Why are the Colorado Rockies So Poor on the Road?
While any hopes the Colorado Rockies may have of progressing beyond the NL West in 2021 are now slim to none, there are some positives for Greg Feasel to take away from the experience.
Jeff Bridich may have fallen on his sword following the Rox’s slow start to the campaign, but the franchise can reflect on a decent return from Coors Field matches. At the time of writing, those have yielded 16 wins which is the same number as the LA Dodgers.
Unfortunately, those have been matched by 12 defeats too, and that’s before we even factor in the Rockies’ hopeless form on the road.
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Again, at the time of writing, the Rox have a 2-17 record on their travels – that is six fewer away day wins than any other team in the MLB. Consequently, Colorado has been given next to no chance of reaching the postseason, let alone contesting the World Series game. Indeed, their MLB odds on bet365 of +50000 to lift the trophy are indicative of their chances which are pretty much zero.
So, what has been the source of the Rockies’ away day blues?
Pitch (Im)perfect
The foundation for success in baseball is found on the pitching mound, and it’s here where the most damaging of the Rockies’ failings have been revealed.
Jon Gray has an ERA of just 3.59, which puts him in rank as just the 34th best pitcher in the MLB this season. This means that even second-string pitchers at other franchises have performed to a better standard.
In a twist that sums up the Rox’s season thus far, four of their pitching corps – Gray, Austin Gomber, German Marquez, and Antonio Senzatela – all rank inside the top 20 for runs allowed. These are the kinds of converging stats that, shorn of home comforts, are where a team can really unravel.
Born to Run
In their 28 matches at Coors Field, the Rockies have scored 166 runs. In their 19 matches away from Coors Field, the Rockies have scored 53 runs. You don’t need to have the detective skills of Magnum P.I. to realize that the Rox simply aren’t doing enough on their travels with a bat in hand.
They have been completely shutout in seven of those games and only scored five or more runs in four. With such batting woes, abetted by that pitching horror show outlined above, how can the Rockies expect to kick on?
The X Factor
Fire up the MLB website, head to the stats section, and filter the Hitting list by on-base percentage.
What do you see? Well, what you don’t see is a Colorado Rockies player featuring. In fact, you have to scroll down to page three of the charts to find Raimel Tapia ranked in 61st and Charlie Blackmon in 63rd.
Of course, there are many different variables that define batting excellence, but pick any data metric you like and the upper echelons are almost devoid of any Rockies presence. In the home run category, for example, Ryan McMahon is the only Rox player to feature inside the top 90 in the MLB.
In short, the franchise lacks the necessary X Factor in their batting department to really challenge the big guns of the MLB. That, combined with the other two factors described here, explains why Colorado is struggling so badly on the road.
