Why are the Rockies going to win the World Series? Because they were meant to.
Logically, there are few reasons that the Rockies could emerge victorious this week. But fortunately for this team, it's been defying "reason" for weeks. The Rockies have destiny on their side.
The Rockies passed reason somewhere during their incredible run of winning 21 of their last 22 games. Matt Holliday passed reason when he did a face-plant and just missed home plate in 13th inning to stun the Padres and clinch a playoff berth. The team passed reason when it defeated arguably the three best pitchers in the National League - Jake Peavy, Cole Hamels and Brandon Webb - in hugely important games.
The Rockies enter the World Series with a rotation that features one above-average pitcher, Jeff Francis. While Francis was good this season, a 4.22 ERA in the National League is not particularly impressive.
And before you cite the fact that he had to pitch half of his games at Coors Field, consider this: according to ESPN's park factors, it was easier to score runs in Fenway Park this year than at Coors Field. Additionally, it was easier to pitch in the National League than the American League. In other words, Francis's 4.22 ERA in Coors Field is very similar to Daisuke Matsuzaka's 4.40 at Fenway.
The rest of the rotation is made up of wannabes and never-weres. Josh Fogg owns a career 4.90 ERA and has been below 4.60 once in his career. Ubaldo Jiminez was terrible this season at AAA, posting a 5.85 ERA, yet somehow upon promotion to the majors he improved his ERA to 4.28 (perhaps this tells us something about the quality of the rest of the National League this year). Aaron Cook had an impressive 4.12 ERA but a less-than-inspiring 61/44 strikeout-to-walk ratio this season. Furthermore, Cook has not pitched since Aug. 10 due to an injury.
Yet none of this matters, because the Rockies are supposed to win. How else do you explain the fact that a team with a pitching staff consisting of other teams' cast-offs has made it this far?
Fogg was cut by the Pittsburgh Pirates two years ago; Rodrigo Lopez and LaTroy Hawkins were dumped by the Baltimore Orioles; Mark Redman was shunned by the Atlanta Braves. Jorge Julio was given away by the Marlins after imploding in Florida. Taylor Buchholz had a 5.89 ERA last season for Houston.
Yet somehow, these guys combined to throw many solid innings during the season.
The Rockies were left for dead on Sept. 15. They had just lost their third straight game to fall to 76-72. They were six and a half games behind in the NL West, four and a half back in the hunt for the wild card, and had three teams in front of them in both races. They seemed to be destined for .500, leaving plenty to hope for in the future.
Who knew the future would come so soon?
We know the Rockies are destined to win because on the evening of Sept. 15, someone - we don't know if it was a player, coach, executive or fan - made a deal with the baseball gods. We can only guess at what the gods asked for in return for granting such a miracle. The Rockies have won 21 of their last 22 games. They won 14 of their last 15 games in the regular season, all but one of which were against teams ahead of them in the division. Sixteen of those 21 victories were by four runs or less.
The Rockies have a deep, balanced lineup featuring some of the most underrated players in baseball. You know Matt Holliday and Todd Helton are great, but Brad Hawpe and Kaz Matsui have been excellent this season. Garrett Atkins rebounded after a tough start to finish the season strong. Willy Taveras and Troy Tulowitzki bring excellent defense and solid offense at important positions.
The back end of Rockies' bullpen is virtually impenetrable, featuring one of the most underrated closers in baseball, Manny Corpas, as well as three-time All-Star Brian Fuentes. Matt Herges and Hawkins have been excellent in the middle innings.
To win this series, the Rockies will need their starters to keep them in the game by limiting walks to a patient Red Sox lineup. Their hitters will need a focused approach and must avoid swinging at pitcher's pitches - especially borderline pitches from Curt Schilling and Daisuke Matsuzaka.
When the Rockies celebrate their sweep on Sunday and fulfill their destiny as World Series champions, let's hope they compensate whichever man, woman or child sold his or her soul to bring a championship to such an unlikely team.
