Colorado Rockies: Why the Rockies Won’t Make the 2017 Playoffs

The Rockies will finish the 2017 season 87-75. They will fail to make the NL wildcard. The playoff drought that began in 2010 will continue.

There are many reasons for why the Rockies won’t make the playoffs.

The Rockies have played inconsistent and sloppy in the second half of the season. They finished the first half of the season, 52-39, but are only 17-20 in the second half. They have been inconsistent on the mound, but especially at the plate.

It’s not that they are hitting poorly. In fact, they have a better batting average (.284) after the All-Star break then they did before the break (.269). The problem is they aren’t taking advantage of opportune moments. The Rockies are able to get into scoring position, but fail to bring in runs.

The pitching

The pitching has also struggled. In the first half, the team ERA was 4.45. However, since the All-Star break the team ERA has risen to 5.10. Greg Holland hasn’t been himself since his injury in a kitchen knife incident. He has blown 3 saves in the past month and in August, his ERA is 13.50.

The Rockies won’t make the playoffs because of all the injuries they have suffered. David Dahl is still not back from his back injury. Ian Desmond has been nursing a calf injury. Ryan Hanigan was just placed on the DL. Tyler Anderson has been out for weeks.

The pitching and starting rotations always seem to be shifting to fill positions. Players aren’t able to settle in and just play baseball, because things are always changing.

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The Rockies schedule

The third reason the Rockies won’t make the playoffs is they have the eighth hardest remaining schedule in the MLB. In September, the Rockies play all their series, except for one, against NL West opponents. That means they play the Giants and the Padres, however, it also means that they have two series against the Diamondbacks, the NL wildcard leaders, and two series against the Dodgers, the best team in baseball.

Luckily, the Diamondbacks have the seventh hardest schedule in the MLB. My prediction is whoever wins the most head to head games between the Diamondbacks and the Rockies will make it to the playoffs.

Final Thoughts

I think that only one NL West team will snag a NL wildcard spot. The other spot will go to the NL Central. Entering Saturday, the Milwaukee Brewers and St. Louis Cardinals are 3.5 and five games back of the Rockies in the Wild Card. The Miami Marlins have also clawed their way back from the depths of defeat to being 64-63, 4.5 games behind the Rockies for the second wild card spot (the Marlins have gone 15-8 this month).

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It all comes down to whether the Rockies can turn themselves around and finish the season out strong, especially against key opponents like the Arizona Diamondbacks…and against the D’Backs and Dodgers (who the Rockies face each team seven more times), the Rockies are 11-13 against the two teams this season.