Colorado Rockies podcast: Let’s talk Game 161, Game 162 and beyond

As the Colorado Rockies and Washington Nationals prepare to play Game 162 of the regular season on Sunday afternoon at Coors Field, there is much at stake for the home team.

With a win, the Colorado Rockies can do no worse than force a tie-breaking game on Monday in Los Angeles against the Dodgers to decide who wins the National League West. Of course, a win on Sunday could also give the Rockies their first-ever NL West title, depending on how the Dodgers fare in San Francisco in their season finale against the Giants.

Rockies fans poured into 20^thand Blake on Saturday night ready to potentially celebrate a division title, but were quickly soured when the Nationals hopped on Colorado starter Jon Gray for five runs in the first two innings on their way to a 12-2 hammering.

Gray was hit hard by the Nationals right from the opening batter as Adam Eaton lined a comeback shot off Gray’s back to open the contest. It didn’t get any better from there, on the field or on social media where fans lit up the former Rockies first-round draft pick for not coming through in another “big game setting.”

On his latest Rockie Road podcast, Jake Shapiro said that he isn’t going to go down that road again as Rockies fans have discussed that take over and over this season.

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“I’m not going to do the Jon Gray big game show again,” Shapiro started his podcast by saying.

Shapiro also goes on to say that this one game didn’t cost the Rockies the division title. There have been plenty of games this season that could’ve gone Colorado’s way, including an 8-5 loss in Los Angeles on August 9 where the Dodgers came back late to win. That game equals a two-game swing in the standings, Shapiro says.

He also takes on the take that the Rockies should not have celebrated on Friday night when they grabbed a postseason spot. With the NL West still on the table, some weren’t happy to see the champagne flowing. However, several Rockies said after the game that that was just a step in the season and Shapiro argues that Colorado should celebrate every postseason berth, even if there is more on the line.

To listen to more thoughts from Shapiro on what could happen in Game 162 and beyond, please click here.