Breaking Down The Colorado Rockies’ 2016 Schedule

Sep 5, 2015; Denver, CO, USA; Members of the crowd do the wave during the seventh inning between the Colorado Rockies and the San Francisco Giants at Coors Field. Mandatory Credit: Chris Humphreys-USA TODAY Sports

April: meet the NL West!

April 4-6 (3)
@ Arizona Diamondbacks

April 8-10 (3)
vs San Diego Padres

April 12-14 (3)
vs San Francisco Giants

April 15-17 (3)
@ Chicago Cubs

April 18-20 (3)
@ Cincinnati Reds

April 22-24 (3)
vs Los Angeles Dodgers

April 25-28 (4)
vs Pittsburgh Pirates

April 29-May 1 (3)
@ Arizona Diamondbacks

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Notes of interest: 24 total games, 14 of which are against the NL West. The Colorado Rockies get 13 home games and 11 road games in the opening month of the season. They also get off days immediately following their opening series at Arizona, and their home opening series against San Diego, so look for them to start the season with a four-man rotation depending on how they come out of Spring Training.

Key series: The first big road trip, a six-gamer to Chicago and Cincinnati. Sure, it’ll be important to see how the Rockies do in their 14 NL West games on the season, but I’m personally more interested in the club’s early road test, especially against a good club like Chicago.

Next: May: Red Sox and road games

Sep 25, 2013; Denver, CO, USA; Boston Red Sox second baseman D. Pedroia (15) attempts to tag out Colorado Rockies first baseman T. Helton (17) after hitting a double in the fifth inning of the game against the Boston Red Sox at Coors Field. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports

May: Red Sox and road games

May 2-4 (3)
@ San Diego Padres

May 5-8 (4)
@ San Francisco Giants

May 9-11 (3)
vs Arizona Diamondbacks

May 13-15 (3)
vs New York Mets

May 17-19 (3)
@ St. Louis Cardinals

May 20-22 (3)
@ Pittsburgh Pirates

May 24-26 (3)
@ Boston Red Sox

May 27-29 (3)
vs San Francisco Giants

May 30-June 2 (4)
vs Cincinnati Reds

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Notes of interest: The Rockies play 26 games in May, 16 of which (!) are on the road. That includes an incredibly difficult nine-game, ten-day road trip to St. Louis, Pittsburgh, and Boston, which is book-ended by home series against the New York Mets and San Francisco Giants. Woof.

Key series: The stretch I just pointed to in the notes of interest. Let me put it this way: if the Rockies come out of their May 13-29 stretch afloat and somewhere kind of close to .500, maybe they’ll be halfway decent in 2016. If those two weeks go as badly as I think they’re going to go, well, it might be another tough season with the Rockies out of contention early.

Next: June: welcome back, Tulo!

Sep 2, 2015; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Blue Jays shortstop T. Tulowitzki (2) throws to first base to complete a double play after forcing out Cleveland Indians shortstop F. Lindor (12) at second base in the fourth inning at Rogers Centre. Mandatory Credit: Dan Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports

June: Welcome back, Tulo!

June 3-5 (3)
@ San Diego Padres

June 6-8 (3)
@ Los Angeles Dodgers

June 10-12 (3)
vs San Diego Padres

June 14-15 (2)
vs New York Yankees

June 17-19 (3)
@ Miami Marlins

June 20-22 (3)
@ New York Yankees

June 23-26 (4)
vs Arizona Diamondbacks

June 27-29 (3)
vs Toronto Blue Jays

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Notes of interest: The Rockies get 14 home games and 12 road games in their 26-game road schedule for June of 2016. They’ll also get four off days in the month, including two in the same week thanks to a two-game series with the New York Yankees and Monday and Thursday off days around it.

(Also, my birthday is June 5, and the Rockies play in San Diego the 3rd through the 5th, and in L.A. the 6th through the 8th. Woo hoo!!)

Key series: Obviously, the key here is the Rockies’ June 27-29 series against the Blue Jays. The series marks Troy Tulowitzki’s return to Denver, and will certainly be the series of the year as far as most Colorado Rockies fans are concerned.

Next: July: interleague and the Braves

Aug 25, 2015; Atlanta, GA, USA; Colorado Rockies shortstop J. Reyes (7) tags out Atlanta Braves right fielder N. Markakis (22) in the first inning at Turner Field. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports

July: interleague & Atlanta

July 1-3 (3)
@ Los Angeles Dodgers

July 4-6 (3)
@ San Francisco Giants

July 7-10 (4)
vs Philadelphia Phillies

July 11-14
All-Star Break (San Diego, CA)

July 15-17 (3)
@ Atlanta Braves

July 18-20 (3)
vs Tampa Bay Rays

July 21-24 (4)
vs Atlanta Braves

July 25-27 (3)
@ Baltimore Orioles

July 28-31 (4)
@ New York Mets

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Notes of interest: The Colorado Rockies are predominantly on the road in July, with 16 games away from home and just 11 more in Denver. They’ll also get no off days in July, except of course for the big four-day break in the middle of the month for the All-Star Break.

Plus, seven games against the Atlanta Braves (the Rockies went 6-1 vs. Atlanta in 2015!) and four more against the weak Philadelphia Phillies in Denver, so, hey! Maybe it won’t be quite as bad as you’d first guess.

Key series: The biggest (two) series in the month are at the beginning; the Rockies get back-to-back road series at Los Angeles and San Francisco. If (if) the Rockies are anywhere close to still hanging around in the division by July 1, those six days in California will tell us all a lot about Colorado’s baseball club.

Next: August: the Dodgers and the NL East

Jun 1, 2015; Denver, CO, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers second baseman H. Kendrick (47) celebrates the win over the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field. The Dodgers defeated the Rockies 11-4. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports

August: the east and west

August 2-4 (3)
vs Los Angeles Dodgers

August 5-7 (3)
vs Miami Marlins

August 8-11 (4)
vs Texas Rangers (2)
@ Texas Rangers (2)

August 12-14 (3)
@ Philadelphia Phillies

August 15-17 (3)
vs Washington Nationals

August 19-21 (3)
vs Chicago Cubs

August 22-24 (3)
@ Milwaukee Brewers

August 26-28 (3)
@ Washington Nationals

August 29-31 (3)
vs Los Angeles Dodgers

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Notes of interest: The Colorado Rockies catch 17 home games in the month of August, and just 11 road games, thoughs ix of those are on a trip to Milwaukee and Washington at the end of the month. Of the 17 home games, six are against the Dodgers, which is always… fun.

Also, the Rockies have that stupid two-and-two home-and-home series with the Texas Rangers in this month. I hate seeing those on the schedule. Just play four at one ballpark. You can make it up with abolishing the other two-game series elsewhere in the schedule. Make it simpler. Kill the two-game series!!!

Key series: The key series are always in the NL West, especially considering how weighted division games become by virtue of the fact that they are played so often. So, smart money says those Dodgers games that book-end the month are going to be pretty important.

Next: September/October: NL West foes to finish

Sep 6, 2015; Denver, CO, USA; San Francisco Giants manager B. Bochy (15) in the sixth inning against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field. The Giants defeated the Rockies 7-4. Mandatory Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports

September: NL West to end

September 2-4 (3)
vs Arizona Diamondbacks

September 5-7 (3)
vs San Francisco Giants

September 8-11 (4)
@ San Diego Padres

September 12-14 (3)
@ Arizona Diamondbacks

September 16-18 (3)
vs San Diego Padres

September 19-21 (3)
vs St. Louis Cardinals

September 22-25 (4)
@ Los Angeles Dodgers

September 27-29 (3)
@ San Francisco Giants

September 30-October 2 (3)
vs Milwaukee Brewers

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Notes of interest: Talk about an NL West-heavy schedule. Holy crap. Of the 29 games the Colorado Rockies play in their final month, 23 are against NL West opponents. Additionally, 15 overall are at home and 14 are on the road.

As you can probably guess, this looks like it has all the makings of a tough month for the Rockies, especially when you add in the fact that three of the six games not against NL West opponents are against the St. Louis Cardinals.

Key series: Everything against the NL West? The two four-game series — one in San Diego and one in Los Angeles — stand out the most, only because the Rockies have shown an unfortunate tendency to get buried on the road at times over the last few years, and four games against good teams away from Coors Field could feel like an absolutely eternity depending on where this club is by next September.

Next: Initial thoughts on the schedule

Sep 5, 2015; Denver, CO, USA; Colorado Rockies shortstop J. Reyes (7) reacts after hitting an RBI triple during the third inning against the San Francisco Giants at Coors Field. Mandatory Credit: Chris Humphreys-USA TODAY Sports

2016: A tough road for the Colorado Rockies

Part of me thinks that this uber-quick analysis of the Colorado Rockies’ 2016 schedule is partially biased and clouded against the club, simply based on how poorly they’ve done this season. Another part of me thinks that, hey, the Rockies aren’t going to be significantly better in 2016, in all likelihood, and thus they’ll still struggle next year.

But looking at the schedule as a whole, the Rockies are facing an uphill battle in 2016. The Orioles, Rays, Red Sox, Yankees, and Blue Jays are all going to be good, and having to face the AL East as your interleague match-up is a tall task for a club that’s already struggling at most aspects of baseball.

Obviously, May is the biggest area of concern for this team. The longest road trip of the year happens in May, and it just so happens to coincide with the two best National League teams (St. Louis and Pittsburgh) and, oh yeah, a pretty tough A.L. foe that’ll be better in 2016 than they are this year (Boston).

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And of course, in June, Tulo returns to Denver. That’ll be bittersweet, and I’m sure the Colorado Rockies will do it right and treat him well. Aside from that though, seeing the Blue Jays is unfortunate, because they’ll likely be as good as ever (though some guys, like David Price, likely won’t be back in Toronto in 2016, so there’s that.)

And then there’s the NL West. I think the Padres will re-tool for 2016 in a smarter way, and instead of general manager A.J. Preller throwing everything against the wall this winter, he’ll be more shrewd about his moves. The Arizona Diamondbacks are getting better by the day under the watchful eye of Tony LaRussa and field manager Chip Hale. The Dodgers and Giants are known entities. This division is tough.

I know it’s painful to think of it this way, but expect 2016 to be another long, rough year for the Colorado Rockies. And that’s ok! As long as they commit to a true re-build. What they do this winter will go a long way to showing their plans for the future, and those plans ought to continue with a painful — but purposeful — 2016 season.

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