And with that, the Colorado Rockies and their 2015 season came to an unceremonious end.
Ironically, the Rockies scored seven runs in the top of the 9th inning to beat the San Francisco Giants 7-3 in the season finale. The comeback happened when Corey Dickerson smashed a three-run homer to tie the game while the Denver Broncos were driving down the field in the 2nd quarter of their fourth game of the season.
With no one watching the Rockies, the team cruised into the offseason with a record of 68-94, good enough for the 5th worst record in the history of the club. Frankly, it was as forgettable of a season as the Rockies have ever had. Very little happened to give the fans hope for the future, and with the trade of perhaps the best player in the history of the club being traded mid-season, it likely is a season that fans will hope to soon forget.
On the final day of the season it is often time to reflect on the good and the bad of the season. However, for the Rockies, that doesn’t seem appropriate. Even though there are plenty of highlights, including the season that Nolan Arenado put together, as well as the second half of the season that Carlos Gonzalez had after finally being healthy, it just doesn’t seem like it is worth anyone’s time to summarize the season at this point.
The issues are clear. Any realtor knows the three magic words for real estate; Location, location, location. In baseball, there are three words that are just as important and critical. Those words are pitching, pitching and pitching.
Once again, the Rockies were reminded that no matter how much they mash the ball, no matter how many runs they score in a game, if a team doesn’t have pitching, they simply aren’t going to win.
Read anything on the Rockies in 2015 and it is apparent that the Rockies pitching staff was the bane of their existence. The need for pitching, both in the starting rotation as well as the bullpen, is a clear and present need. Beyond Jorge De La Rosa, the Rockies truly have no one who is consistently reliable to even consider themselves a solid Major League pitcher.
Arenado and Gonzalez weren’t the only two bright spots. There are plenty of small success stories that deserve attention. Again, however, this isn’t the time to reflect on the season as a whole.
What it is time for, is to take a deep breath and realize that the misery that was the 2015 season is over. Instead of jumping right into what the Rockies need to do in the offseason and constantly focusing on the needs that this team has, Rockies fans need to take a step back and give themselves a chance to decompress from a season that was tough to watch and take in. They need to enjoy playoff baseball, in which Rockies fans get a chance to see some good baseball for a change.
The Rockies offseason should have plenty of highlights, and plenty of times where fans can debate whether or not the team is heading in the right direction. But for now, it is time to focus on something different, something positive and something that has more than a .420 success ratio.
As crazy as it sounds after such a horrible season, when all of the dust settles, baseball at Coors Field will be missed. Fans will miss the beautiful summer nights coupled with those fun and crazy games that come with playing baseball in that park. Even with the lack of wins that accompanied the 2015 season, there is always something about baseball that draws that fans back. Even when fans are dying for the end to come, when it is over, that is when they realize how great it is to have baseball on a nightly basis.
Maybe it is the realization that summer really is over. Maybe it the fact that a long, cold winter is drawing near, but the end of baseball season always comes with a sense of disappointment that there will be six months without the greatest game that this world has ever known. That feeling is probably what makes fans actually believe that the Rockies have a chance when April finally arrives. The delusion of grandeur that the club might somehow have everything come together and turn into a contender is fed by the months of cold weather, snow and bad basketball that accompany the winter months in Denver.
Whatever it is, baseball will be missed in Colorado.
Until next spring, fans of baseball and fans of the Colorado Rockies will have to wait to get their daily fix of the game. Even if that fix leads to another 94 loss season.
