As the calendar turns to September, every Major League Baseball team deals with fatigue. Pitchers are pushing past their workload caps, arms are heavy, and the grueling 162-game slate takes its toll. But in Colorado, the September decline is hitting differently.
There isn’t just one simple thing to point the finger at for the team’s struggles over the last few weeks. Hitting has cratered in the clutch, and the defense hasn’t been up to standard. One of the constant question marks for the Rockies has been the approach to pitching this season. It’s still a mystery to understand exactly what they are trying to build on the mound, but the performance has been inconsistent at best throughout the season.
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Rockies’ pitching has run into a proverbial brick wall of late and has been a significant factor as to why 100 losses have become an unescapable reality. Over the past few weeks, the pitching staff hasn’t just shown signs of fatigue—the bottom has completely fallen out. What was already a thin, heavily-taxed unit has cratered down the stretch, turning late-season games into painful endurance tests for the bullpen and starting rotation alike.
The Rockies, unsurprisingly, have the highest team ERA in the league this season at 5.59, just ahead of the Athletics, who play in a Triple-A ballpark and spent a horrid week in Las Vegas early in the season. The team has a 6.13 ERA from the starting pitchers, worst in baseball, while the bullpen has been solid for most of the season, albeit with an inflated 4.97 ERA, which is the fourth-highest in the league.
As the season winds down, let’s take a look at where things stand and why the Rockies are struggling so badly on the mound.
The starters
Let’s start with the starting rotation.
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The rotation has been a struggle for the Rockies all season between injuries and lackluster performances. After a promising start to the year with a 4.60 ERA in April, the Rockies haven’t posted a rotation ERA under five since, including four months with an ERA over six.
September has been brutal, to the tune of a 6.47 ERA, which is the third-highest in baseball. There isn’t anything new as to why the rotation is struggling. They have allowed the sixth-most runs (43) on the third-most hits (71) while ranking 18th in strikeouts (51). They have also thrown the 10th-fewest innings (57.0).
Pitches fill up the strike zone, but the Rockies are generally in the middle of the pack when it comes to contact rates. It’s often death by a thousand cuts as the team deals with an abundance of traffic, foul balls, and elevated pitch counts.
The first time through the order, the Rockies’ rotation has a 5.56 ERA in September. Digging down further, the Rockies have a 3.75 ERA in the first inning that inflates to a 10.50 ERA in the second inning and a 9.00 ERA in the third. Despite an excellent ERA in the fourth, the team struggles in the fifth inning as well.
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Rockies starter constantly laboring through four or five innings while digging a hole the team has a hard time getting out of isn’t a recipe for success. Two solid innings mean nothing when the surrounding ones are so catastrophic. Opposing teams are slashing .305/.355/.502 against the rotation in September and have faced just 256 total batters, one of the lower totals across the league. That would be a positive number by itself it wasn’t coupled with the other stats.
Aside from Mason Adams, the Rockies rotation hasn’t had much to celebrate this month and has to be one of the major points of focus in the offseason, heading into 2027.
The bullpen
Throughout the season, the bullpen has been one of the strong points for the Rockies. Tasked with taking on a heavy workload because of the failings of the rotation, they have thrown 609 total innings, the sixth-most in baseball.
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They haven’t been without their bumps in the road; May and June were rough as the bullpen had an ERA over six those two months, but they have otherwise been solid overall.
Well, until September happened.
September has been the worst month for the bullpen by far.
Holding a 7.66 ERA, the Rockies’ arm barn trails only a historically bad Washington Nationals bullpen this month. They have thrown just 47 innings this month, good for 17th in the league, while allowing the most runs (42).
The inability to prevent runs has been most detrimental for the Rockies as a whole. It seems at time that the starting pitchers and offense at least keep the game close, or even work with a lead, only to see the bullpen immediately give things away.
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In Detroit, Adams had a strong start through five innings, leaving the game with a 1-1 tie. The Rockies bullpen proceeded to give up four runs in the sixth inning and the team went on to lose 6-2. On Monday, the Rockies battled back and forth with the San Diego Padres, but ultimately fell 8-7 after the bullpen gave up runs in the seventh and eighth to put the game just out of reach 8-7.
A major issue for the pen has been the surge in walks as the Rockies have issued 30, third-most in baseball. Meanwhile, they have 41 strikeouts and opponents are .278/.378/.492 with eight home runs and 12 doubles. The abundance of traffic given up by the bullpen has led to devastating mistakes that have put too many games out of reach. The bleeding hasn’t been stopped, or they simply open up the wound.
Perhaps fatigue could be the reason for the bullpen’s struggles. Perhaps it could be overexposure. Perhaps it could be a lack of talent. Or perhaps, it’s all of the above. Either way, the way the bullpen has fallen flat in the final month of the season has been a major disappointment after everything they had accomplished this season.
Going forward
I hope that the new pitching minds at 20th and Blake have learned some valuable lessons this season about pitching in Colorado. It’s definitely frustrating to see everything collapse at once down the final stretch, but good teams have to be able to compete for all 162 games. There is plenty of talent and potential along with promising developments, but the Rockies have to find a way to win in the margins of pitching and take the next step forward to being a competent and competitive team.
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September has proven the team still has a long way to go in that department.
On the Farm
Triple-A: Salt Lake Bees 7, Albuquerque Isotopes 5 (F/10)
The Albuquerque Isotopes took an early 4-1 lead in the second inning, but ended up falling 7-5 in extra-innings of the opener of their final series of the year. Edouard Julien hit a two-run double in the bottom of the second inning, followed by a two-run home run by Chad Stevens to take the lead. However, the offense couldn’t add on until Charlie Condon contributed an RBI single in the seventh inning. Unfortunately, due to costly errors, Parker Mushinski ended up giving up four runs on the top of the eighth to tie the game 5-5. Evan Shawver eventually took over the 10th inning, giving up a double and a triple to put the Bees up by two. The Isotopes threatened in the bottom half of the inning, but couldn’t score any more runs.
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Double-A: Reading Fightin Phils 21, Hartford Yard Goats 4
It was a forgettable night for the Hartford Yard Goats as they kicked off their playoff series with a devastating 21-4 loss. Connor Staine made the start and threw a scoreless first inning, and the Yard Goats then took a 3-0 lead in the top of the second. Unfortunately, things went downhill after that; Staine gave up six runs on six hits without recording an out in the second inning.
He was replaced by Bryson Hammer, who recorded two outs but gave up another six runs on three hits with three walks. Fisher Jameson then tossed 2.1 innings, but allowed another four runs on six hits. After a few scoreless outings from other relievers, Nathan Blasick was tagged for another five runs, three earned, in the seventh inning. The pitching staff gave up 16 hits while walking 12 and striking out six. Oddly enough, they only gave up one home run.
Offensively, Cole Messina led the way with two hits, but Braylen Wimmer’s double was the only extra-base hit. The Yard Goats drew seven walks against 10 strikeouts, but went 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position.
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This week, Evan Lang and I discuss the struggles of the Rockies’ offense and defense over the last week. We then talk about the excellent play of Adael Amador since his call-up.
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