Colorado Rockies starting rotation: Is it the best in franchise history?

While the Colorado Rockies’ poor start to the season was to be expected going in, one question mark around the team was about the rotation.

Specifically, is the 2020 starting pitching rotation the best in Rockies history?

It looked promising going in, and while injuries have set them back, the starting pitchers have looked very good to start the season.

But how do they compare to the rest of Colorado Rockies history?

To answer this question, I went deep into the bowels of MLB.com and Baseball-Reference and found several important stats that I think could be helpful in comparing this year’s rotation to all those seasons past: winning percentage, ERA, WHIP, OPS, SO/9, and BB/9 are all that I looked at for this study.

So, let’s begin.

Winning percentage (W %)

Now, I don’t read too much into this statistic because it is too easily swayed by a poor offensive output but the W% will also be down if the pitching never gives the offense the chance to be ahead.

At 6-8, the current rotation has a W% of .429, which places them at 21st all-time for the Rockies. The highest W% a Colorado Rockies rotation has ever put up is in 2009, when the starters went 69-50 on the season for a W% of 0.580, barely beating out the 2018 rotation which went 59-43 with a W% of .578.

So far, this year’s rotation has had a top-five ERA (Earned Run Average) performance across all Colorado Rockies rotations at 4.28, good enough for 4th, currently. This is competitive with the top three teams which were in 2009, 2018, and 2010, respectively.

The 2021 rotation ERA is actually closer to first place than it is to fifth place. I should note, though, that ERA can rise throughout the season for pitchers because of various things such as season fatigue and better batter awareness as the season goes on.