The Rockies wear purple. That’s cool I guess.
Would you like to learn about the Colorado Rockies? No? What do you mean the Rockies are the baseball team you think about least of all other baseball teams? But they have that cool dinosaur mascot! His name is Dinger.
The Rockies are in last place in the NL West with a record of 50-85. They have been eliminated from their division race and are 23.5 games out of the wild card with 27 games to play. The Orioles travel to play them in Denver, their first trip to the city since 2019.
This team’s pitching is really, really bad. Their team ERA is 5.50 which is last in the majors. Starter ERA? Dead last. Relief pitcher ERA? Also dead last! K/9 is 29th. BB/9, 26th. Left on base %: 30th. They’ve given up 180 home runs, which is 29th. I think you get the idea.
Their offense is also not great but capable of holding its own on occasion. They average 4.27 runs per game, which is slightly below league average. They’re solidly middle of the pack in OBP (.306), SLG (.400), and wOBA (.306). But as a team they are bad at taking a walk (7.6%) and bad at not striking out (26.2%). The Orioles have been similarly bad at taking walks, but they strike out less (21.7%)
The Rockies have played considerably better at home this year with a 31-35 record. On the road they are a more White Sox-ian 19-50.
The Orioles, quite frankly, should beat the stuffing out of the Rockies this weekend. If you’re going to be a playoff team, a team with one of the best records in baseball, the Rockies should be no obstacle. But the Orioles have been struggling even with their overall good record, so I take nothing for granted.
Game 1: Friday, August 30th, 8:40 pm EDT – MASN2
RHP Albert Suárez (102 IP, 3.18 ERA, 81 K / 35 BB) vs LHP Austin Gomber (138 IP, 4.70 ERA, 98 K / 35 BB)
Team ace Albert Suárez is coming off of a two-run, 5.2 inning start against the Astros, and he is looking to put together one more fine start in August. So far this month he has made four starts with a 0.77 ERA and has stepped up in a major way amid all of the starter injuries.
Austin Gomber is pitching in his fourth season with the Rockies and none of them have been very good. He has a 5.08 ERA in 108 games with Colorado. This year he leads the NL in home runs allowed with 26. It doesn’t really seem fair to single out Rockies’ pitchers for giving up home runs, but that’s a lot of homers.
Game 2: Saturday, August 31st, 8:10 pm EDT – MASN2
RHP Dean Kremer (102.1 IP, 4.32 ERA, 96 K / 43 BB) vs RHP Ryan Feltner (127.1 IP, 4.95 ERA, 109 K / 41 BB)
Ryan Feltner, who I have definitely heard of before writing this series preview, is in his fourth season with the Rockies at age 27. Feltner has been especially bad at home this year where batters are hitting .320/.363/. 475 against him. He also is especially bad against lefties (.295/.351/.480) so expect to see them all in the lineup against him.
As for Dean Kremer, he’s been solid but unspectacular lately. That’s really all you can hope for from Dean. He’s started August with two very bad starts but has been solid in the last three. In theory, a quality-type start should be more than enough with a guy like Feltner starting for the other team. But we all know things aren’t that easy for the Orioles lately.
Game 3: Sunday, September 1st, 3:10 pm EDT – MASN2
TBD vs Cal Quantrill (138 IP, 4.63 ERA, 103 K / 57 BB)
You may remember Cal Quantrill, son of Paul, from his time with Cleveland. He was good for them in 2021 and 2022 then struggled with shoulder inflammation in a disappointing 2023 season. The Rockies traded for him in November 2023. While his teammate Austin Gomber leads the NL in homers allowed, Quantrill has that distinction with walks. Since July 1st, Quantrill has a 6.43 ERA in nine starts.
The Orioles have two options for Sunday. Cole Irvin will be on regular rest. After being DFA’d mere weeks ago, Irvin found his way back to the rotation after Zach Eflin went to the injured list. Irvin posted two starts since his call-up of 4.1 innings with two runs allowed. It’s not exciting but it was as much as we could realistically hope for.
The other option is Eflin. He’s eligible to return on Sunday and it appears he will be ready and the team doesn’t feel he needs a rehab start.