Not long ago, the Arizona Diamondbacks rode a seven-game winning streak to first place in the NL West. They zipped right by the San Francisco Giants, and put themselves in position to be perhaps the year's only surprising playoff contender down the stretch.
Arizona Diamondbacks Do Less, Do More
In an attempt to bust a poorly-timed six-game losing streak, Diamondbacks manager Kirk Gibson canceled batting practice. You could say that his calculated maneuver paid off!
Immediately following the hot streak, though, the Diamondbacks taught us all a lesson about the nature of momentum in baseball by falling into a cold spell. Six consecutive losses dropped their division advantage to but a single game. It was a skid somewhat reminiscent of the San Diego Padres' from a year ago, and Diamondbacks manager Kirk Gibson was desperate to turn things around before it was too late.
So, Tuesday, he had an idea. Looking to give his team a mental break, Gibson canceled batting practice. The Diamondbacks beat the Nationals. Gibson again canceled batting practice on Wednesday, and the Diamondbacks again beat the Nationals. All of a sudden, this is the new routine.
The two victories came on the heels of a six-game losing streak that had Gibson willing to try anything -- even skipping BP -- to turn the tide.
“No BP tomorrow,” Gibson said following the victory. “Absolutely not.”
As far as I can tell, this is the thought process:
-> Do normal work
--> Lose
---> Do less work
----> Win!
It’s worked for Arizona, as the losing streak is history. One could argue it hasn’t actually had much of an effect, since the Diamondbacks’ batters have collected just 14 hits in the two wins, but the important thing is the two wins, so in Kirk Gibson’s mind, the move was a success, and he’ll ride it for as long as it’ll go.
That’s great news for Arizona. It’s worse news for us inquisitive observers. One can’t help but wonder how far Gibson would have gone had the losing kept up. Canceling batting practice was only stage one. How much more work might he have canceled?
-> Do normal work
--> Lose
---> Cancel batting practice
----> Lose
-----> Cancel bullpens
------> Lose
-------> Cancel pregame stretching
--------> Lose
---------> Cancel tying of cleats, buttoning of jerseys
----------> Lose
-----------> Cancel wearing of anything but casual street clothes
------------> Lose
-------------> Cancel defense
--------------> Lose
---------------> ?? Quit?
Or maybe he would have gone in a different direction entirely. From last September:
It's another nice day in Oakland and a gaggle of Rangers (basically, the entire offense) took the field around 2 p.m. local time for extra batting practice.
...
The Rangers are hitting .202 on this road trip and are averaging just 2 runs per game through seven games of this 10-game trip.
The alternative possible tree:
-> Do normal work
--> Lose
---> Do less work
----> Lose
-----> Do more work
------> Lose
-------> ??
But we don't know what Gibson would have done. We can't know what Gibson would have done. It's unknowable knowledge, because Sean Burroughs of all f***ing people had the nerve to hit a home run and basically snap a losing streak by himself before it could really get started.
Chalk it up as a win for the Diamondbacks, and a loss for science. We’ll just have to bide our time and wait for the experiment to begin anew.
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