The Colorado Rockies can go deep into the MLB playoffs, if their pitching continues to dominate.
Last season was not a pretty sight for the Colorado Rockies. After winning 91 games and earning a Wild Card birth in 2018, the Rockies managed just 71 wins in 2019, finishing one game ahead of the San Diego Padres for fourth place in the National League West.
Fast forward to 2020 and the Rockies currently own one of the top records in baseball and are set up for quite a fight against the Los Angeles Dodgers for the top spot in the West.
Nolan Arenado, Trevor Story, and Charlie Blackmon continue to lead the way offensively for Colorado and very few people in baseball can produce the number of high-quality, highlight-reel defensive plays like 2019 Platinum Glove winner Arenado, but it’s been the Rockies pitching staff that has been so much fun to watch this season.
Colorado’s starting rotation owns the fourth-highest fWAR in the majors behind the Reds, Indians, and Cubs.
German Marquez is right in the thick of very early National League Cy Young conversations with his 2-1 record, 1.89 ERA, 31% strikeout rate, and .171 batting average against.
Marquez is complemented by quite a group, including Antonio Senzatela (3-0, 2.65 ERA) and what looks like a rebound season for Kyle Freeland. Freeland is 2-0 with a 2.41 ERA and 1.07 WHIP after going 3-11 with a 6.73 ERA last season.
The Rockies have won every series played this year, including series against the first-place Oakland A’s, the Texas Rangers, San Diego Padres, Seattle Mariners, and San Francisco Giants. Their schedule isn’t that daunting the rest of the way out, but will take on the Dodgers seven times in the last three weeks of the season.
If the pitching staff holds up, Rocktober will alive and well late into the month.