The Arizona Diamondbacks are poised to potentially be recognized a lot this fall. If only they were also still playing.
Though the D-Backs made a late run for the Wild Card after being buried in the powerful NL West, they never did much more than spark and threaten, finishing under .500 and three games behind the Reds and Mets' "power struggle". You'd never know that's where they sat if you only checked the offensive portion of their box scores, though, and the just-announced National League Silver Slugger Award finalists have only poured more salt into that particular wound.
Not only did Arizona receive a trio of positional noms - Ketel Marte at second base, not-so-stealth MVP candidate Geraldo Perdomo at shortstop, and Corbin Carroll in the outfield - but they've also been named one of three finalists for the offensive Team of the Year award, battling it out with the Chicago Cubs and Los Angeles Dodgers. All winners will be announced exclusively on FanSided and the Baseball Insiders live stream on Nov. 6 at 6:00 PM EST/6:00 PM PST.
These nominations mean that a panel of National League managers and coaches were blown away by Arizona's offensive output all year. If only the pitching could've provided some semblance of competence, especially in the wake of Corbin Burnes' devastating injury.
2025 NL Silver Slugger Finalists include Diamondbacks stars, potential team honor
Perhaps the most frustrating part of all is that not only is Arizona getting love amongst the nominees, but their offensive standouts have fantastic cases to take home the hardware. It'll be tough to capture the "team" honor, but if Perdomo's the MVP we believe him to be, he'll probably edge out the field at shortstop, and Carroll is grouped with several second-half faders in Pete Crow-Armstrong and Kyle Tucker of the Cubs.
No team honored as one of the top three most punishing offensive units in the league should ever go home for the winter before the October bell even rings, even if one of the other finalists resides in their division. The winter mandate for the Diamondbacks couldn't be clearer: reunite with Merrill Kelly, replace Zac Gallen with less of an enigma, and go back to work. The slug is simply too strong to behave otherwise.