Colorado Rockies: Looking at the halfway point by the numbers

It is that time again. Believe it or not, the Colorado Rockies have played 81 games and have 81 left to play, which means it is time to look at how this season compares to the previous seasons.

I typically like to compare only the previous season. However, since the Colorado Rockies made the playoffs in the past two, it is fascinating to see where the numbers fall next to other successful seasons.

With that in mind, here are the numbers:

                                     2017                2018               2019
Record                       47-34              39-42             42-39
Home                         22-15              15-22             22-16
Road                           25-19              24-20             20-23
Games Back              5.5                    8                      13
Wild Card GB            +6.5                 5                      1
RS/RA                         410/377         382/430        452/436
Runs Per Game        5.06                  4.72                5.58
RA Per Game             4.65                 5.31                 5.38
1-Run Games           11-3                11-9                10-12
Vs NL WEST               25-19             13-19             18-17

There are quite a few things that stick out, so let’s go over them.

First, in 2018, the Rockies were one win shy of tying their franchise record of 92 wins in a season and that team was three games under .500 at the halfway point. This current team is three games ahead of where they were last season.

More from Colorado Rockies News

• A Colorado Rockies Thanksgiving
• Colorado Rockies: Charlie Blackmon out for the season
• Colorado Rockies: Injuries shift look of roster ahead of Dodgers series
• Colorado Rockies: 3 things we appreciated from Tuesday in San Francisco
• What Bill Schmidt’s comments mean for the Colorado Rockies in 2023

It goes without saying but Colorado’s only path to the playoffs is winning a Wild Card spot. The Rockies lost Game 163 to the Dodgers last season keeping them from their first-ever NL West title. After another heartbreaking loss on Thursday night, the Rockies have now lost 12 straight games to the MLB juggernaut to fall 13 games back in the division.

The most surprising stats are clearly the runs scored and runs against. Colorado’s offense has been head and shoulders above the past two seasons, averaging almost a run more a game than 2018 and a half a run more than 2017.

There a fond memories of how good the pitching staff was last season but, in reality, the first half of last season wasn’t much better than this season. In fact, this season the Rockies have given up only six more runs. So considering how dire things feel right now with the pitching, there is a chance for a huge turnaround.

So as frustrating as the recent losses to the Dodgers have been, there is a huge silver lining as we have reached the halfway point of the season. The Rockies are right where they want to be, which is in the thick of the playoff race. With an improved performance from the pitching staff in the second half, the Rockies should make a third consecutive run at Rocktober.