The Diamondbacks' Upcoming Schedule Offers a Massive Opportunity

The narrative heading into the season was the the D-backs needed to figure out how to survive a very tough early schedule while waiting for injured players to return one by one. The thinking was just hang in there and stay close, with the knowledge reinforcements are on the way.

So far so good navigating the early schedule. But the oft-used phrase, "It's not who you play, but when you play them" certainly applies.

Some of the teams expected to be tough opponents in the early going, such as the Mets, Phillies and Tigers, have not played up to expectations at all. The D-backs won series against all three of those teams, and they've all stayed below .500 all year.

The D-backs also split six games with the Braves and Padres. Meanwhile, they lost series to the White Sox and Pirates, two teams that Arizona might have been expected to handle well before the season started.

Surprisingly the D-backs have played just 18 of their 40 games against teams above .500. They have a 5-13 record in those games. They're 15-7 against teams below .500.

Next 37 Games Present Opportunity for the Diamondbacks

10 of the next 12 series the D-backs will play from May 12 through June 17 are against teams that currently have a sub-.500 record. Only the Dodgers and Reds are currently above .500. The cumulative win percentage of these teams is just .453.

Of course, that doesn't mean all these teams will be below .500 at the time the D-backs play them. It will be important to gauge not only how the D-backs are playing at that time, but also how those opponents have fared over their previous five or six games.

That said, the next five weeks present an opportunity for the D-backs to make a significant move in the standings and position themselves to be buyers before the All-Star break and the run-up to the August 3 trade deadline.

For that to happen, the offense needs to get untracked and start scoring more runs to support the resurgent pitching staff. The D-backs have a 2.56 ERA and have allowed just 26 runs in May, but have just a 4-6 record this month.

The offense has scored just 3.0 runs per game in May and is batting .188 with a .566 OPS. The three most important hitters in the lineup are slumping. Corbin Carroll (.567 OPS) Ketel Marte (.495 OPS) and Geraldo Perdomo (.671 OPS) have all struggled mightily.

The good news is with their strong track records they should all be expected to turn things around soon. Manager Torey Lovullo was banking on that when he called his offense into his office, hoping to replicate the success of a similar meeting with his starting pitchers.

If the top of the order gets hot and the pitching continues to excel, the D-backs might find themselves well above .500 by mid-June against the soft spot of their schedule.