Paul Klee's three observations on the National League West tiebreaker on Monday:
1. Welcome to colorful Kylerado. It’s likely on hometown baseball hero Kyle Freeland to save the Rockies from another one-and-done in the postseason. The left-hander is expected to take the mound at Wrigley Field in a wild card game against the Cubs on Tuesday (6 p.m., ESPN). His lone appearance against the Cubs looked like this: seven innings, six hits, three earned runs. It would be the first postseason start for Freeland, 25 — in stark contrast to his likely opposition, 34-year-old starter Jon Lester, who will make his 22nd postseason start. In Lester's only appearance against the Rockies he allowed no runs on five hits. How do the Rox swing the upset? Men on base. You can run on Lester, and the Cubs are running on fumes after an exhausting finish to their regular season. I didn't like the Rockies on Monday. Against the Dodgers' corral of All-Stars, who would? But the Cubs are utterly beatable — at Wrigley or not.
2. Chalk up the four-strikeout inning in Rockies’ lore. Just as 23-year-old German Marquez was beginning to find a rhythm in his first postseason appearance, a third strike on Max Muncy rattled out of the glove of Rockies catcher Tony Wolters, allowing Muncy to reach first. What happened next was so predictable it hurts: Cody Bellinger walloped a two-run home run to put the Dodgers on the board. And the bats never got going. Dodgers co-ace Walker Buehler one-hit the Rockies, who, despite their late-season push, are no strangers to quiet bats. But before you go clicking over to the Broncos on Monday Night Football, it's worth a mention: did the Rockies find their groove in the ninth inning on Monday? After Charlie Blackmon carried a full load with a couple base hits, Nolan Arenado and Trevor Story bombed home runs in the ninth. It wasn't enough to push the Rockies into the NLDS. But the Cubs didn't want to see that.
3. Twenty-six seasons. Zero division titles. The drought goes on. Not even the biggest payroll in Rockies history ($144 million) was enough to catch the free-spending Dodgers ($199 million). It’s easiest to cite Monday's implosion as the reason behind Colorado’s ongoing o-fer in the NL West. But the smart fingers point at Saturday’s loss to the Nationals, where Jon Gray melted down and allowed the Dodgers back into the conversation. The Rockies won 91 games this regular season — no small bones, given any payroll. But the Dodgers won 92, and the final one clinched their sixth straight National League West title. Beat L.A.? Bow to L.A. Their money spends, and in baseball money usually wins.
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