Colorado Rockies: A look at their second half schedule
Tomorrow starts the second half for the Colorado Rockies and it won’t be an easy one for them.
The Colorado Rockies enter the second half of the season with a record of 44-45 with 73 games to play.
That puts them in fourth place in the NL West, a half game back of the San Diego Padres for third place, a game back of the Arizona Diamondbacks for second place, and a nearly insurmountable 14.5 games back of the Los Angeles Dodgers for the division. The Dodgers also have the best record in the NL by 5.5 games over the Atlanta Braves.
While catching the Padres and Diamondbacks should be fairly easily considering they are both ahead of the Rockies by a game or less, it will be an uphill climb for the Rockies to catch the Dodgers so the likely way to the playoffs is the two wild card spots.
There are 10 teams currently that are within 5.5 games of the two wild card spots and eight within 2.5 games (where the Rockies currently are) so it’s a crapshoot.
However, when you take a look at the Rockies strength of schedule for the seconnd half, it is a bit more ominous.
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Starting tomorrow, the Rockies will face the Reds at Coors Field for a three-game set. The Reds are one of those ten teams vying for those two Wild Card spots and, even though they are in the basement of the NL Central, they are only 4.5 back in the division so they have a chance there too. Contrary to most Reds teams in the past 30 years, their pitching has actually been their strongest facet as two of their starters were All-Stars and they are second in the NL in ERA.
After that, the Rockies have a four-game set with the Giants, including a double header on Monday. The Rockies then leave Coors Field for a very interesting road trip. They will head to the Bronx to meet up with Yankees, who have many of their former teammates (Adam Ottavino, DJ LeMahieu, Mike Tauchman, Tommy Kahnle, and Troy Tulowitzki, who (big shocker) is on the 60-day IL).
They will also face the Nationals, who are 17 games above .500 in their 39 games since Memorial Day weekend, for four games and the Reds in Cincinnati to finish the road trip.
To end July, they will face the Dodgers at Coors Field in a three-game set. In August and September, here’s a breakdown of the Rockies opponents.
- 6 games v. San Francisco (plus their four games next week)
- 2 games v. Houston
- 10 games v. San Diego
- 6 games v. Arizona
- 3 games v. Miami
- 7 games v. St. Louis
- 1 game (a makeup game) v. Atlanta
- 2 games v. Boston
- 4 games v. Pittsburgh
- 6 games v. Dodgers (plus the three games at the end of July)
- 3 games v. Mets
- 3 games v. Milwaukee
As a result of this schedule, the Rockies have the fifth-hardest remaining schedule of the 30 MLB teams. It also should be noted that the only two NL teams that have a harder second half schedule are the Padres and Giants. The Dodgers also have the second easiest schedule of the 15 NL teams.
With only a few breaks of teams that aren’t in the hunt for a playoff spot, the grind of the final 73 games starts tomorrow for the Rockies to show the fans and the rest of the NL who they really are.