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The Colorado Rockies will head west for a winner-take-all ball game against the Los Angeles Dodgers for the National League West title on Monday afternoon. The winner will move on to play the Atlanta Braves in the NLDS while the loser will have to travel to the loser of the Chicago Cubs-Milwaukee Brewers tiebreaker for the Wild Card game on Tuesday night.
The Colorado Rockies got to this point by playing stellar baseball in the last 10 contests. From great pitching performances to slugfests, they outscored their opponents 71-24 in the last 10 games.
There has been a ton of great individual performances lately but missing in all of the action has been manager Bud Black. Black deserves a ton of credit for this team winning 91 games and reaching consecutive playoffs for the first time in franchise history.
I, along with many others, have been extremely critical of Black this season. From his handling of Ian Desmond‘s struggles, carrying three catchers, not playing some the promising youngsters, etc, etc. Black has stayed the course and has put the Rockies one win away from their first-ever division title.
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His best move this season, however, may be the way he has set up his rotation for this week. By deciding to start Tyler Anderson in Sunday’s 12-0 victory, the Rockies will have their top two pitchers set to go on regular days rest in their most important games of the season.
Colorado’s new strikeout king, German Marquez, will head to the hill against Walker Buehler and the Dodgers on Monday. Marquez has been excellent at Dodger Stadium this year, only giving up two earned runs in 15 innings this season.
Then, depending on the outcome, Kyle Freeland will either get ball for Game One of the divisional series or he will have the Rockies’ fate in his hands in the win-or-go-home Wild Card game. Who else would you rather have starting that game than the guy with the franchise’s greatest season as a pitcher?
Black has done a great job for the Rockies. Now he needs to follow the advice of the fans who echoed throughout downtown Denver on Sunday and … BEAT LA!! BEAT LA!! BEAT LA!!