The Rockies have won 8 out of their last 10 games. Their pitchers have higher WARs than their hitters. And they're still technically in the race. Weird stuff.
Kyle Freeland, Tyler Anderson and Adam Ottavino are having fantastic seasons, the latter coming from the still-alright bullpen. Anderson, coming off a disappointing 2017, has mastered his fastball, and is looking pretty consistent. Kyle Freeland is still the staff ace, though, and is probably the sharpest pitcher, and the one that would probably do the best if he didn't pitch in Coors Field. I'll also say that Jon Gray and German Marquez, while not faring well at Coors Field, are still fantastic strikeout artists. Gray is averaging 11 strikeouts per game, which is...for a Colorado Rockie, pretty unheard of, even if his ERA is, once again, too high. And Chad Bettis, when healthy, is still pretty nice.
The lineup, aside from Nolan Arenado, Charlie Blackmon and Trevor Story, pale in comparison. There's just not a lot of positive momentum here, and this is in a stadium built for home run hitters. Ian Desmond's still slumping, Carlos Gonzalez has gone the way of Jose Bautista, none of the trio of rookies has done anything remotely good in the majors, and neither option at catcher can hit for average.
The Rockies' offense has been coming alive as of late, but I don't think this roster has enough to hold a substantial lead, or to make a playoff effort. There are too many problems, and too many people in the lineup that aren't on. Arenado and Blackmon can't carry the team, and the pitching can't do most of the work, at least at this state.
Still, the race is close enough that anything could happen with this team. I'm just not thinking it'll go well.
Coming Tomorrow- The aforementioned Astros hitter I was supposed to post before the JA Happ thing messed up the order.
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