it(I think I covered most of them though tbh).

I wanted to look into this after how Tim Tawa performed in last nights and Monday's game, and how some of the fans of those teams talked about him.

In 2026, when Tim Tawa is facing any opponent that is NOT the Dodgers or the Padres, his slash line is .177/.252/.257 with a OPS of .509

However

In 2026, when Tim Tawa IS facing the Dodgers or the Padres? His slash line becomes .395/.385/.842. A 1.227 OPS.

Of his 6 HRs, 5 of them have been against those two teams(2 against LAD, 3 against SD. the last HR was against the Cardinals)

Now, this is a pretty cherry picked stat, I will say. He has only had about 40 PA against those two this year, so I wouldn't look too deep into it. But I still think its kinda funny and worth being mentioned here. (this is also my first time posting stats like this, so if there is some kind of faux pas here or something wrong with the numbers lmk)

Hoping we see some more of that Tawa Power tonight and the coming days.