The Phillies’ ninth inning comeback and extra inning win on Wednesday afternoon shifted the narrative of the early season. While a 3-3 homestand is a disappointment, it feels so much better than 2-4.
The Phillies will now head on the road for the first time all season as they visit Coors Field, a stadium that has largely vexed them over the years. However, most of that vexing came when the Rockies were a quality – or even halfway competent – baseball team. The 2025 Rockies were about as far from quality as a team could
get, and perhaps not coincidentally, the Phillies did much better when they visited Coors last year.
And from the looks of things, the Rockies of 2026 are not much better than the 2025 edition.
Colorado Rockies
Record: 2-4, Fourth place in National League West (2 games back)
The last time they met
As mentioned, the Phillies used to seem to save some of their worst games for Coors Field, but that didn’t matter when facing a team as uncompetitive as the 2025 Rockies were. The Phillies visited Colorado for four games in May 2025, and won all four, finishing off a 7-0 season sweep of the Rockies.
The finale was a 2-0 win, closed out in dominating fashion by Jordan Romano, during that split second when it looked like he might be getting his act together. (I’m serious, Romano really did have a good stretch last year.)
What’s the deal with the Rockies?
They’ll likely be better than they were last year, but aside from clearing that exceptionally low bar, the Rockies aren’t expected to be very good this season. They didn’t bring in a lot of free agents expected to make much of an impact and are hoping that some of their younger players can develop.
As far as the actual talent on hand, Hunter Goodman might be the best catcher in the National League, and WBC hero Ezequiel Tovar looked like a burgeoning star in 2024 before injuries cost him almost half the season last year.
The pitching situation is dire, with Kyle Freeland and Michael Lorenzen being the team’s best starters. They added a reliable veteran in Joe Quintana in the offseason, but he was recently placed on the Injured List and will miss this series.
Featured Rockies player: Kyle Karros
Justin Crawford will face off against another young second-generation player this weekend. Second year third baseman Kyle Karros is the son of former Rookie of the Year Eric Karros.
After being drafted in 2023, Karros rose rapidly through the Rockies system, making his major league debut in 2025.
Karros is regarded as a plus defender at third base but didn’t wow anybody with his bat in his rookie season, putting up a .585 OPS in 43 games. He’s fared even worse in 2026, going 4-19 with just one extra base hit. The Rockies first six games have been on the road, so it’s possible that playing in Coors Field could help his numbers. However, he had a higher OPS on the road in 2025.
The one good thing about a rebuilding team is that they can have plenty of patience with their young players. If Crawford were to struggle as the year progresses, the Phillies might start looking at trade candidates for the stretch run.
Remembering a guy who used to play for the Rockies
David Nied was the Rockies’ first pick in the 1992 expansion draft. At the time, it wasn’t clear what effect the thin Denver air would have on pitchers, so the Rockies were trying to stockpile power arms. Taking a top 50 prospect from an elite Atlanta Braves farm system seemed like a decent proposition.
Nied joined the Rockies in 1993 and didn’t immediately excel with a 5.17 ERA in 16 starts. He showed some improvement the following season, but injuries soon took their toll. He pitched in just eight games over the next two seasons, and his career was essentially over.
What about the Phillies?
It’s been a strange first six games for the Phillies. They’ve looked very bad for stretches and have gotten some bad luck (The Nationals certainly found grass on a lot of balls put in play). On the other hand, they’ve already had two ninth inning comebacks, and the rookies have been impressive.
What can we conclude from this?
Pretty much nothing. It’s been six games!
Pennant year song battle
Everybody Wants You by Billy Squier knocked off Here We Are Again.
The next challenger as suggested by CarterAndCo is:
My Sister, Julianna Hatfield, 1993
The song is supposedly partly about existential longing. And isn’t that what being a sports fan basically is?
Closing thought
You’d think a series in Colorado against an unimpressive Rockies team would be just the thing to get the Phillies’ offense going consistently. But just because they should hit doesn’t mean they will. Late game comebacks are fun and all but getting off to an early lead can also be fun, and the Phillies should try doing it more often.
