The Diamondbacks are finalists for the 2024 National League Offensive Team of the Year.

The Arizona Diamondbacks had an incredible offensive season in 2024. Although they didn’t make the playoffs, the awards season continues to pay dividends for the young Arizona team.

The D-backs were nominated for National League Offensive Team of the Year as part of the Silver Slugger Awards. The award was first presented in 2023 when the Braves and Rangers took home the hardware.

On Monday morning, it was announced that the Diamondbacks, along with the Los Angeles Dodgers, were named finalists in the National League, while in the American League, the Yankees and Orioles received honors.

Before 2024, imagining a matchup against the Dodgers in this category would have been unthinkable, but there is a remarkable case where the Diamondbacks are worthy winners.

D-backs led all MLB batting averages in 2024 with a total of 886 runs. This knocks out the rest of the league, including the second-ranked Dodgers. Los Angeles scored 842 runs, which is still impressive and is only one of three teams to score over 800 runs, but still 44 runs behind the Diamondbacks.

The pattern is repeated in RBI, with the Diamondbacks leading the category with 845 and the Dodgers trailing well behind with 815.

This Arizona offense was powered by an incredible core of bats, including Ketel Marte, Christian Walker and Joc Pederson, all of whom had career years earning recognition on the All-MLB team. Eugenio Suarez and Corbin Carroll started off slow but soared into the same territory as the rest of the roster with monster results in the second half of the year.

D-backs also led the MLB in OBP, which was the club’s biggest weapon in terms of performance. In batting average, Arizona is tied for first with their rival San Diego Padres with a team BA of 0.263.

Things are looking bad in the traffic department. The Dodgers certainly have a case for their nomination, even if they haven’t been as productive. Top lineups of Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman and Teoscar Hernandez have made them one of the deadliest lineups in baseball over the past year.

In hitting percentage, Los Angeles just surpasses Arizona and leads the league with a .446 slugging percentage compared to the defensive backs’ .440 slugging percentage. OPS follows suit, with the Dodgers coming out on top at .781 compared to .777 for the second-place Diamondbacks.

Home runs also favor the Dodgers, although not as clearly as in other cases. The long ball is one of the few offensive metrics led by the American League, with the Yankees and Orioles leading the way before the Dodgers rank third with 233 home runs.

The Diamondbacks, on the other hand, are back in 5th place with 211 home runs, behind the Atlanta Braves, who have had a disappointing year.

While many statistics may be skewed to paint a different picture in this debate, this award should go to the pure scoring machine that was the Arizona Diamondbacks’ 2024 roster. While they didn’t make it to October baseball, that blame had nothing to do with the offense, which had been an absolute force to be reckoned with for much of the year.

Recipients of this award, as well as other Silver Slugger Award recipients, will be announced on November 12th.