Strike One: How can an MLB team that’s hoping to make the play-offs get off to a nifty 6-2 start and still have things come crashing down at the same time?
For the Colorado Rockies, the answer comes in one word: Closer. As in…they don’t have one.
It’s been a strange start to the abbreviated season for Colorado. A whole lot of things have gone right. They’ve avoided (so far) the COVID-19 plague that has damaged other National League play-off contenders, their starting pitching through the first eight games has been nothing short of outstanding, All-Star shortstop Trevor Story is on fire, Nolan has been golden Nolan and the bullpen – with a couple of exceptions – has been stellar.
Ah, but that one big exception. Wade Davis, the highly paid three-time All-star World Series champ and 2018 NL saves leader, hasn’t been very good. He does have two saves, one of the Indiana Jones variety, and once protecting a three-run lead. But he imploded and blew the save and the game in the club’s first outing at Coors Field. That game was two homers ugly. The next day he landed on the injured list.
Davis’ struggles are a continuation of last season, when he posted an ERA of almost 11.00 at home. There are many of us who called for him to be traded during the off season, citing his relative success away from Coors. His track record could have made him a viable option for some other team. Not many wanted to see him back on the mound at 20th and Blake with the game on the line. But we did.
Davis’ replacement during down periods last season was Scott Oberg, who should have been an NL All-Star last season before an injury knocked him out for the year. Plagued by the home run ball early in his big league career, Oberg turned a corner late in 2018. He was the winning pitcher in the Wild Card game, striking out all four Chicago Cubs he faced that night. In 2019, he went 6-1 with a 2.25 ERA with five saves, striking out more than a batter per inning. But in mid-August, blood clots in his pitching arm ended his season.
Hopes were high for Oberg in 2020, but he never made it to the field. A recurrence of the blood clotting issue ended his season before it got started. Now, his big league future is very much in doubt.
So where does this leave Colorado?
The Rockies spent big money on the bullpen in recent years. They signed free agent Greg Holland in 2017 (he bolted after one season) and Davis in 2018. They also signed stalwarts Jake McGee and Brian Shaw to fortify their late game options as well. Holland was good for one season, so was Davis. McGee and Shaw were pretty much busts who have since been released.
The big spending? Probably not the best idea after all.
So where do the Rockies turn? Remember, Managers LOVE guys who have “been there, done that.” That’s why Bud Black has stuck with Davis for so long, and why it took awhile for the Rockies brass to give newcomer Oberg a shot at the job. There really is no substitute for that kind of experience. Does anyone else on the current roster have that kind of experience, or “the right stuff” for the gig?
Jairo Diaz (five saves a year ago) Carlos Estevez (11 saves in 2016, but zero since) and Yency Almonte (0) will get late inning action. Perhaps Daniel Bard, who has made a successful return to the big leagues after a seven-year absence, will get a shot? He had 10 saves for the Red Sox in 2010. Tyler Kinley has pitched pretty well in his three outings. He’s been around but has just one Major League save. The same day Davis got put on the injured list, Diaz got a save in the series clinching win over San Diego.
So for 2020, the solution must lie somewhere among that group. No one is likely to take pity on the Rockies and trade them a bonafide closer this year. For this season – and hopefully for future seasons – they’ll have to grow one of their own.
Strike Two: Every day, another domino falls. First, they cancel almost all of the non-conference college football games scheduled for the 2020 season. For the Colorado State Rams, that means they don’t’ get to play games against Power Five opponents Colorado, Oregon State and Vanderbilt. Then a couple smaller leagues cancel their entire seasons. Then comes the news that SEC and Pac 12 players are concerned about playing conditions (and other stuff) and might opt out for the season – whatever’s left of it.
What all this means is that there’s no way any sort of legitimate college football season can be played in 2020. They should just pull the plug right now and start looking at an alternate plan. Sure, there’s a lot of money at stake, and sure, fans want to see some football. But is trying to force play – even if it amounts to force feeding a shell of a season – the right thing to do?
No, it’s not.
Because if any of the schools/leagues do find a way to play any games, but others don’t, and some teams play tougher games while some play only cupcakes, how can we look at the scoreboard and see real tangible and fair results? How can anyone call themselves the true champions of anything under these circumstances?
As fans, we just have to acknowledge that the pandemic has ruined this sports year, period. The NBA and NHL will finish seasons that were nearing the finish line before the shutdown, and they’ll crown champions…who will still have an asterisk next to their name forever. Whomever wins the World Series will not have really won a true MLB championship – assuming Major League Baseball gets to finish its shortened season, which is far from a given at this point. Perhaps the NFL will pull it off, but with more and more players opting out each day, it’s hard to imagine anyone looking at the 2020 NFL season as anything close to legitimate when it’s all said and done.
Those of us who love college football are normally chomping at the bit for the season to arrive this time of year. But not this time. Not with teams like CSU getting the shaft and not being allowed to play a full season. Not with players opting out, and not with every league having a different set of rules. Don’t we want every college football season to look something like a real actual college football season?
And if they still try to play a CFB Play-off at the end of a fake season and try to label it as anything close to the same as previous years, it’ll be making a mockery of the whole play-off system. They’ll be devaluing what previous title teams have accomplished merely by equating them.
It’s far better not to play at all than to play some sort of half-assed fake season.
Stay tuned. There are sure to be more damaging developments soon that will put an end to all this anyway.
Strike Three: What was the most historic thing you’ve got to witness live at a sporting event? A Broncos Super Bowl? I’ve been to one of those (a loss.) The Rockies historic play-in game win over the Padres in 2007? Or a NL Play-off or World Series game that year? (The only game I saw in person was Game four of the Series…when the Red Sox clinched the sweep. Ugg.)
Perhaps you were at “The Fumble” game in January of 1988, when the Broncos defense secured a play-off win over Cleveland and another (ill-fated) trip to the Super Bowl? (Ya, I was there.) Perhaps you were at the 1976 ABA All-Star game that featured the first ever “Slam Dunk” Contest, won by Dr. J? Yes, I was at McNichols Arena that day, too. Perhaps – unlike me – you were one of the lucky folks to be in Pepsi Center when the Colorado Avalanche bested the New Jersey Devils in June of 2001 to win the franchise’s second Stanley Cup.
These are the kinds of sports memories that we hold on to for a lifetime. As great as it is watching from the stands, it’s even better seeing it from field level.
Those of us who are able to reach the highest level of our sport are truly fortunate, and not just because we get to play. We’re blessed in many other ways, with good health, ample opportunity and a lot of wonderful breaks. I had all of those and then some. And I got even luckier – I got to be around outstanding teammates who produced remarkable and historical moments that I was able to witness and remember forever.
My first week in the Major Leagues I was in the Astrodome dugout in July of 1985 when the great Nolan Ryan whiffed the Mets Danny Heep to become the first MLB pitcher ever to reach 4,000 strikeouts. Goosebumps. After I got traded to Milwaukee, I was a member of the Brewers when future Hall of Famer Paul Molitor put together a 39-game hitting streak in 1987, and I was in the dugout in July of 1989 when another future Hall of Famer, Robin Yount, recorded his 2,500th hit at Yankee Stadium on his way to Cooperstown.
Recently, we passed the 30th anniversary of Ryan’s 300th win. It was July 31, 1990 when the Texas Rangers came to play us in Milwaukee, with Nolan slated to start that night in his quest for the magical 300. I wasn’t supposed to pitch the game, having started and pitched seven innings two days earlier in Chicago. But when one of our relievers couldn’t go that night, I was pressed into middle relief duty.
I faced two batters, both of whom bunted and reached base safely. Both would score after I left the game. The Rangers beat us 11-3 and Nolan’s place in baseball history became even more secure. (He’d go on to win 24 more games.) I still have an unused ticket stub and an ESPN “Baseball Tonight” banner from that night.
Being involved in a historic moment, even as a bit player on the losing team, holds special memories, too. But what I’ll always remember about those events are the men involved. These Hall of Fame players didn’t play the game for a paycheck or for individual accolades. They played to win, period. Everything else took care of itself. For Nolan Ryan, that W meant a lot more than those K’s. I kinda miss those days.