There is reason to believe the Colorado Rockies can end up on the winning end of their current road trip.
Winning has not been a luxury for the Colorado Rockies through what has been another brutal season, but there is a chance this current road trip can play in their favor.
The Rockies began a three-series, nine-game road trip with a 3-2 loss against the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday, but that does not mean the entire slate away from home will be doomed.
So, why should Rockies fans have confidence in their team?
Strength of schedule
Perhaps this is not a proper observation to make, considering Colorado is in a three-way tie with the Los Angeles Angels and the Athletics for the worst record in baseball, but it is worth noting that the Rockies are only playing one winning team on this trip: the Arizona Diamondbacks.
After beating Colorado on Friday, the Cardinals returned to the .500 mark, but they are still a vulnerable team who are better on the road this season (29-26) than they are at home (29-32). It will take a complete effort, especially now that they are playing from behind, but the Rockies have a shot to win the next two games to take the series.
Next up are the Diamondbacks, and as I already mentioned, they are the only winning team Colorado will face. This will be a tough series because Arizona knows it needs to ideally sweep the Rockies to keep its postseason hopes in check down the stretch of the season.
Moreover, the reason the Diamondbacks have a winning record is largely because of how good they have been at home. Arizona carries a 34-24 record in Chase Field, which will make it a tough environment.
Last up on the Rockies’ road trip are the San Francisco Giants, whose season is going nearly as badly as Colorado’s. The Giants ended up being big sellers at the MLB Trade Deadline, moving off players such as Luis Arraez, Heliot Ramos, Robbie Ray and Tyler Mahle.
San Francisco is 49-67, and the Rockies are 45-71. Therefore, both clubs are on near equal footing. After the Giants moved off Ray and Mahle, the Rockies can take advantage of their weakened starting rotation.
Hitting Potential
Colorado’s run differential of -109 is bad, but it is because of the runs its defense has allowed and not because of a lack of scoring.
Heading into Saturday’s game against St. Louis, the Rockies have scored 556 runs, which is more than multiple winning teams. Additionally, Colorado is top-10 in RBIs (seventh) and on-base percentage (eighth), and they are top-five in batting average (fourth), hits (fourth), slugging percentage (fourth) and OPS (fifth).
If the Rockies’ offense can consistently show up better than it did on Friday, then there is reason to believe they can come out of this road trip on the winning side.
