Clough: Losing streak likely cost Rockies shot at winning NL West
Nolan Arenado #28 of the Colorado Rockies reacts after striking out against the San Francisco Giants in the top of the seventh inning at AT&T Park on June 28, 2017 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images Sport/Getty Images)
(Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images Sport/Getty Images)
On June 20, after third baseman Nolan Arenado knocked in the game-winner in back-to-back games, the Colorado Rockies stood atop not only the NL West standings but also the entire National League.
With a record of 47-26, the Rockies trailed only the Houston Astros for the best record in baseball, had a half-game lead on the Los Angeles Dodgers, and a nine-game lead on Chicago Cubs, the first-team out of the wild card race.
Colorado had avoided the “June swoon,” or at least up until that point.
Since June 20, the Rockies lost eight-straight — to divisional foes Arizona, Los Angeles, and San Francisco — and 10 of their last 11 games, a rough road trip that may have cost Colorado a chance at its first NL West title.
“The bad stretches, the valleys, flatten them out as much as possible. You don’t necessarily have to go on a series of 10-game winning streaks to be a successful team,” 104.3 The Fan’s Sandy Clough said on Thursday.
“But as we have found over the last few years, the Rockies have had streaks like this just about every year — seven of the last 10 — and usually they haven’t had any kind of cushion and it’s ended the season.”
In the slide, Colorado dropped three spots in the National League standings, four in all of baseball, and now sit looking up from the second wild card position at the Diamondbacks, who lead the Rockies by 4 ½ games.
“This year, the problem is that it’s ended the Rockies chances, slim as they might have been anyway, of winning the National League West in 2017,” Clough said.
However, not all has been lost. Colorado still has a comfortable six-game lead over the Chicago Cubs in the wild card with a chance to extend that gap, and perhaps close the gap on the Dodgers and Diamondbacks, with a seven-game homestand starting Monday.
The 35-46 Cincinnati Reds and 36-45 Chicago White Sox head into Denver, which could spark the Rockies heading into the All-Star break next week.
Follow digital content producer Johnny Hart on Twitter: @JohnnyHart7.
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