Colorado Rockies: Comparing 2017 and 2018 at the third quarter

This is it. The final quarter of the season is here. The Colorado Rockies have played 120 games and have 42 more to go.

But before the Colorado Rockies begin the last leg of the grueling marathon that is the MLB regular season, let’s take a look at how the first three quarters of this season stacks up against last season when they reached the playoffs for the first time in eight years.

2017

2018

Win/Loss

67-53

64-56

Home

37-22

31-27

Road

30-31

33-29

Games Back

18.5

1.5

Wild Card

+1

2.5

Runs Scored/Runs Against

629/570

557/581

1 Run Games

15-9

21-12

Record Vs West

29-21

26-24

Let’s start with the biggest eye-popping stat: run differential. Last year, the Rockies were +59 in runs at this point in season. With the -24 this season, it shows how resilient the Rockies have been and how many tight ball games they have been in. It’s also a prime example of how inconsistent the offense played this season, scoring 72 less runs than last season. Also factor in that the Epic Taco’s Drought of ’18 has now reached a staggering 23 straight games, the Rockies offense been a disappointment this season. That streak matches the longest drought since the beginning of the 2015, a Rockies team that finished 68-94.

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It’s also amazing that the Rockies have only giving up 11 more runs than last season. Considering that they have given up a Major League-worst 105 runs in the first inning (7.73 ERA) and have a bullpen that is 28th in the majors with a 5.15 ERA, it is surprising that teams have not scored a lot more runs.

The other stat that sticks out is that the Rockies are only four games over .500 at home compared to 15 over last season. With 23 games home games remaining, they desperately need to start taking advantage of playing at Coors Field if they want to come out on top of this highly competitive playoff race.

I have already gone on record that the Rockies need a minimum 89 wins to make the playoffs.  Last season’s tough playoff run should hopefully give them some valuable experience to draw on as there are still 11 teams in the National League still vying for playoffs. Whatever happens, it’s going to be an exciting final six weeks of the season.