Rockies make a big jump in national outlet’s MLB power rankings
Jun 4, 2019, 2:59 PM | Updated: Jun 5, 2019, 6:48 am
On the heels of an eight-game winning streak, which helped the Rockies finish with a 9-1 record during their most-recent home stand, Colorado is starting to garner some national attention. A week ago, they were still an afterthought, hardly earning a mention when conversations about playoff contenders, buyers at the deadline and other baseball topics that burn up the airwaves in early June. That’s all changed.
Suddenly, the Rockies are a hot topic, heading into a six-game road trip that will see them play three in Chicago against the Cubs and three more in New York against the Mets. Colorado is back in the national narrative, which has been evident this week as various MLB power rankings have rolled out.
Today, Rotoworld was the latest to be bullish on the Rockies. The site unveiled their 1-30 list of all Major League Baseball teams, with the top portion being relatively unchanged. But there was one team that made a huge jump – Colorado.
Last week, the Rockies were in the bottom half of the league, sitting at No. 18. This time around, after being the biggest mover in the entire league, the Rockies leapt all the way into Rotoworld’s top 10. Here’s the site’s explanation for the move:
The Rockies have won a season-high eight straight games – all at home in Coors Field – and will now try to carry that momentum into a pair of three-game road series against the Cubs and Mets. Nolan Arenado got off to a relatively disappointing start this year, maybe due to added internal pressure after signing an eight-year, $260 million contract extension in late February, but he has posted an absurd .421/.472/.781 batting line with 10 home runs and 31 RBI in 28 games since the beginning of May. David Dahl has picked it up, too, with doubles in three straight games and a .331/.383/.528 slash line for the season. Colorado’s offense is beginning to explode in predictable fashion.
For Colorado to stay in the top 10, or perhaps even climb, they’ll need to continue to see that kind of production. Arenado and Dahl will have to stay hot, while the likes of Raimel Tapia and Ian Desmond will need to continue their offensive output of late, at least until Charlie Blackmon returns. But with Kyle Freeland having been demoted to triple-A Albuquerque, taking a Cy Young candidate from a season ago out of the Rockies rotation, it’ll be the offense that will have to carry Colorado in the short-term.
If that happens, moving up the rankings is certainly possible. But chasing down the team sitting atop the rankings, those dreaded Dodgers, remains an entirely different challenge.
