The Rockies spent the final day of their 2026 home schedule staring straight at the same problem that has defined so much of the season: starting pitching that just hasn’t held up.
Tanner Gordon lasted barely long enough to record 10 outs in Thursday’s 12-8 loss to the Diamondbacks at Coors Field, and the damage was brutal - 10 runs and 12 hits allowed. Colorado’s bats tried to turn it into something livelier, with home runs from Kyle Karros, Cole Carrigg and Zac Veen, but the game was already tilted hard by the sixth inning, when the Rockies trailed 12-1.
Gordon didn’t hide from it afterward.
“I was struggling with location, then when I was in the zone I was giving [up] too much [over the] heart of the plate -- just unacceptable,” Gordon said.
That outing fit too neatly into the larger story of a rotation that has been the Rockies’ biggest failure in a season that has now reached 102 losses. Colorado has shown some real offensive growth, and the club’s run differential has improved from last year’s minus-424 overall and minus-211 at home to minus-188 overall and minus-98 at home. But those numbers only go so far when the team is still sitting in triple digits in losses for the fourth straight season.
The Rockies did put together a 17-hit game Thursday, and Kyle Karros pointed to the bigger-picture progress on offense.
“An important thing to note is you can’t win games without being in games, and we took a massive step forward in that direction this season,” said Karros, whose homer was his 13th of his first full season.
Still, the late-season collapse has been too tied to starting pitching to ignore. Colorado went 7-28 in this stretch, and that run has been driven largely by a rotation that simply hasn’t given the club a chance often enough.
That puts the spotlight squarely on president of baseball operations Paul DePodesta and general manager Josh Byrnes, who have spent their first year on the job evaluating every corner of the roster. The Rockies are expected to attack the starter market this offseason, both in free agency and via trade.
The need is obvious. The path is not.
Trades require a willing partner. Bigger-name, mid-career starters often have little interest in Denver’s altitude. There are no easy fixes waiting around the corner.
Manager Warren Schaeffer has seen enough flashes, though, to believe some of the younger arms can still be part of the answer. Mason Adams, acquired from the White Sox at the Deadline, has stood out in several of his six starts, going 0-2 with a 4.03 ERA. Gabriel Hughes and Gordon have both shown stretches of usefulness, too.
Schaeffer is also willing to keep experimenting. Right-hander Ryan Feltner, who had uneven results as a starter, has posted a 0.75 ERA in 12 innings over three games in a piggyback role, where he follows another starter.
The Rockies also tried to stabilize things by signing Michael Lorenzen, Jose Quintana and Tomoyuki Sugano to join Kyle Freeland in what was supposed to be a veteran rotation. It didn’t really come together.
“We brought in Michael Lorenzen for all the right reasons -- a veteran pitcher that’s strong, that can withstand a season specifically at altitude with his body, with six pitches as Paul was talking about for a long time,” Schaeffer said. “It just didn’t work out well. It’s based on the individual.
“[Quintana] I think he would have had a good year if he would have stayed healthy, and he’s got a different skill set than Michael’s. Sugano had a really good year for us. It’s based on the individual.”
The club also moved away from the plan of having pitching coach Alon Leichman signal pitches from the dugout. Schaeffer said the idea was sound, even if the Rockies had to abandon it.
“We have been so bad in previous years doing the normal,” Schaeffer said.
There’s also a much bigger structural issue hanging over the roster. When the Rockies last reached the postseason in 2017 and 2018 under Bud Black, they had a young, durable rotation that could pile up innings, with Freeland among the key arms. That kind of backbone isn’t in place now.
At the moment, Chase Dollander is the only current Rockies starter who looks like a true workhorse in that mold, and he’ll be coming off internal brace surgery on his right elbow in 2027. That reality pushes the Rockies toward a different approach: avoid the third trip through the order when possible, and build a bullpen that can absorb more innings than most relief groups are asked to handle.
“We have the personnel we have, so you have to construct a strategy and a training regimen in the offseason to better the personnel we have,” Schaeffer said. “There’s a lot of guys that can help us win. It’s just using them in the right way.”
In Other News...
Rockies Give Three Veteran Starters One Last Chance To Matter
The Rockies head into their final series against the White Sox carrying a 57-102 record, but there is still a little something left to squeeze out of a long season. Even with the losses piled up, Colorado gets a chance to play spoiler, and the spotlight now shifts to the top of the rotation, where Tomoyuki Sugano, Jose Quintana and Kyle Freeland are lined up to start.
For a club looking ahead as much as it is trying to finish cleanly, those three outings carry added weight because all three pitchers are free agents and could be auditioning for their next turn in Denver. Warren Schaeffer said he has seen enough to evaluate both performance and health, and he made clear the rotation will look different next season, which makes this week feel like one last test for a veteran group that may not get many more chances to matter together. [Read more 🡒]
Rockies Still Have One Huge Rotation Problem To Solve
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Brennan Bernardino has been one of the few bright spots, tying a Coors Field record with 19 straight scoreless outings and standing alone on the staff as the only pitcher with a sub-3.00 ERA and more than seven innings pitched. Even so, the long-term picture remains unsettled, because several young arms have shown enough promise to keep hope alive, but not enough yet to make the rotation feel solved. [Read more 🡒]
Kyle Freeland's Rockies Future Suddenly Feels Painfully Uncertain
Kyle Freelands long run in Colorado is suddenly headed toward a crossroads, with his five-year deal nearing its end and his path to a player option complicated by injuries. The left-hander has spent his entire major league career with the Rockies, a stretch that has included some real success but also the weight of several difficult seasons as the club has piled up consecutive 100-loss finishes.
On a recent start at Coors Field, Freeland fought through a rough outing and was visibly emotional afterward, acknowledging the possibility that it could have been his final appearance in a Rockies uniform. For a pitcher who has been part of the organizations identity for years, the uncertainty around what comes next hangs over both his future and a franchise still trying to find firmer footing. [Read more 🡒]