The magic of Opening Day is not baseball. It’s nostalgia.
It’s the deep well of good memories. How one game can make you feel the importance of personal relationships while the other 161 are background noise. As a marketing tool, nostalgia is even more powerful than Shohei.
So, what will Diamondbacks fans feel on Thursday night?
It’s been a wild ride. On the Valley’s very first Opening Day in 1998, as I made my way to the press box, I noticed workers scrambling to tighten bolts and complete stadium installations. Four years later, they were World Series champions. Jerry Colangelo never wasted our time.
On Opening Day in 2002, Bob Brenly brought the World Series trophy on the field during pre-game ceremonies. Magical moment. And then Randy Johnson shut out the Padres while throwing 130 pitches … in his first start of the season.
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The Diamondbacks have special bragging rights in Arizona. They remain the Valley’s only major professional franchise to win a championship. Their triumph over the Yankees post-9/11 was a historic and euphoric accomplishment, one of the greatest title bouts in baseball history.
The Diamondbacks ended the reign of a dynasty that had won the previous three World Series championships. They also ushered in a new era of parity in Major League Baseball where there hasn’t been a repeat champion since.
The Diamondbacks are also coming off their most dominant Opening Day performance in history, when they scored 14 runs in the third inning of a 16-1 victory. They know how to make a first impression.
Alas, they have also had many lean years and last-place finishes, enduring many embarrassing moments on Opening Day.
Starting pitcher Javier Vazquez once allowed 10 hits to the first 15 Cubs he faced in 2005. Zack Greinke’s debut in 2016 drew a thunderous clapback from motivated Rockies hitters, who were clearly triggered by the celebrated unveiling of Arizona’s $206 million offseason acquisition, which included Greinke batting eighth in the lineup, ahead of shortstop Nick Ahmed.
Today, the Diamondbacks are enjoying a renaissance. They have a generous owner, an elite GM and a manager who wears his heart on his sleeve. They have a team that could win the World Series, a pair of MVP candidates and a potentially thunderous pitching staff. But many things can go wrong, and the stakes are incredibly high. After their collapse in 2024, this is a very important season for a team on the rebound.
So, raise a glass on the eve of a new journey. The Diamondbacks have given us four different eras of truly compelling baseball. Two chances at a ring. They’ve given us golden playoff moments like Archie Bradley’s triple; four home runs in one inning against the Dodgers; two giant road victories in crucible of Philadelphia; and a Game 7 rally against Mariano Rivera, the greatest closer in the history of the sport.
We will feel all of it when the Diamondbacks take the field on Thursday night. Because that’s nostalgia. And it’s even bigger than baseball.
Reach Bickley at dbickley@arizonasports.com. Listen to Bickley & Marotta mornings from 6 a.m. – 10 a.m. on Arizona Sports.
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