Young Diamondbacks crash playoff party earlier than expected
Their payroll is the fifth-lowest in the major leagues, and their team batting average is lower than that.
They have given up 20 more runs than they have scored, becoming the first team in major-league history to finish with the best record in its league with that kind of math.
They were predicted to finish third in the NL West, and that was by the optimists.
They lost big-ticket acquisition Randy Johnson before the all-star break and key contributors Orlando Hudson and Chad Tracy after.
The Arizona Diamondbacks have become masters of the improbable in a 2007 season in which they may have even surprised themselves, at least early.
"Frankly, we were looking at next year," one Diamondbacks official said while in Colorado for the pennant clincher.
The future, of course, is now, after the Diamondbacks won an NL-high 90 games.
The organization always believed in its talent, but at the same time understood that there is a normal breaking-in period, even with players as gifted as Chris Young and Stephen Drew, for example.
Conventional wisdom suggests a player needs two years, maybe three, to make the adjustments necessary to combat the moves from the other side.
All Young did this season was become the first rookie in major-league history with 30 home runs and 25 stolen bases.
"We certainly exceeded all of our expectations because they developed so quickly," Diamondbacks president Derrick Hall said.
"We knew we could compete. I don't know that we would have placed bets to the level of 90 wins and the division, but we certainly thought we'd be there until the end."
The Diamondbacks start three rookies - Young, Mark Reynolds and the right field platoon of Jeff Salazar and Justin Upton.
They have a fourth when Miguel Montero catches and a fifth if Micah Owings pitches to him. Drew had a half-season of experience entering the year.
But the steadying influence from veterans Tony Clark, Hudson, Livan Hernandez and others have helped foster a clubhouse environment in which all voices are heard and each feels a part.
"You can never underestimate chemistry," left-hander Doug Slaten said.
"Wanting to do it for your teammate. Not wanting to let down the guy next to you, because he's not going to let down the guy next to him. It's a domino effect."
The Diamondbacks have won a major-league-high 32 1-run games and have done it with contributions from almost everyone.
Fifteen different Diamondbacks have provided game-tying or game-winning hits in the seventh inning or later, from Eric Byrnes' 2-run single in the eighth inning of a season-opening 8-6 victory at Colorado on April 2 to Salazar's game-winning, 3-run home run with two outs in the ninth inning in San Francisco on Sept. 10.
"You look up and down our roster and you kind of say 'Ëœhow, why?" manager Bob Melvin said.
"But if you watch these guys play day in and day out, you know why. These guys bring the same attitude every day, and I don't think I've been around a group like that."
Consecutive walk-off victories over Florida on July 26 and Atlanta on July 27-28 - on hits by Byrnes, Clark and Conor Jackson - appeared to fuel the belief.
"It's a group that has shown they know how to win games," general manager Josh Byrnes said simply.
"Obviously it's harder to do at the major league level, and that much harder to do in this division, which has proven to be extremely tough.
"These guys have been battle-tested so much.
"The most important thing is how to win games."