Every Monday, MLB.com releases its weekly power rankings for all 30 teams in Major League Baseball. After finishing the week 2-5, the Colorado Rockies have moved down in the league's power rankings.
After being ranked 26th last week, Colorado has fallen down to 27th. The Rockies are just ahead of the Oakland A's, Kansas City Royals, and the Washington Nationals. The Rockies record right now is currently, 26-35 and they are at the bottom of the NL West and 9.5 games out of first place as the Arizona Diamondbacks currently are in first place.
The 2023 MLB season has undoubtedly been challenging for sports fans in Colorado. This comes after a recent championship run for the city as the Colorado Avalanche won the Stanley Cup last year and the Denver Nuggets are currently competing in the NBA Finals against the Miami Heat. The Denver Broncos have also been making commendable efforts under the Walton-Penner ownership group, having hired former New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton and outspent NFL rivals by 33% during the past NFL offseason. With all these successes, Rockies fans are eager for their team to join the new winning tradition in Denver sports.
The team's performance in hitting this year is currently ranked 18th, while their pitching is at a dismal 29th. As a result, the team is becoming increasingly desperate to find ways to win. Last week, the Rockies suffered a four-game sweep against the Diamondbacks, being outscored 23-10 for the entire series. The Colorado offense struggled greatly against Arizona, striking out a total of 38 times and earning only 34 hits. This ratio of strikeouts to hits is never a good sign for any team and will not lead to a recipe for success.
During last Sunday's game, the Rockies managed to out-hit the Royals 8-4, but unfortunately, they ended up losing 2-0. This type of outcome is simply unacceptable for Colorado and they need to address their struggles at hitting with runners in scoring position moving forward. The Rockies have proven to be a much stronger hitting team when playing at home as compared to on the road. Currently, they are ranked fifth in the league for hitting when playing at home, with an average of .285/.342/.461. However, when playing on the road, they rank at 29th, with an average of .236/.296/.350.
Unfortunately, the pitching performance for the Rockies has not been great, whether playing at home or on the road. On the road they are ranked 21st with a 4.54 ERA and at home, it's even worse as they are ranked 30th with a 5.72 ERA.
Colorado is set to begin a six-game homestand this week as they will host the San Francisco Giants and San Diego Padres. Despite their early struggles, they have a chance to move up in the power rankings and can move into third place in the NL West if they win both series.