July was scorching, and so were the Colorado Rockies.
After their comeback win last night, in which the offense came alive late, the Rockies finished July at 17-6, a .739 winning percentage, which was the second-best month in their 25-year history.
The #Rockies just finished July with the best winning % EVER in the month of July, 2nd best % of any month in the history of the franchise.
— Taylor McGregor (@Taylor_McGregor) August 1, 2018
It was second-best only to June of 2009, when the Rockies went a magical 21-7 (.750) and they finished with a franchise-best 92 victories. Besides last year’s wild card appearance, 2009 was the last time Colorado went to the postseason, too.
Of course, that year also included that late-season charge, going 18-9 in the month of September, and this year is shaping up similarly in that Colorado will need to make a run if they want to be back in the postseason.
The Rockies now sit at 58-48, only 0.5 games behind the Arizona Diamondbacks and tied with the L.A. Dodgers in second of the NL West. Of course, both Arizona and L.A. made moves at yesterday’s trade deadline, while Colorado stayed put.
Not only that, but the Rockies are currently in the midst of a hellish 23 games in 24 nights against winning teams.
Colorado has to find a way to take care of business over the last two months of the season, and either win the NL West for the first time in their history, or hope to make the wild card once again.
As of today, Aug. 1, the Rockies, Dodgers and Braves are all tied 3.0 games back of the Milwaukee Brewers (63-47) in the wild card race.
What can Colorado do to make the postseason? They’ve got to stay hot at the plate, play solid defense and pitch well in basically every game. It sounds simple — be great in every phase of the game — but it’s much more difficult to do consistently than it seems.
At the plate, the Rockies have been rocking the ball. Charlie Blackmon and Ian Desmond are tied for second-most road home runs in the MLB with 14 each, so, forget about Coors Field for a second.
In the field, Nolan Arenado is a constant wonder, Trevor Story is sensational and Carlos Gonzalez has been diving and sliding for pop-flies seemingly every night.
And starting pitching, as of late, has been phenomenal for the Rockies, a team who has historically struggled from the bump. Now, hopefully the bullpen can continue to pitch well, too.
Next up, the Rockies face the St. Louis Cardinals in Game 3 of the four-game series tonight, with first pitch scheduled for 6:15 p.m. MST.