The Colorado Rockies are in the midst of their best season in a decade. With a record of 69-58, Colorado is in a strong position to make the postseason this year, but they need to get their act together quickly in order to solidify their chances at doing so.
The 2017 season has warranted much praise for the new-look Rockies. Their blazing start, young starting rotation and onslaught of offensive production legitimized them in the sport and the state of Colorado.
All summer long, the Rockies have been the story of the city. From Kyle Freeland‘s opening day start in front of his home crowd, to Nolan Arenado‘s magical walk-off home run to complete the cycle, the Rockies have done a tremendous job at demanding the eyes of people in their city and around the country; however, after an extended period of poor play, Colorado is in jeopardy of losing everything they’ve worked so hard to attain this season.
For a majority of the year, the Arizona Diamondbacks and Rockies flip-flopped between the first and second National League Wild Card spots. While Arizona and Colorado are still penciled in as the Wild Card, two teams are starting to breathe down their necks.
As it stands, the Rockies lead the Milwaukee Brewers by just 3.5 games in the standings and the St. Loius Cardinals by 5 games for the second spot in the National League Wild Card.
While any lead is welcomed, the Rockies have watched theirs shrink by the day.
After losing a three-game series to the Brewers last weekend, the Rockies saw their lead dip to below five games. That ,in addition to the fact that they were nearly swept by the Kansas City Royals, should have the organization beginning to panic.
The Rockies have struggled in recent time. Losers in 10 of their last 16 ballgames, Colorado has hit some speed bumps in just about every aspect.
The starting rotation has been off their mark, and closer Greg Holland has hit a wall at the worst time, having blown three saves and earning four losses in his last seven outings.
On the offensive side of things, the bats have scaled back for the Rockies. They’ve plated just 90 runs in the month of August, which ranks 22nd in the Majors.
All teams go through peaks and valleys throughout the course of a 162 game season, but with the schedule beginning to narrow and pressure ramping up, the Rockies need to buckle down or else may be in for an epic collapse.
“Yeah, maybe we do have to come together and figure this out,” Arenado said during the teams series against the Royals. “But like I said, it’s just not good enough. We are not good enough as a group. We have the right people. It’s just a matter of going out there and doing it, and we are not.”
Luckily, Colorado was able to squeeze out a victory in their series finale with the Royals. Greg Holland earned the save and the Rockies were able to salvage something from the set.
That said there are still plenty of tests ahead the Rockies need to sharpen up for.
After working so hard to get to where they are in the present, it would be devastating to see the Rockies collapse this close to the finish line. They have had to deal with adversity all season long, and with over a month left to play there is time to iron out some issues; however, things need to happen rather quickly with other teams in hot pursuit or else 2017 could evolve into a big strikeout for the Colorado Rockies.
