110 losses to NLCS at light speed: Here's how the D-backs did it

PHILADELPHIA -- As the D-backs lost 110 games in 2021, there was simply no way they could have known that just two years later they would be taking on the Phillies in the National League Championship Series.

Sure, they hoped things would turn around, but they couldn’t have known.

“There was a lot of apprehension around that,” D-backs GM Mike Hazen said of his confidence in their building plan. “Yeah, you don't lose 110 games by accident.”

What made it all the more remarkable is that the D-backs broke camp that year thinking they had a competitive team.

“The biggest misinformation around that [was] we weren't tanking that season,” Hazen said. “We weren't trying to lose. We were trying to win. I felt we put a team out there that had a chance to compete. So we didn't just lose 110 games. We weren't doing it on purpose either.”

D-backs manager Torey Lovullo admitted to a lot of sleepless nights that year, a lot of dark moments and times when he doubted everything that he believed to be true about winning baseball games.

Hazen had doubts about the way he had built his team, Lovullo had uncertainties about how he was managing it and ownership wondered whether those two were the right people to turn things around.

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“We could have made changes,” D-backs team president/CEO Derrick Hall said. “We, of course, had conversations about making changes. But we thought, at the end of the day, we had the right people in place. And I think it's proven to be true.”

Few managers survive losing 110 games, but Hazen strongly believed that he, not Lovullo, was the one who was most responsible. It was something ownership agreed with as well.

“There was a moment, and we all know when it was, back a couple of years ago, when we lost 110 games, we said, ‘What are we going to do? Are we going to make a change?’” D-backs managing general partner Ken Kendrick said. “We said, ‘Look, it’s not Torey’s fault that we don’t have enough good players. He deserves to have good players, and we’ll evaluate him.’ Well, he has some pretty good ones, and he’s not too damn bad.”

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There was a feeling that even as badly as the season had gone there was some hope for the future with prospects like outfielders Corbin Carroll and Alek Thomas rising through the system along with pitchers Drey Jameson, Tommy Henry, Ryne Nelson and Brandon Pfaadt.

The organization took a deep dive into examining all its processes from hiring to organizing the coaching staff to communicating things throughout their Minor League system.

Everything was examined.

“That was a long offseason,” Hazen said. “We knew we had the formation of some good players in the Minor League system. But we've all been through this before. Players come up through your system. You never know how they're going to move on to this stage and how they're going to perform when they get there.”

The D-backs added a pair of veteran coaches, convincing pitching coach Brent Strom, who left the Astros after the 2021 season, to join their staff. Jeff Banister was brought in as Lovullo’s bench coach, and the team added a number of assistant hitting and pitching coaches with the idea being that they would spend some time in the Minors making sure a consistent approach was being taught throughout.

When he would see some of the opposing teams' top prospects, like Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr., ace Zac Gallen would somewhat in jest ask assistant general manager Mike Fitzgerald, “Where’s our guy like that?”

Just wait, Fitzgerald would say. He’s coming, referring to Carroll.

Carroll arrived, and so, it appears, has the D-backs' window for contention. They improved by 22 wins from ‘21 to ‘22, finishing 74-88 last year, before winning 84 games this season. In doing so, they became the third team in MLB history to go from a season of 100 or more losses to a playoff berth in a three-season span, joining this year’s Orioles and the 2013-15 Astros.

The D-backs may be a year ahead of schedule, but they’re light years ahead of where they were.

“We're one of the top teams in the National League,” Lovullo said. “That didn’t happen by luck. It happened because we’re a trustworthy group and we are ready to compete every single night.”