Colorado Rockies: This team is a weird bunch historically

Heading into Sunday, the Colorado Rockies still have a hold on first place over the 2nd place Los Angeles Dodgers and the 3rd place Arizona Diamondbacks. The three teams are have 2.5 games separating them but, by the numbers, the Rockies should be in third.

The Colorado Rockies are, for better or worse, a very interesting team and if you look at the numbers, they definitely back it up.

If you look at all the teams that would have a playoff spot if their season ended today or any of the teams within 3.5 games of a playoff spot, almost all of them have one thing: a positive run differential.

Well, there is at least one notable exception to that: the Colorado Rockies.

Entering play on Sunday, the Rockies have a run differential of -11 but, somehow, they are 14 games above .500. The only team that is rivaling them in this category are the Philadelphia Phillies, who are 4.5 games back in both the NL East and the second NL Wild Card spot. They have a record of 74-68 with a run differential of -13.

The case in the American League is the Seattle Mariners, who are 79-64 with a -52 run differential but they are not within 7.5 games of the heavyweight five teams in the American League, who are all, except the AL Central leading Cleveland Indians who are on pace for 92 wins, on pace for 98 wins or more.

However, as it stands, the Rockies are the only team that would make the playoffs if the season ended today with a negative run differential. So, we decided to see how rare this is in history and we found that it was pretty rare. Let’s take a look at some of the other teams who the Rockies would be joining in this exclusive club.