If you want to take a glass-half-full approach with the long-struggling Rockies, they won 15 more games in 2026 than they did last year. If you want to take a glass-half-empty approach, they went 6-18 in September and clinched the majors’ worst record (58-104) for the second straight season. Colorado has lost triple-digit games four years in a row, and the team hasn’t come close to going .500 or better since a 91-72 effort in 2018. The Rockies’ ace that year was left-hander Kyle Freeland, who overcame hitter-friendly Coors Field to finish fourth in National League Cy Young voting.
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While Freeland is still a Rockie to this day, he has not approached the success he had eight years ago. He was good for 202 1/3 innings of 2.85 ERA ball then, but the soft-tossing 33-year-old just wrapped up a season in which he posted a 6.65 ERA in 135 1/3 frames. Freeland was a major part of a staff that ranked last in the sport in ERA (5.59), and the Rockies’ run prevention issues weren’t limited to Coors Field. They had a better road ERA (5.35; it was 5.83 at home), but they still came in second to last in that category.
Meanwhile, although the Rockies’ offense tied for last in the league in wRC+ (91), only six teams scored more runs. It’s clear pitching was the main culprit for yet another rough season. President of baseball operations Paul DePodesta acknowledged as much at his end-of-season press conference on Tuesday, as Kyle Newman of the Denver Post relays.
“Our starting pitching, after the trading deadline, had (about) a 7.00 ERA,” DePodesta said. “And for the year as a whole, our run differential was worse in innings one and two than innings three and beyond combined. There were way too many games where we just got into a hole within the first two innings.”
The Rockies didn’t trade any starters away at the Aug. 3 deadline, instead shipping out relievers Antonio Senzatela, Victor Vodnik and Seth Halvorsen in separate deals. Freeland, Tomoyuki Sugano, Michael Lorenzen and Ryan Feltner each made at least 22 starts, but their ERAs ranged from 5.37 (Sugano) to 7.08 (Lorenzen). The Rockies released Lorenzen in late August. After taking over the Rockies’ front office last winter, DePodesta and general manager Josh Byrnes signed off on one-year pacts for Sugano ($5.1MM), Lorenzen ($8MM) and Jose Quintana ($6MM). The Rockies only got 11 starts of 5.44 ERA pitching from Quintana, who missed about four months with a sprained elbow.
Freeland, Sugano and Quintana are due to reach free agency again this offseason, leaving the Rockies even thinner in their rotation. It doesn’t help that they will go some portion of 2027 without prized righty Chase Dollander, who underwent internal brace surgery in late June. It’s especially unfortunate after the flamethrowing 24-year-old managed a 3.89 ERA (with similar peripherals) and averaged 98.6 mph on his fastball over 44 innings this season.
The Rockies won’t have Dollander when next season opens, but Ryan Feltner, Tanner Gordon, Gabriel Hughes, Mason Adams, McCade Brown and Pierson Ohl are among those who could compete for spots. As was the case last offseason, DePodesta and Byrnes will probably have to go bargain shopping to supplement the group.
On the potential of adding pitching in free agency, DePodesta said (via Newman): “We want (to sign) a somewhat self-selecting group of (pitchers) who want to take on this challenge. If you’re trying to convince people to do this, it’s probably not going to work out really well for them or for us. We want people who are going to be running toward the challenge.”
To their credit, Sugano, Lorenzen and Quintana were willing to go “running toward the challenge” of pitching in Colorado when they signed last winter. It didn’t work out in any of those instances, though, and the Rockies are left to aim for better results this offseason.
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