Good morning, Purple Row!
The Rockies are officially done with their home schedule for 2026. The final homestand didn’t end so well as Colorado went 1-8 over their final nine games at Coors Field.
The squad now heads to Chicago to take on the White Sox, who are in a battle with the Cleveland Guardians for the American League Central crown. Chicago officially clinched a playoff spot on Thursday when they defeated Kansas City, while Cleveland also punched its ticket with a win over the Red Sox.
The Central
runner-up will earn the final AL Wild Card spot. However, the division win comes with a bye and home field advantage in the second round. The Wild Card winner loses the bye and has to hit the road for the first round. Maybe the Rockies can throw a wrinkle in the White Sox hopes for a division title.
If not, perhaps the Rockies can use this trip to take notes on how to turn around a losing franchise. The White Sox put up the worst season in modern baseball with 121 losses in 2024, 102 losses last year and three 100-loss seasons in a row. Now, they are headed to the playoffs. The Rockies will end this season with somewhere between 14 and 17 more wins than they had in 2025, depending on how the series goes in Chicago.
Colorado’s final series of the season will also give the team a chance to see old friend Brenton Doyle.
Read about that and more from around MLB below.
Rockies news & links
- White Sox’ Trade for Brenton Doyle Looking Better Thanks to Offensive Boost | Sports Illustrated — The Rockies needed pitching. The White Sox needed fielding. So the teams made a swap at the trade deadline with the Rockies sending two-time Gold Glove winner to Chicago for two young prospects in RHP Mason Adams and SS Carlos Vielma.
- Notes From Star-Studded Rockies-A’s Instructional League | FanGraphs — Eric Longenhagen breaks down the Instructional League, how it’s different from the Bridge League and what the scrimmages are like. He also explains how more than a dozen Rockies front office personnel were there this week, including farm director Chris Forbes, scouting vice president Danny Montgomery, pro and amateur scouting directors Sterling Monfort and Marc Gustaffson and special assistant to the GM Clint Hurdle. On the player side, Rockies No. 1 prospect Ethan Holliday highlights a long and impressive list of the organization’s top talent. This one is a deep dive with lots of videos.
- PHOTOS: Dogs take over Coors Field for Bark at the Park | Denver Post ($) — When things are looking dark and the Rockies are losing hard to close out the season, it’s nice to look at some dog photos. Check out the mutts at Coors Field for Bark at the Park on Tuesday and Wednesday. Some are dressed as hot dogs, which is hilarious; others seem a little too big to be held. All of them are very cute.
- Full final 2026 regular-season grades for all 30 MLB teams | ESPN — The Rockies come in better than you might expect, especially considering this late-season skid. If we did live in a world where Ds got degrees, perhaps the Rockies would be on their way to one as they registered a D+. The article notes that even though the Rockies might finish with the worst record in MLB, they won’t have the worst run differential. That’s a huge step forward.
Around MLB
- 40-40 for PCA! Cubs superstar 7th player to join exclusive club | MLB.com — Pete Crow Armstrong took one more step toward securing his National League MVP title on Thursday. It didn’t take long, either, as PCA swiped a base in the first inning of the Cubs game vs. the Marlins at Wrigley Field. Check out the group he joins: Shohei Ohtani (54 homers and 59 steals in 2024), Ronald Acuña Jr. (41 homers and 73 steals in ‘23), Alfonso Soriano (46 homers and 41 steals in ‘06), Alex Rodriguez (42 homers and 46 steals in 1998), Barry Bonds (42 homers and 40 steals in ‘96) and Jose Canseco (42 homers and 40 steals in ‘88). While the milestone didn’t come against the Rockies, Colorado was still mentioned in the article, which noted, “During his debut game at Coors Field in Denver in 2023, the ‘P-C-A’ chants also made their MLB debut.” Coors Field really is home away from home for many teams, but especially Chicago with an abundance of Cubs fans in Colorado.
- White Sox clinch playoff berth: Why MLB’s biggest surprise could go all the way to the World Series | CBSsports.com — With a win on Thursday over the Royals, the White Sox punched their ticket to the 2026 postseason. It’s a feel-good story and hopefully a blueprint for Colorado as well. It wasn’t too long ago that the White Sox looked like a lock to win the division, but the Guardians are putting up a fight.
- Dodgers earn first-round bye after securing Top 2 seed in NL | MLB.com — The Dodgers get to skip the first round of the playoffs, like usual. However, they are 2.5 games behind the Brewers, who currently hold the No. 1 seed after reaching the 100-win milestone on Thursday. If the season ended Thursday night, the Dodgers would host the winner of the Phillies-Braves series and the Brewers would host the winner of the Padres-Cubs showdown.
- Phils lose Arraez to ankle injury, then fall short in clinch attempt | MLB.com — The Padres, Cubs and Phillies currently hold the last three playoff spots in the NL with the Diamondbacks knocking on the door thanks to their sweep in Colorado. With Philadelphia holding a two-game advantage on Arizona, they are in control of their own destiny, but that took a hit when Luis Arraez suffered an ankle injury in a 5-1 loss to Milwaukee on Thursday. X-rays were negative, but Arraez’s availability will be reassessed on Friday.
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