MLB Postseason Wrap: Giants Continue Trending Downward at Mile High

With Labor Day in the rearview, MLB postseason races are about to heat up. We will be providing updates from around baseball on which teams are gaining ground, which are faltering, and which teams have been officially eliminated each day throughout the rest of the season.

MLB postseason races are in the final stretch, with 18 teams within five games of a playoff spot, and the Colorado Rockies within shouting distance at 6.5 back of a wild card berth with five games left against the San Francisco Giants, four against the Los Angeles Dodgers, three at home against the St. Louis Cardinals, and the rest of the remaining schedule filled out by the Padres, Diamondbacks and Brewers. If the Rockies want to make a postseason push, they have the schedule to do so, but may just be too far back to make that push this season.

Speaking of the Rockies, let’s start today’s recap in the NL West. After Chad Bettis tossed a complete game two-hitter against the Giants at Coors Field (one of the best single-pitcher complete games in the ballpark’s history), Colorado sits 11 games back of the Dodgers in the division, but the more important development here is that the loss pushes the Giants to four games back of their rivals in the division and reduces their lead over the Cardinals to just half a game for the first wild card spot. A six-run third inning highlighted by a Carlos Gonzalez grand slam propelled Colorado to the win over Matt Moore and San Francisco.

For Bettis, Monday’s game was his first complete game shutout, and only the team’s second in franchise history dating back to the days of Sun-Woo Kim back in September of 2005. The granny that Gonzalez hit was the first one that Moore has surrendered in his career. In his previous two outings, Moore had given up just one run in 14 innings against the Dodgers and Diamondbacks, which includes nearly no-hitting Los Angeles.

The rest of the series doesn’t get easier for the Giants, who have Jeff Samardzija and Albert Suarez slated to start the next two games in Colorado. The Rockies will toss out rookie Tyler Anderson to face The Shark tonight, and Anderson has been solid in his rookie campaign, holding a 3.43 ERA across 15 starts. That ERA is actually lower at Coors Field than it is on the road, sitting at 3.11 in ten outings.

Samardzija has been pitching much better of late, but his competition hasn’t had the offensive firepower that the Rockies possess either. Add in the effects Coors Field and the fact that Samardzija has given up 22 long balls this season, and the advantage seems to be pointing squarely in the home team’s favor, especially when you consider the struggles of the San Francisco offense of late.

Next: NL Wild Card