Colorado Rockies: How to avoid repeating the ’18 NLDS in ’19

Well, that was disappointing.

This season, we possibly watched the best team the Colorado Rockies have ever put together. Not only did the Rox make the postseason for consecutive times for the first time in franchise history, but they tied for first place in the West and came a tiebreaker away from their first division championship.

But that team didn’t show up for the National League Division Series against the Milwaukee Brewers. The Colorado Rockies were outscored 13-2 while being swept in three games and, if it weren’t for an uncharacteristically rough outing by Brewers’ closer Jeremy Jefferess in Game 1, the Rockies would not have scored a single run in the entire series. They were shut out in games 2 and 3 and had no runs and just one hit going into the ninth inning of game one.

Think about that. The Rockies only scored in one inning of the entire NLDS. Since the first game went 10 innings, that means the Rockies were shutout for 27 innings of a three-game series. Each game, the Brewers threw a collection of nine scoreless innings.

There’s no way around it … the Rockies’ offense collapsed in the NLDS. But it wasn’t just Milwaukee. Colorado scored just two runs in 13 innings in the Wild Card Game against the Chicago Cubs and managed only two solo shots in the top of the ninth against the LA Dodgers in a game 163 that was already all but out of reach.

The Rockies offense struggled at times in 2018, but it wasn’t that bad.

On the bright side, the Rockies’ pitchers stepped up in a big way this postseason. Kyle Freeland, Antonio Senzatela, Tyler Anderson, German Marquez and the bullpen gave the Rockies a chance to win every game (until the very end of game 3 when everything imploded, but we don’t talk about that).

Assuming the Rockies can return to the postseason in 2019, here’s what they can do to avoid repeating the 2018 NLDS disaster.