Rockies' season of extremes has become unlike any other at home, road and for players

To paraphrase the great American singer-songwriter and New York Mets superfan Billy Joel: Darling, I don’t know why the Rockies go to extremes.

In their 29th season of play, never before have the Colorado Rockies experienced such vacillating results in so many ways. Each day seemingly brings a surprising statistic of excellence – typically when at home – or a new figure of futility – typically on the road. 

Almost every game leaves one scratching their head and muttering words of disbelief. It’s become as commonplace as the beautiful sunset we experience on a daily basis.

The recent result against the San Diego Padres is no exception. The offseason darlings of MLB were swept by the Rockies for the second consecutive series at home, a franchise-first for a single-season, making for a 10-4 stretch against the Friars since mid-June. Despite the addition of three frontline starting pitchers, locking up the future of their franchise Fernando Tatis Jr. for $330 million and appearing ready to challenge the Dodgers for best team in the NL West, San Diego’s postseason aspirations have been thwacked thanks to Colorado.

“This group battles. They don’t melt under pressure,” manager Bud Black said after Monday’s walk-off win following a blown save in the ninth inning. “There’s a feeling in the eighth or ninth that something magical can happen. And it’s been happening.”

Those three victories lifted the Rockies to 28-9 at Coors Field since May 21. The 41-21 record this season in Denver is the third most home wins by any club. However, it’s their play on the road that makes for the extreme.

While Colorado has gone 8-14 on the road since July 1, the team is 14-45 (.237) on the road, tied with Arizona and Texas for the lowest road winning percentage in the Majors. Place that figure against their .661 winning percentage at home and it’s the largest home-road split in the history of baseball, toppling the .356 differential of the 1945 Philadelphia Athletics. 

Those lowlights away from 20th and Blake Street include some anemic displays of offense, led by 15 shutouts, an unfortunate franchise record that topples the sub-standard set by the inaugural 1993 squad and the most since Atlanta and the Chicago White Sox were held scoreless 15 times on the road in 1978. (Presumably, the Rockies may not match the 2019 Miami Marlins recent mark of 22 shutouts, let alone the MLB record of 33 set by the 1908 St. Louis Cardinals.)

Conversely, the same roster of players struggling to score on the road have succeeded in winning games in the last at bat. Their 11 walk-off wins are most in franchise history and most in MLB this season. Coupled with hosting the Home Run Derby and All-Star Game, Coors Field has provided some of the most excitement in 2021.

A team playing a mile above sea level will always be extreme, but some individual players are doing their part to contribute to the commotion. 

At the start of the season, it would have been somewhat unlikely to tab Josh Fuentes and C.J. Cron to win the National League Player of the Week Award. Though both players were honored after a week of play in LoDo, each have gone in markedly different directions.  

Fuentes went 11-for-22 with two home runs and 13 RBI for the week of May 10-16. Since that outpouring of offense, he batted .211 with just nine runs batted in before being optioned to the minors on July 29.

It was somewhat the opposite case for Cron. The 31-year-old opened with just two doubles and two runs batted in across the first 12 games of the season and ranked 27th of 32 qualified first baseman in fWAR during that span. Since the start of June, he’s been one of the best at his position in the NL. For the week of August 3-8, he tallied 13 RBI against the Marlins to tie him with Hall of Famer Larry Walker for most in team history during a three-game series. Toss in eight runs scored and Cron had a weekend that no other player had accomplished since the advent of the RBI. His three grand slams this year are tied for the most in the Majors and most in a single season in franchise history. Not bad for a minor league invite to Spring Training.

Even the team’s perennial All-Star has had some ups and downs. Trevor Story, who represented the club in the Home Run Derby, has not flashed his usual penchant for long balls. Much of that has been a bit of bad luck as Statcast suggests his home run total would be much closer to 30 if he played in nearly half of the other ballparks. Instead, his total is under 20 as Coors Field has stabilized somewhat and contributed to keeping Story to 16 dingers at the moment.

Even with baseballs falling from the purple sky to land for two bases and 11 doubles in his last 26 games since July 27, Black has noticed an increase in power from Story. 

“He’s been better the last 10 days or so, just barreling up the baseball. You know they’re pitching him tough, they really are if you really watch how they’re pitching him. You know he hasn’t gotten a lot of pitches to drive.”

Let’s not forget Connor Joe, who is developing a tendency to hit homers on important dates and in notable locations. Besides a leadoff home run on his 29th birthday, Joe also walloped one exactly a year after learning he was cancer-free. He also homered in his first game back in his native San Diego and against former University of San Diego teammate Kris Bryant while in San Francisco, the team in which he made his big league debut. 

Then there’s the most extreme transaction in recent team history. The trade of a 8-Time Gold Glove Award winner Nolan Arenado this offseason all but guaranteed a drop-off in defense. Except, that’s far from the case. Ryan McMahon leads all Major Leaguers with 21 defensive runs saved (11 at third base) and 2.4 defensive bWAR. Because of a split between second and third, he may get overlooked at both positions when the Rawlings’ Gold Glove Award Finalists are announced after the season.

The starting pitching has been the best overall department for Colorado, even thought it hasn’t been very extreme, other than the potential for a no-hitter every five days when Germán Márquez scales the bump.

Rockies starters rank fifth in the Majors with 647.1 innings pitched and second in the NL behind the Reds (661.0). That’s led to 56 quality starts – at least six innings pitched and three earned runs or less – a mark that is the third-most behind the Athletics (62) and Dodgers (60).

Ultimately, no matter how many ways we try to dissect it, there may be no answers as to why this is happening in such a fashion, but one thing is certain: there ain’t no in-betweens with this team. (Thanks, Piano Man.)