A trap series?
The Rockies sit with a record of 17-58. That’s on pace for a mark of 37-125, and is the worst mark through 75 games since the 1932 Boston Red Sox, who started off the year 16-59. Though they actually rebounded a bit, and finished the year with a record of 43-111. Hopefully, Colorado won’t do the same, at least not through the weekend. Since we last saw them, Arizona squeaking out a 1-0 win in the rubber game, they have improved a bit. They have gone an almost respectable 9-20, winning their first series of the season with a three-game sweep of Miami, and are coming off a series against the Nationals where they took three of four, and only dropping the finale in 11 innings.
New manager Warren Schaeffer has a record of 10-25, which is an improvement over Bud Black’s 7-33 before he got canned. Though weirdly for Colorado, so far they have a better record on the road (10-31) than at Coors (7-27). Usually, the Rockies are much tougher in their home park: witness last year, where their win percentage was a full 161 points better in Denver. That wasn’t an aberration: it was higher still, 185 points, in 2023. Again, I hope the unexpected struggles at home at something which is sustained through the weekend. The D-backs certainly want to win the series, and ideally get the sweep, taking advantage of a rare soft section of their schedule to close the gap in the wild-card race.
Zac Gallen starts for the D-backs, and he struggled against them at Chase Field, allowing six runs over five innings, He still actually left the game in line for the win, Arizona being 11-6 up at that point. But one of those bullpen games allowed Colorado to score eight unanswered runs and snatch victory 14-11. Much better from the pitching staff will be needed tonight, though of course, it IS Coors Field, where ERAs go to die. As usual, it has been the worst park for pitching in the majors, with a collective ERA there of 5.19 (weirdly, only fractionally above Dodger Stadium at 5.16 – Chase comes fourth, at 4.82). So as usual, it will be a case of no lead being safe until the 27th out has been recorded.