PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Taking a look ahead at marquee matchups on the schedule for Diamondbacks 2024 season

Episode Date: January 13, 2024

Hello and welcome to our audio-only podcasts! On our very first installment, we take a look ahead at the big matchups in 2024 for the Arizona Diamondbacks from their season schedule. Are you prepared for some epic rematches from the 2023 postseason run? We also discuss if any stretch this upcoming season compares to the first month of 2023 and more!An ALLCITY Network ProductionSUBSCRIBE to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/phnx_youtubeALL THINGS PHNX: http://linktr.ee/phnxsports PHNX Events: Get your tickets to D-backs Takeovers, Knockout Nights & Suns Watch Parties at BetMGM, and MORE here: https://www.eventbrite.com/o/phnx-56002330273 Desert Financial Credit Union: Open a free checking account online with Desert Financial Credit Union and get $200 in bonuses https://www.desertfinancial.com/200Michelob ULTRA: It’s only worth it if you enjoy it. Must be 21+. Enjoy responsibly. https://www.michelobultra.com/Schedule a free in-home estimate with Empire Today! All listeners can receive a $350 OFF discount when they use the promo code PHNX. Restrictions apply. See EmpireToday.com/PHNX for details.Sign up for Gila River Resorts & Casinos $1,000,000 Big Red’s Showdown! Stay in the game and get rewards; it’s that easy! https://www.gilamilliondollarshowdown.com/Gametime: Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code PHNX for $20 off your first purchase.Circle K:  Join Inner Circle for free by downloading the Circle K app today! Head to https://www.circlek.com/store-locator to find Circle Ks near you!OGeez!: OGeez! is not your average cannabis-infused gummy. Head on over to https://www.ogeezbrands.com to find out where you can purchase. Must be 21+. Enjoy responsibly. Four Peaks: Follow them on social @fourpeaksbrew & @fourpeakspub! Must be 21+. Enjoy responsibly. When you shop through links in the description, we may earn affiliate commissions. Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Welcome to our very first audio podcast of the Phax. That's show right here. I'm Phafenx. I am still your mayor, whether it's an audio form or visual form. Are we sure about that? I mean, I still don't think Dan Zimborski was really Dan Zimborski. I think we just got fooled by AI not too long ago. But I am your mayor of PHNX, occasionally known as Derek Montia.

That voice you heard is my vice mayor, your thunderstick, the one and only Jesse Freedman. And oh my God, Jesse, what are you doing? You're not allowed to take your pants off in the middle of the office like this, okay? All right. Well, that's the kind of enjoyment you're going here since you can't see and know what's going on here. You know what? Back up, Jesse. That is making me uncomfortable.

This is sexual harassment, by the way. Oh, my God, he's got a knife. He has got a knife. He's holding a plastic knife to Damon's throat. Can we stop playing this game? No, yeah, I guess so. That's fine. But, I mean, this is the kind of enjoyment that you're going to get.

Only listening to us on this show right here. But actually, we are very excited to talk about the schedule dropping for the Arizona Diamondbacks for the 2024 season. And that schedule actually does include some very exciting matchups. We talked on the show on Thursday a bit about some of the marquee matchups in the first month that will be on Fox. Diamondbacks getting a little bit more national love this year due to their World Series appearance, obviously. Maybe not as much as we would like them to receive. But still, some love from Fox in the first month. And we're also going to talk about some of the big, big games, big matchups that we're going to get throughout the year.

Yeah, I think I misspoke yesterday. I think I said seven nationally televised games, and it definitely is supposed to be eight. There are seven FS1 games, but there is one Fox game. We'll run through the, we just ran through the first couple ones on the show on Thursday, the DeBax Giants and then DeBax Mariners. Those are on FS1 in April. But there are six other ones. and they're all kind of random, if I'm being totally honest. We have May 8th Diamondbacks at Reds.

I mean, that was a pretty heated, like, sort of rivalry thing at the end of the season. If I'm being honest, that's the most exciting national game that they have because we have talked a bit about the Reds. We kind of competed with them. And they're also a young, exciting team like the Arizona Diamondbacks. So I think that's going to be a fun game for a national level for audience to see and kind of experience some of those players that they might. not be familiar with. But yeah, you're right. After that, it's kind of a strange hodgepodge.

On May 25th, they face off against the Marlins here at home at 7.10 p.m. on June 3rd. They welcome the Giants, and that game is also on FS1 at 640. And then they have the Angels, the White Sox. Those are big, Derek. What the hell? Everyone on F's, every, all of the national baseball viewers, they need Angels Diamondbacks on June 13th. And White Sox Diamondbacks. And especially White Sox Diamondbacks on June Get your drinks ready, folks. I mean, I don't really understand that. But I am excited about the one Fox game.

It is the Diamondbacks versus the Cubs at Wrigley Field on July 20th and a 415 PM start. That should be a really fun game to watch. And the way that these two teams are trending, this should be a very competitive, meaningful game by late July at that point. It would be interesting to see if the debacks find their way on Sunday night baseball at any point. That's something that we got. got to see at the very end of the season when the debacks were flexed to Sunday night. I was going to say that flexes, right?

That changes throughout the season potentially based on matchups and based on how well some of the teams are doing, right? Like some of the teams that are scheduled in there. I know we saw like there were a lot of Cardinals games that were kind of nixed on big level last year because they were not very good. The Cardinals always wind up on national team. My childhood memories of the Saturday Fox games, it was Cardinals, Cubs. every single Saturday.

Cardinals a lot. Cardinals a lot. And obviously, living here in Arizona, you didn't get away from the WGN teams. You didn't get away from the Chicago Cubs and the White Sox due to having that as a super station here. Same thing with the Braves when I was a kid. I mean, I almost grew up a Braves fan at one point simply because they were the only baseball team I knew that existed on TV as far as I was concerned. And that's why some of this is important. The Diamondbacks should be getting these nationally league games or these nationally televised games. I should say.

They should be getting more of them. In fact, I think I don't really like a lot of the matchups, and I don't think that they properly, you know, give the Diamondbacks a platform for them to have an exciting matchup on a nationally televised level. That Cubs game, I think, will be that. But there are plenty of other games. There are plenty of series scheduled this year that are still going to be really fun

to watch, including a World Series rematch between the Diamondbacks and the Texas Rangers. That is going to occur on May 28th and the 29th on the road. two-game series, and then September 10th and 11th back here at home at Chasefield. Yeah. I mean, I guess those are the games that probably stand out more than any others on this schedule. And it's funny because the Diamondbacks and the Rangers have been natural rivals for... Right, the AL&L rival, right? The ALNL rivals.

We had a whole conversation about how it did make sense. And yet here we are now for World Series rivals, right? Yeah, now it's a World Series rematch. And yeah, if it wasn't, if the D-BACs were not natural rivals with the Rangers, it would have just been one series either played in Texas or in Arizona. But because of that setup, the D-Bax will play those two games on the road in Texas from May 28th to 29th. And then the Rangers will also come to Arizona from September 10th to 11th. It's very unsatisfactory.

I don't like just playing two games in a series. I don't like that. I don't like there being no definitive winner that you can split the two games. Like a seven-game series? I do. I do. Can we at least get three more games to make this whole thing a seven series? Because they're only playing four games against each other.

But when it does come to real rivals, though, the first series against the Los Angeles Dodgers does not take place, Jesse, until April 29th through May 1st. We get a full month of baseball before we have to see the Dodgers. That's so pleasant. The Divax had played, it felt like the Debacks had played the Dodgers like 17 times by the beginning of May already. My hair remembers that very much. because I was not in favor. I did not think that they would get a winning record after that month. It'll be really interesting to see what the,

I'm a little bit afraid to talk about this, but the environment at Chase Field for those games, like Shohei Otani's first time coming to Arizona as a member of the Dodgers. Do the Dodgers fans show out in the way that we've seen them do in years past? Is there a huge contingent of Diamondbacks fans? Because the Debacks obviously did a number on the Dodgers. in the NLDS, I don't know. I mean, and it could be a big revenge moment for them, right?

Because I know, you know, there was all that talk about, you know, taking over Chase Field and making it Dodger Stadium East or whatever they were going to call it, right? And instead, the Diamondbacks showed up. The Diamondbacks fans showed up. Well, the Diamondbacks also very much showed up, but the fans showed up. And that's something that we need to do. We need to do, right? Like, there's not a lot of things during the baseball seasons that are, during the baseball season,

that's a necessity. And you know there's going to be a lot of regular season games that you're not going to be able to really have that much control over at times of trying to, I guess, battle that opposing fan force. But if there's ever a time, it should be that first series on April 29th through May 1st at home where the Diamondbacks fans show up and make this a home environment for this team. It's going to be difficult though. Like you said, there's going to be a lot of Dodgers fans, not only that travel, but right here in

this state that go to that game and want to go out. Hell, I want to go see Shohei Otani. I want to see Amamoto. I want to see all of those guys. But it's a great, it's a great reason for Diamondbacks fans to come out themselves, support our team, and get to see these incredible baseball players that are part of the Dodgers. It's a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday series at Chase Field. And interestingly, that Wednesday game is at 640.

It's not at 1240. That's never like that. I guess it happens. It almost never happens, actually. I'm not sure if I can find another series the entire season where there's like a three-game set that ends on a Wednesday. I guess there's one against the Giants at the very end of September. But yeah, I imagine that was purposeful.

They wanted all three of those games to be night games potentially just to try to get as many people in the door as possible. It makes a lot of sense. They also have their NLCS rematch with the Phillies from June 21st through June 23rd in Philadelphia and then August 8th through 11th here in Arizona. Philly fans are going to be loud in Philly when we come. Yeah.

They're going to have a lot of new hateful things to say, Jesse. Yeah, they'll have done their research. They'll have some new content to share, I'm sure. We also have the Milwaukee Brewers. Of course, I guess that's another team to keep an eye on. DeBacks obviously played them in the Wild Card series. Don't see the Brewers in 2024 until September. Sort of like with the Cubs this past year,

where all of the Diamondbacks Brewers games in 2024 happened in September. Brewers come to Arizona, September 13th to 15th. And then the Diamondbacks go to Milwaukee for a four-game set, not long after September 19th to 22nd. So those games could be very meaningful. We'll see what happens. We talked a bit about the Seattle Mariners series because it is going to be one of the games on FS1,

but there's going to be a lot of reunions happening there. A lot of reunions. Gino and Paul and of course our boy Josh. Dom can zone. Dom can zone. Maybe Ryan Bliss is their everyday second base in at that point? Who knows? Is Zevi still around?

Is Sebi Zavala still around? I don't know. Yeah? But anyway, yeah, that's going to be fun. And again, still don't know what the Mariners are doing, but hopefully they still haven't figured it out by that point. I like Mitch Garver for them. I don't think the Mariners have had quite as brutally bad of an offseason as some

people maybe believe but um you know they just did the the Robbie ray uh Anthony Di Sclafani I still don't get that deal who am I Mitch Hanager coming back to the Mariners that's a big name right yeah yeah I mean I guess he wasn't he wasn't all that great in 2023 as we talked about the other day but I did look at the underlying stats and think there's a chance that Mitch Hanager could bounce back with with the Mariners so yeah those games those games should be should be a lot of fun for sure they do have kind of an awful break or i guess streak heading into the all-star break they play 19 consecutive

games uh leading into the all-star break oh you know what i i i that's my mistake derrick they don't play 19 consecutive games how many is it they play 13 oh okay um they play you missed that you miss i miss i miss the first of july which is actually an off day okay um but they do play one one one one one day off in 19 straight days leading into the All-Star break still. That's 19 out of 20 days. That's a rough stretch. I think it's, yeah, yeah, you're right. And over that stretch, they don't, it's not like they just play nobody.

They play the Dodgers. They play the Padres. They play the Lager Bates. Well, yeah, though. I mean, they aren't they, they're just going to be called to Las Vegas A's by that point. But they do play a fairly brutal stretch, including, I think, the Toronto Blue Jays are part of that stretch as well before the Ulster break. Yeah. leading into the all-star break it does go

Dodgers at Dodgers at Padres at home against the Braves for four at home against the Blue Jays for three so yeah that's a pretty tough lead into the All-Star break for sure but post All-Star break things look a little easy you got the Royals which I don't know how good the roles are going to be this year with some of the additions they made

you got Cubs Royals pirates Washington Nationals That's a pretty nice way to finish the month that was kind of like a trend looking through the whole schedule is I don't really see a month that's, you know, like April was in 2023, where it's just like, oh my gosh, you know, you feel lucky if you're 500 at the end of this whole thing.

April is, I wouldn't necessarily say it's easy for the Diamondbacks, but, you know, it's the series against the Rockies. That's a four game set to start the season. Then it's three against the Yankees. A team that should be pretty good, but, you know, not an elite team necessarily. At the Braves for three, that's tough. But then rounding out the month. I mean, it's Rockies again.

It's Cardinals, Cubs, Giants, back to Cardinals, Mariners, finish with a couple against the Dodgers. It's not an easy month, but April this year is not anything like it was last year. Looking forward to the season very much, though, like you said earlier, we have 43 days until spring training until I completely, like I love that I booked a cruise for the exact start of spring training. That was a lovely plan. that I that came together for me.

It seems like a big mistake on your part. Yeah, it absolutely is. Absolutely is. But we have 77 days until the start of the Arizona Diamondbacks regular season. Yeah, 77 days, Derek. Not a lot of time for us to really get our shit together here, Jesse. No, I mean, I mean, pitchers and catchers, I don't think we have an exact day yet, but pitchers and catchers are probably going to report in like a month, like mid-February.

It's got to be, right? Yeah, because February, yeah, like February 23rd is their first game. And usually, what, a week beforehand? kind of going backwards is when position players would report. So that's usually February, that would be like February 16th. Then you got pitchers and catchers reporting a few days before that. Yeah. So I'm imagining, yeah, like we're about exactly 32, 33 days away from the start of pitchers and catchers reporting.

That means I have a life for about 33 more days. And then that's it. We don't talk enough about how baseball just robs us of our livelihood when it comes to having. a social life or people are always like Derek you do so much cool stuff with your life I'm like you really it's not I'm sure you like I try my best to fit it in like a three day cruise to the Bahamas

Jesse and I still fuck it up I still blew it at least it's gonna be done before the regular season and then I really don't have a life but we do look very forward to bringing you this audio podcast every week as far as this additional content we hope

you guys enjoy it we also look forward to bringing you more Jesse has right now a survey out that people are very much enjoying filling out because it's you asking about their favorite players on the Diamondbacks and some of their favorite things about this team. Yeah, I mean, full disclosure, we were recording this a couple days in advance. You're not supposed to tell them that. Maybe one day.

I don't know. When are we releasing this again? I don't know why you're just ruining the illusion that people are having here, Jesse. And what is that on your stomach? Is that a Muppet baby tattoo? Oh, my God. My God, this animal from the Muppet babies, you guys. So, yeah, during the middle of the week, I put out a survey, just asking people to answer a bunch of questions about how they feel about the Diamondbacks heading into 2024.

I've done something similar for the last couple of years, but. What were some of your questions? Well, I'll get to that in a second. The last couple years, I've done just like a Twitter thing where I just on Twitter tweeted out, like, you know, Diamondbacks fans, what has to happen in such and such a year for the season to be. successful in your mind. Sure. And I'd get a bunch of responses and I'd string them together into an article. It was a fun time.

But this year I decided to get a little crazy with it and made a Google form and ask people to weigh in on a bunch of different questions. You maniac. And so yeah, I'll run through some of them. So how many games will the Diamondbacks win in 2024? You can choose 74 or less, 75 to 79, 80 to 84, 85 to 89, 90 to 95 or more. And then I asked who's your favorite current Diamondbacks player, which I'm excited to see the answers there. How would you grade the Diamondbacks off season so far?

Which free agent hitter do you want the Diamondbacks to sign most? Opinions about Tori Lavello and Mike Hazen. Which player do you want the Diamondbacks to extend? Where do you want the team to play, whether it at a renovated Chase Field or elsewhere in Phoenix Metro? So yeah, by the time this gets released, I think the survey will likely be closed. So I apologize to those of you who are like, oh, man, I would love to do this. And now I, now I can't. But as of right now, I've gotten almost 700 responses on this thing.

So, yeah, I'm excited to sift through them. And we'll talk about the results here on the show. Probably over on the video side, we'll make some, we'll make Damon make us some spiffy graphics and whatnot. We're going to put Damon to work. And then, yeah, and then I'll have an article over at go phtonx.com as well that kind of breaks everything down. So if you are one of the people who filled out the survey, I very much appreciate it. We appreciate you always. We thank you guys for listening, for viewing, for doing all the things that you guys do for us.

Make sure if you are already subscribed, you subscribe to this podcast, leave us a five-star review. We always appreciate that. In the meantime, you can follow us on Twitter. I'm at cap underscore caveman with a K. Jesse is at Jesse and Friedman. Of course, our producer, Damon is at Damon Dog. That's DAWG. We are Damon's dogs.

Bark, bark. Of course, our show. Perfect unison. Perfect. We nailed it. See, without being on camera, we're good at this. Of course, our show is at PHNX underscore D-Backs on Twitter, but all roads do lead to at PHNX underscore Sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. We thank you guys so much for checking this out. It's our very first edition. We look forward to bringing you more. And remember, kids, baseball is fun, but it's so much more fun when you can't see us.