Highs and Lows: Mariners at Rockies Series Preview

The Mariners have entered that phase of the season where they're just playing out the remaining games without much purpose beyond fulfilling the MLB schedule. The last time the M's were playing irrelevant games this early in September was during the pandemic-shortened season in 2020. It's been so long, I almost forgot what it was like to be in this limbo state.

The Rockies are well acquainted with playing irrelevant games, however. The last time they were truly competitive was back in 2018 when they won 91 games. Since then, the team has been in the midst of a long and arduous rebuilding cycle that doesn't seem like it's anywhere close to ending. After reaching a nadir seven years into this cycle with 119 losses last year, the team finally made a change atop the organization, hiring Paul DePodesta to lead the baseball operations department. The team is on track to make a 16 win improvement over last year — a small but meaningful step forward — but the work of building another contender in Colorado will continue for the foreseeable future.

Here's a crazy stat: the Rockies' .325 wOBA as a team is the highest it's been since 2019. Over the past six years, despite playing in a stadium that boosts offense to ridiculous levels, the team has put up a .308 wOBA, 21st in baseball during that period. Last year's breakout from Hunter Goodman and this year's breakout from TJ Rumfield have gone a long way toward improving the lineup. Those two batters are dramatically different in approach; Goodman is a traditional power hitter with huge home run totals to go along with a huge strikeout rate. Rumfield is more measured in his approach, content to take a walk and put the ball in play to take advantage of the huge outfield in Coors Field. Cole Carrigg and Kyle Karros are another pair of youngsters who have shown a lot of promise this year. There are glimpses of a competent lineup here.

The Rockies don't have a starter listed for Friday's game at the time of publication but I expect Ryan Feltner to take some portion of the bulk innings. He had been a member of the Rockies' rotation for most of the year but has been shifted to the bullpen in a long relief role recently. He pitched on Tuesday in relief of Kyle Freeland and spun five shutout innings against the Padres. At one point back in 2024, he looked like he had figured out how to find some success pitching at altitude — he posted a 4.49 ERA and a 4.16 FIP in 30 starts that season — but a series of injuries last year derailed that progress. He's been mostly healthy this season, but his effectiveness has waned and now the team is reevaluating where he fits on the roster.

It must be totally demoralizing to be a pitching prospect in the Rockies organization. You put in all the work to make your way through the minors up to the big leagues and then face the toughest pitching environment in baseball. Gabriel Hughes made his debut in July and has actually pitched pretty well all things considered — his park-adjusted FIP is better than league average at 92. Unfortunately, his ERA is more than two runs higher at 6.37. His fastball has a really interesting movement profile; it doesn't fade arm-side like most four-seams tend to do. Instead, it has a bit of cut to it so that it's almost arrow-straight from a three-quarters arm slot. Opposing batters find it extremely hard to square up even if they have no problem making contact with it.

Every rebuilding team needs a veteran innings eater or two to soak up as many innings as possible during the season. That's Tomoyuki Sugano's job this year. After coming over from NBP last year, he's posted nearly identical 5.36 and 5.49 FIPs over the last two seasons while making 57 starts for the Orioles and Rockies. He's got a deep repertoire that features a solid splitter, three variations on a breaking ball, and three very hittable fastballs. It's a problem when all three of your fastballs feature expected wOBAs that start with a four.

On Wednesday, the Astros and Rangers were tied atop the AL West standings, but separated by a game after Houston won and Texas lost on Thursday. The Astros host the Braves and the Rangers host the Blue Jays this weekend.