The Colorado Rockies 2026 season is officially in the books. They have officially lost 100 games (or more) for the fourth consecutive campaign. And they have officially finished in last place. Again.
Yet, oddly enough, the mood has palpably changed around Denver and the surrounding regions that support this team. There is, if I may dare to say so, a bit of hope.
A 15-game improvement might be harder to cheer about when it still amounts to 104 losses but there is plenty else headed in the right direction for this club. Changes in the front office have precipitated changes in philosophy and it’s easy to see several areas where they are moving the right direction. Of course, they still have a long way to go and a lot of question hanging over them as this new group heads into their first full offseason. Kinda.
Naturally, it remains to be seen how normal this offseason can be with a potential lockout still very much in play. Still, regardless of how the next CBA shakes out, there are some pressing matters to attend to. Having spent some time combing the internet for fan concerns and question, I have put together a list of some of the most frequently asked questions about where this team is headed.
What is the role of the Penner Group moving forward? Are they taking over majority ownership?
Until a few weeks ago I would have said no.
Now, I’m not going to take a Woody Paige report, reported by nobody else, as the gospel truth. He has connections in the Broncos world, and it’s likely somebody told him something. But it is worth noting that to this point, nobody else has confirmed or reported this information. There’s a lot to be determined with this new CBA and it seems odd that Walker Monfort would get sidelined right after getting the huge promotion. Most people in the press box have long believed the Rockies would remain forever a Monfort family business… but we will see.
The good news either way is that the cash flow is going to be much better and they will be able to spend on some free agents and general improvements. The other good news is that Walker is not Dick. He is his own person, and we’ve already seen the club pull a 180 on embracing analytics, for example.
The question of Rockies ownership has long been at the front of fans minds. And while I’m not yet convinced that the team is on the verge of being sold, or that such an event would automatically lead to a new glorious era, the investment of the Penners and the changing of the guard to the next generation is still incredibly encouraging.
What should be the team’s top offseason priority?
Hopefully, it’s with going full press on the pitching side.
They need to hire some pitching coaches with experience who also aren’t afraid of analytics. I’d like to see them make a slew of moves on the pitching side that resemble what they did on the position player side. Willi Castro, Jake McCarthy, Troy Johnston, and of course TJ Rumfield have all been good to great and were acquired for very little. They need to find that same sauce on the pitching side.
One or two high-quality starting pitchers on this team next year (yes, I believe there will be games next year) could get them close to .500. Especially if Chase Dollander comes back healthy and ready to continue his development. It can happen that fast. Look no further than what the Chicago White Sox have done.
Ok, so how do they get better at pitching?
That said, it’s easy to say the Rockies need to make huge improvements on the pitching side. But how? There have been lots of ideas over the years. Data suggests none have been particularly successful. For a while the idea was to get sinker guys to imitate Aaron Cook. Then it was velo/slider guys but not everyone is Jon Gray or German Marquez and even those guys flamed out after a while.
The hardest thing is that pitching successfully at altitude has a lot to do with your mentality. I’ve heard Pedro Astacio say the key to pitching at Coors is “forget about the last run, try to prevent the next one” because you will be scored on. But recruiting and scouting for mental toughness can be tricky. Then, there’s the flip side where even if you’ve got a super mentally tough person, when the stuff isn’t there (see Kyle Freeland lately) then you will struggle no matter how big of a bulldog you are.
The new front office came in open minded about this problem and perhaps that’s the best way to go about it. Because clearly we are all still in search of an answer.
They tried a trio of veterans this year. Michael Lorenzen was terrible. Jose Quintana got hurt. But Tomoyuki Sugano was arguably the best pitcher on the team. They cannot be deterred by failures. Learn from them and try to recreate the successes. Keep pushing forward.
Cole Carrigg (Rookie of the Month) has been maybe the most exciting addition to the team, but can he (or should he) reign in some of the antics?
The team loves his energy. Most of it, that is. He’s a big part of this team’s future, but yes, he has to calm down on some of the antics. Not all, mind you. They need his fire. The Rockies haven’t had a player like him in a very long time and they need one. But you’re gonna strike out sometimes. Throwing your bat after every one starts to grate on guys who have been here a long time. It’ll start to wear on him over the course of enough 162 game seasons, too.
On a previous version of this team, Charlie Blackmon would have taken him aside and given him a talk. It’s unclear where that veteran leadership comes from on this current roster. It may just happen for Carrigg naturally with a bit of maturity. He shouldn’t be flipping off fans or flipping his helmet after every disappointment.
But you also don’t want him to tone down the way he plays, the proverbial hair on fire. It’s a tough balancing act but one that could be key to the Colorado Rockies future. He’s that talented.
How can you possibly sell fans on watching this team when they still lose so often?
In a word? Offense. As this season (and plenty other Rockies seasons) prove, you can’t win on that alone but it is at least way more fun and interesting to watch than the terrible lineups we’ve seen the last few years.
There’s a lot to like up and down the lineup moving forward and they have a lot of flexibility built into what they’ve already put together.
McCarthy and Carrigg paired with Zac Veen and Mickey Moniak in the outfield gives them four athletic outfielders all with intriguing future potential. Three of those four are lefties which leaves the door open for a righty acquisition or perhaps prospect Charlie Condon to step into the mix. Moniak is the only one making much money and even that is a relatively low-level $8 million AAV deal. So they’ve got a lot of talent and options in the outfield and are spending very little on it.
On the infield Kyle Karros and TJ Rumfield were the best stories of the season for the club. Sadly, over at shortstop, Ezequiel Tovar may have been the worst. He remains a tremendous defender but was one of the worst hitters in MLB for most of 2026. He ended the season on a high note and is still just 25 years old. I wouldn’t give up on him just yet.
Meanwhile at second, the Rockies went from having seemingly no great candidates to somehow too many. Offseason acquisitions Eduord Julien and Willi Castro spent most of the first part of the season manning the spot. But the most interesting players here emerged in just the last month or two. Trade-deadline acquisition Connor Norby put up a 121 OPS+ in 40 games and Adael Amador added a 119 in 27 games, essentially creating a Spring Training 2027 battle out of thin air. So to speak.
What will it take to bring back the fans and stop seeing so many empty seats at Coors Field?
At this point winning is the only thing that’s going to get it done. And in order to win, you have to pitch.
Since at least and probably before the Nolan Arenado trade, fan apathy was growing exponentially around the Rockies. Solid stretches of play, a potentially exciting debut, a big star on the opposing team coming to town. These things don’t move the needle the way they used to. I also think they’ve pretty much maxed out how many fans they can get in the door with Star Wars nights and fireworks.
They just have to play better baseball. Luckily, 2007-2009 and 2017-2019 show that even after brutal seasons, if they start to compete, the fans will come back.