Arizona Diamondbacks working to avoid being one-hit playoff wonders
The month of November brought shared suffering for the Arizona Diamondbacks. Where there could have been a mass of players celebrating a title on the Chase Field turf, the Texas Rangers took their turn instead. Where there could have been a parade, there were bags packed and flights home for the winter. Where there could have been glory, there was pain.
For a month or so, that lingered in the hearts and minds of every player on the roster.
“Definitely a couple weeks of thinking about it and letting it hurt a little bit,” Pavin Smith said.
“Still haven't really gotten over it,” added Alek Thomas. “But I think not necessarily forgot about it, but didn't think about it as much probably three, four weeks in. It took a minute, though.”
“It probably took a good two weeks for me to not be like, ‘Damn, we lost the World Series,’” Zac Gallen said.
They shared those memories at Talking Stick Resort on Friday morning, ahead of the annual Diamondbacks Celebrity Golf Classic. They also shared memories of what came after that difficult November — of the mental break over the holidays, then turning the calendar to 2024.
“Once the New Year hit … obviously, it's always gonna be in the back of my mind, but it's not something I was dwelling on,” Gallen said.
Instead, the shared sentiment around the team is excitement. A significant group of players — including stars like Gallen, Corbin Carroll and Merrill Kelly — has already begun working out at Salt River Fields, even with the first official workouts still four weeks away.
“We all have fantastic training facilities back home, wherever we're living at,” Ryan Thompson said. “But we want to be here. We want to be here together and we want to feel that energy and that vibe that we had when we left.”
Despite the high-profile additions of veterans Eduardo Rodriguez and Eugenio Suarez, the Diamondbacks remain a young team. Before last year, they hadn’t experienced postseason success.
For those players, getting a taste of the World Series has injected an unfamiliar feeling into the off-season.
“You're training for something different,” Thomas said. “Before, it was, I'm just training for the season. But now, I'm training for the past season and into the postseason. Definitely a little bit different mindset and just trying to build off that and have fun and just be ready for the season and what comes after that.”
Gallen said there is unfinished business.
"I think that's the thing," he said. "We have such a young clubhouse that guys are like, ‘No, we still have things to prove.’ And I think when you get that close and you aren't successful, it definitely leaves a bitter taste in your mouth.”
This time last year — at this same event — Gallen professed a desire to bring playoff baseball to Arizona. Now, the goal is to make that an annual occurrence.
That’s why the Diamondbacks are already here, already together, already thinking ahead to another season.
“There's a major intentionality to not make it a one-hit wonder,” Thompson said. “We feel like we have a team that's gonna be very, very good for a very long time. And the energy that we have with this team and the excitement that it takes to be here in early January, it's really special.”
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Diamondbacks enter spring training with excitement after 2023 run
