2018 Colorado Rockies Expert Predictions and Odds to Win the World Series

by Chris Vasile - 2/27/2018

It seems like just yesterday we were watching the Colorado Rockies win 14 of their last 15 games to secure a wild-card spot and eventually play themselves into the 2007 World Series. Unfortunately for Rockies fans, that was 11 years ago, and no season has even come remotely close to that except for last season's wild-card loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks. The Rockies were an 87-win team last year with a rookie manager and a below-average pitching staff. While the manager now has a year of experience under his belt, the pitching staff has taken a step back, so any success the Rockies do run into this year will be courtesy of one of the best batting lineups in the National League.

The Rockies will open the regular season on March 29 with a three-game set on the road against the Arizona Diamondbacks. From there, the Rockies will travel to San Diego for four with the Padres before opening up their home slate on April 6 against Atlanta. The Rockies come into this season at +4000 to win the World Series, +1800 to win the NL Pennant and +600 to topple the Dodgers and claim the NL West title. With a season win total set at 82.5, -115 (which is just over .500), you'd be hard-pressed to find any value betting the Rockies on the season-long futures market.

All odds are courtesy of Bovada.

Rockies 2018 Projected Lineup

The Rockies lineup has always had solid power, and this season should be no different. It also helps that they play 81 games at Coors Field, which is essentially hitter's heaven. As of writing this, the preferred Rockies lineup looks like this:

1. Charlie Blackmon

2. DJ LeMahieu

3. Ian Desmond

4. Nolan Arenado

5. Gerardo Parra

6. Trevor Story

7. Ryan McMahon

8. Chris Iannetta

9. Pitchers Spot

One through four in the lineup is just as potent as any quartet in the Majors. Charlie Blackmon will bat leadoff after putting together a solid season last year. He hit for a .331 average with 37 HRs and 104 RBIs. He also possesses the speed quality a leadoff man should have and has the ability to steal bases. DJ LeMahieu slots in second, with Desmond third and Arenado batting cleanup. Arenado is quickly becoming one of the top players in the Majors thanks to his defense and offensive numbers. He posted a .309 average with 37 homeruns and 130 RBIs.

Further down the lineup, Parra is slotted into the five-spot and will play left field. He is coming off a season where he hit .309 and contributed eight home runs and 71 RBIs. Story will bat sixth and will be looking to bounce back from a rough 2017 campaign. Story's stat line of .239/24HR/82RBI isn't the worst, but he made a much bigger splash in his brief 2016 campaign.

To round out the lineup, McMahon should bat seventh and play first base, while Iannetta comes over from Arizona and will do the bulk of the catching while batting eighth.

Rockies 2018 Projected Rotation & Closer

This is typically the weak link for the Rockies, and I believe 2018 won't be any different. This rotation features the likes of Jon Gray, Tyler Anderson, Chad Bettis, German Marquez and one of Antonio Senzatela or Kyle Freeland. Not exactly the whose-who of starting pitchers. To make matters worse, they lost one of their best starters in Tyler Chatwood when he was signed by the Cubs this past offseason. The Rockies will have a tough time replacing Chatwood as he posted 20 wins over the last two seasons. It'll be up to Gray to lead the rotation once again this season. Last season, Gray started 20 games for the Rockies and posted a 10-4 record with a 3.67 ERA and a 1.29 WHIP. It's always tough for pitchers pitching in Colorado, so those numbers aren't all that bad when you look into his splits. Gray posted a 5-1 record at home and saw his ERA drop to 3.13.

Behind him in the rotation is where the going gets tough. In my opinion, Tyler Anderson is not a viable No. 2 starter. He posted a 6-6 record with a 4.81 ERA. I know he's only been in the Majors for all of 10 minutes, but Coors Field isn't the place you want to try to break into the top level of baseball and solidify yourself as a steady and reliable pitcher. Further behind the top two, it's a real crap-shoot when it comes to which pitcher will pick up the slack and perform well.

The bullpen looks like the strongest part of the pitching staff with newly-acquired Wade Davis taking over the closer role from Jake McGee. Davis posted 32 saves last year while accumulating a 2.30 ERA. He will have a pair of solid setup men working before him in the likes of Jake McGee and Bryan Shaw. Beyond that, the relief corps features Scott Oberg, Chris Rusin and Carlos Estevez, all of who had sub four ERAs.

Rockies 2018 Predictions

FanGraphs projects Colorado to finish 79-83, which would have them in third place in the NL West and 14 games back of the first-place Dodgers. Barring any major injuries to the core of the batting lineup, the Rockies should be able to stay in any game that features a lot of runs. If they need to rely on their pitchers to shut the opponents down on a daily basis, however, that's where the Rockies will falter. I believe a play on the "under" 82.5 wins is the play.

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2018 Colorado Rockies Expert Predictions and Odds to Win the World Series

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