Colorado Rockies: Los Angeles Dodgers Series Preview

As the Colorado Rockies finished their series against the St. Louis Cardinals with a win, the Rockies get ready to head out west to Dodger Stadium for an important four-game series against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The Dodgers headed into Wednesday holding first place in the National League West by 5 games. They want as much breathing room as possible as we start to wind down the last few weeks of the season. Here are some things to look for as the Rockies begin their final two road series of the season.

Rockies superstars look to hold their first place positioning in leading individual statistics categories

Nolan Arenado and DJ LeMahieu are both on the brink of finishing the season atop statistical categories for batting average, home runs and RBI. LeMahieu has a small lead in batting average over Washington Nationals second baseman Daniel Murphy. This average is well above the American leader Jose Altuve. Arenado has a slim lead in homers over Kris Bryant in the National League, but is trailing quite a few batters in the American League for tops in all of Major League Baseball.

USA TODAY Sports

Arenado may not be leading baseball in home runs. However, as of now, he does have the major league lead in RBI. This series could pose as a big one for statistics alone, trying to capture first place glory in their respective categories.

The Rockies can actually be close to finishing the season at .500

If the Rockies can win two games in this series, it will give them the most wins they’ve had in a season since 2010. Getting to .500 seems nearly impossible as they would have to finish the season at 8-2. However, there’s still a chance. This is the perfect opportunity for young guys to step up and play the role of spoiler for playoff contenders and get their names recognized so managers have a good taste in their mouth as Spring Training 2017 comes up.

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The field will be full of unfamiliar faces

As you have noticed this past month, the Rockies are putting a lot of players into games late that you may not know that well. New faces such as Jordan Patterson, Stephen Cardullo, Raimel Tapia, Pat Valaika and Tom Murphy may see a decent amount of field time. This is a good opportunity to evaluate players at a big league level against teams that are competing for playoff spots to see what kind of game they can bring to the team come 2017.

Starting pitchers only have a few more chances to show management why they should be in the rotation come April

We all saw the masterpiece that Jon Gray put together and we all know he is the guy the Rockies will look to a lot next year. However, there are still question marks on who else will get starting nods … and where in the rotation they will be placed. This is a good opportunity for Tyler Chatwood, Tyler Anderson, Chad Bettis and German Marquez (acquired in the Corey Dickerson trade) to put together quality starts. Marquez put together a nice first start against the Cardinals, and should get at least one more chance to pitch before next season.

Next: Marquez Makes Big Impact for Colorado in First Start

Even though the Rockies are more than likely eliminated from playoff contention, there is still a lot to be excited for as the Rockies visit Dodger Stadium. I expect a fun and hard-fought games and can very much see us at least splitting the series in L.A. Hopefully the Rockies can ride some momentum from their series finale win against St. Louis into a weekend series sweep of the Dodgers.