It's Rocktober Again: Colorado Rockies Clinch Playoff Berth

The National League playoff field is set.

With today’s 9-2 beatdown of the Milwaukee Brewers, the Colorado Rockies clinched their second playoff berth in three years. St. Louis Cardinals, Philadelphia Phillies, Los Angeles Dodgers, and now the Rockies will represent the National League in the 2009 postseason.

It’s been a crazy year for the Rockies, trading arguably their best player, Matt Holliday, in the offseason, and lost arguably their best pitcher in Jeff Francis to a shoulder injury.

Those losses, coupled with an 18-28 start to the season left many, including myself, to believe 2009 would be a lost cause for Colorado. Ah, but the baseball season is long.

The Rockies fired manager Clint Hurdle and replaced him with Jim Tracy. The hiring of Tracy is just one of the reasons for the Rockies resurgence, but they haven't looked back.

Here are some other reasons for the Rockies turnaround...

• The return of “Tulo”: 2008 was a miserable year for Troy Tulowitzki, but the heart and soul of the Rockies has responded with an MVP performance in 2009. Tulowitzki has put up a .299/31/90 hitting line with a .380 OBP and a .933 OPS. And of course, Tulowitzki has played his usual stellar defense at short.
• The health of their starting rotation: Jorge De La Rosa, Ubaldo Jimenez, Jason Marquis, and Jason Hammel all made over thirty starts for the Rockies in 2009. Aaron Cook was the only pitcher not to make 30 starts. He made 27. Impressive.
• Huston Street: Street was a throw-in in the Matt Holliday trade and he has saved 34 games in 2009, stabilizing the bullpen for the Rockies.

The Rockies go into the 2009 postseason with as good a chance as anyone to represent the National League. They look the most complete team in the NL. Is there a weakness on this team?

While the Rockies have clinched the Wild Card, they could still win the division. The Rockies are two games behind the Dodgers and play the Dodgers for three games in LA.

If the Rockies sweep, then they are division champs and could possibly have the best record in the NL. Oh the humanity.

It’s been a great season for the Rockies. It’s shaping up to be Rocktober in Colorado yet again.

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