The Diamondbacks are having trouble creating a worthy follow-up a year after their unexpected World Series run.
One of baseball’s major stories of the previous season was Arizona’s rise to the elite during an unexpected run to the World Series, where a youthful Diamondbacks team came very close to winning the championship.
The sequel’s development has been sluggish.
As of around one-quarter of the way through the season, the D-backs are 7 1/2 games behind the division-leading Los Angeles Dodgers in third place in the National League West with a 21-23 record. What’s even more troubling is that several of the team’s young players are having trouble, most notably Corbin Carroll, the current NL Rookie of the Year.