By Jordan Long
The Colorado Rockies ended the 2019 season at 71-91, missing the postseason for the 1st time since 2016. The Rockies had high expectations starting the year. Many MLB experts predicted them to win the National League Division for the first time in franchise history. Others thought they would end up in the Wild Card game. Neither one happened. Let’s take a look back at their season.
Colorado started the year at 2-0. They dropped 9 of their next 10 games. On April 9th their record was 3-9, 5 games out of 1st place. Colorado crawled their way above .500 on May 5th when they were 16-15.
The Rockies best record was on June 20th. At the time they stood at 40-34, 6 games above .500. They even led in the Wild Card standings. The Dodgers were way too good and had a commanding 10 game lead.
Their good record didn’t last long. From June 20th to the end of the year, Colorado finished with a 31-57 record. They ended 35 games behind the L.A. Dodgers in the National League West Division and 18 games back of the Milwaukee Brewers for the 2nd Wild Card spot.
Despite the poor season, Colorado could smack the baseball. The Rockies are known to be a hitting team. It helps that they play at Coors Field, a hitters ballpark. Colorado was the 5th best hitting team in MLB with a team average of .265.
The downside to their offense was strikeouts. Batters weren’t patient at the plate and swung at pitches outside the zone. Those ended in 1,503 strikeouts, 8th most in all of baseball.
Colorado hoped their pitching would carry them. Unfortunately, it didn’t. Colorado’s pitching combined ERA was 5.56, 29th in baseball, only the Baltimore Orioles were worse at 5.59. Starters typically didn’t pitch into the 6th or 7th innings. Starting pitching ERA was last in MLB with a 5.87 ERA. Manager Bud Black took pitchers out too late when they clearly didn’t have it that day. Those ended up with more runs on the scoreboard, which added to the Rockies deficit.
The bullpen wasn’t much better. When Black switched pitchers, relievers couldn’t keep Colorado in games. The bullpen ended with a 5.14 ERA. They blew 24 games ranking 15th in MLB.
Now with the Rockies in the offseason, Colorado needs to improve the ball club. It starts and ends with pitching. General Manager Jeff Bridich must address the weak links of starting pitching and the bullpen. He has to be aggressive and find veteran pitching to help the baseball team during free agency. If he doesn’t do much in the offseason, it will be another long year in 2020 where Colorado again misses the playoffs and with a below .500 record.
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