Give Arizona Diamondbacks fans some credit -- they showed out for their team so far this series, selling out both Games 3 and 4. However, when things turned south during a bullpen game in Game 4, it's tough to blame them for choosing not to stick around.
Arizona's pitching staff is spent and they're out of options. Rather than turning to Ryne Nelson to start, Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo instead trusted his bullpen -- a supposed edge for this team heading into the playoffs. Unfortunately, it was Rangers manager Bruce Bochy who instead had the edge thanks to starting pitcher Andrew Heaney.
Heaney threw five solid innings, while Arizona's bullpen floundered prior to Nelson, giving up over 10 runs, including two separate five-run frames early. There was no coming back from that for the Snakes bats. So, fans opted to leave Chase Field early and beat the traffic home.
Diamondbacks fans prove John Smoltz wrong
FOX announcer and former Braves pitcher John Smoltz had previously just praised Arizona fans for staying at Chase Field despite the blowout. Rangers fans quickly noticed this, and took to social media in hopes of bashing the MLB legend, who they believe has been unfairly criticizing the Rangers all series long.
Smoltz is a reasonable analyst when he's not talking about analytics, as he's just trying to spin a bad game forward. Texas can win the World Series on Wednesday night. Surely they'll receive plenty of praise from the broadcast booth should they close things out.
To be fair to Smoltz, the majority of Diamondbacks fans did stay in their seats. However, given the score of the game, it was fair to expect some to leave. Smoltz is an entertainer, as if the rest of the FOX broadcast booth. They need fans to watch this series, especially considering viewership is at an all-time low.
