Many moves were made last week in my offseason attempt as the new Colorado Rockies general manager in Out of the Park Baseball 26 to turn the team around quickly. With a new cast of characters, we set
sail into the 2026 season from spring training, all the way to the All-Star Game to finish up the first half. Did my moves make any difference in improving the team or did art imitate reality? Let’s dive in and see how things went! Buckle up, this is a long one, my friends.
Spring training: A time of injury and hard decisions
There was a lot of optimism for the Rockies as we rolled through spring training. The offense got off to a slow start, but things were settling into place. I had confidence that once the regular season started, the lineup I envisioned would be markedly improved over the 2025 roster. As usual, pitching was going to make or break this team and there wasn’t much wiggle room, all things considered.
The tribulations started nearly immediately as the injury bug quickly moved through camp. Bradley Blalock was set to miss six weeks with shoulder inflammation, and was quickly followed by Kyle Karros, who was set to miss four weeks with a knee tendinitis injury. While those injuries were worrisome, I didn’t project either of them to make the Opening Day roster, so we were still in good shape.
Unfortunately, reliever Mason Fluharty, one of my notable bullpen pickups, suffered acromioclavicular joint irritation. He was sidelined for an initial two weeks with no clear timetable for a return, meaning he was likely going to miss Opening Day. Not long after Fluharty landed on the shelf, Kyle Freeland was out for four weeks with an elbow strain, dealing a blow to the rotation.
The icing on the cake of the injuries was the torn hamstring suffered by Dylan Carlson, the free agent option I had settled on for my Opening Day center fielder. He was estimated to miss four weeks, meaning he was going to miss the start of the season and left me with an already thin pool of outfield options I felt confident could man center field.
While I fretted over the injuries, the team still managed a decent time record in Cactus League play. While a 13-11 record is nothing to write home about, several positives compelled me to refocus and set my sights on the start of the regular season.
The main positive was that the pitching was very good in spring training. Out of all the starting pitchers that I had brought in, Shane Baz had the highest ERA at 3.89. Luis Gil, Logan Allen, Jack Leiter, and non-roster invite Aaron Civale all turned in fantastic performances alongside returning rotation member Ryan Feltner. The bullpen was also full of relievers who made appearances with the Rockies in 2025 and had strong big league camps alongside new acquisitions, making for some tough decisions as I crafted my Opening Day roster.
Opening Day 2026
My roster was mostly settled entering spring training, and no last-minute deals were to be had, even in the wake of the injuries.
So, I present to you the 2026 Rockies Opening Day roster:
- Catchers: Hunter Goodman, Drew Romo
- First Base: Rhys Hoskins
- Second Base: Ryan Ritter, Adael Amador
- Third Base: Royce Lewis, Josh Jung
- Shortstop: Ezequiel Tovar
- Left Field: Jordan Beck
- Center Field: Dominic Fletcher (NRI)
- Right Field: Mickey Moniak
- Bench/Utility: Tyler Black, Zac Veen
- Starting Pitchers: Shane Baz (RHP), Luis Gil (RHP), Ryan Feltner (RHP), Logan Allen (LHP), Aaron Civale (RHP)
- Bullpen: Jack Leiter (RHP), Marc Church (RHP), Edgardo Henriquez (RHP), Victor Vodnik (RHP), Carson Palmquist (LHP), Jovani Moran (LHP), Mason Englert (RHP), Seth Halvorsen (RHP)
The pitching injuries opened a spot for Carson Palmquist after posting a 0.79 ERA in spring training out of the bullpen. After Carlson went down, I pivoted to Dominic Fletcher, as he had an okay spring but was the best defensively coming out of camp for center field. However, I did have to DFA reliever Luis Peralta to make room, and he was outrighted to Triple-A.
As for the rotation, there was a moment of debate deciding whether to carry Civale or Leiter. Both had been spectacular in camp, and both had earned a spot for Opening Day. If it had come to it, Leiter would have earned the rotation spot because he was on the 40-man, and I had little wiggle room with moves I wanted to make to open roster space. However, I ended up keeping both and added Civale to the 40-man because of the injuries, and Leiter assumed the long relief role in the pen.
The plan for the offense was to be fairly consistent day to day, with a few platoon situations involving Tyler Black and Josh Jung.
So, with a roster set, the Rockies kicked off the season at home, facing off against the Washington Nationals. The Rockies secured their first win of the year with a 4-1 victory. Baz carved up the Nationals, tossing seven innings and allowing just one run on three hits with five strikeouts and two walks. A four-run seventh inning, highlighted by Jordan Beck’s two-run single, propelled the club. Could this be the right tone setter for the season?
Highs and lows of the record
The Rockies started off strong, winning five of their first seven games. First time through the rotation, the starting pitching was looking good, and the offense was starting off slow, but doing enough to win games. Unfortunately, they were swept over six games on their first road trip of the season. They settled back in at home before the road trip caused them more trouble.
Still, with the returns of Freeland (sending Allen to the bullpen), Fluharty, and Carlson from injury alongside the hot start of Mickey Moniak at the plate, the Rockies finished April with a 12-13 record. Considering they won just four games in April in 2025, this is a drastic improvement.
Things progressed the same throughout May, going 12-14 and sitting close to .500 on the overall season. So far, I was living up to Monfort’s expectation of trying to play .500 ball on the season. The only major move that happened in May is that I decided to give up on the Carlson experiment in the outfield. I knew coming in he wasn’t going to be the answer, but the hope was that he could at least not be a detriment to the team. Plus, he was basically a free player.
After slashing .195/.270/.221 with two doubles and 11 RBI in 25 games, I pulled the plug. He refused to be demoted, so I DFA’d and released him. In his place, Moniak was moved to center full-time time and Zac Veen, who had a .286 AVG in limited playing time, was given the starting job in right field. In addition, Sterlin Thompson was called up thanks to an excellent start in Albuquerque.
June followed suit with the previous months, as the Rockies went 13-15. While we were still well out of the contention for the division, we could at least see a Wild Card position on the horizon, even though we likely wouldn’t reach it this season. With just a few weeks of play left before the end of the first half, my hope was that the Rockies could stay close to .500 and keep up the momentum, and give us an interesting trade deadline.
Unfortunately, things took a bad turn. Heading into the All-Star break (which was near the end of July for some reason), the Rockies had won just five games in July, going 5-12. The Rockies weren’t getting blown out by any means, but they were coming up just short night after night as the offense couldn’t do enough to overcome bad pitching. To make matters worse, Ritter was sidelined with an oblique strain, and my minor league options were not ready. So, out of desperation for a backup bench piece, DJ LeMahieu signed on as a free agent.
All things considered, the Rockies sit at 42-54, so we are well ahead of the 2025 team with wins.
First Half Stats/Rankings
As for stats, I’ll spare you the detailed word count breakdown, but here is how the Rockies rank in the National League after the first half.
As you can see, offensively, the Rockies are much better across the board, aside from strikeouts and walks, which remain a problem. Though the offense truly is carried by Moniak and Goodman, there is more work to do there. Pitching remains at the bottom of the NL in every category.
Coors Field is back to being an advantage at the moment, but the road remains a mystery. However, the Rockies’ winning record in one-run games is a promising sign.
2026 Player Draft
Because of the anti-tanking draft rules, the Rockies could select no higher than 10th in the first round this season, so I had to manually place them at 10th in the lottery. There were a lot of interesting names, but when the Rockies picked at 10th, I ended up with what the game considered the second-best prospect in the draft, right-handed high school pitcher Savion Sims from Edmond Santa Fe High School in Oklahoma. Standing 6-foot-8, no one may throw harder than Sims in next year’s draft, as he regularly can hit triple digits and has a good slider. MLB.com did a mock draft back in July and had Sims going 11th overall in 2026, so I may not be too far off with my pick. As of writing, he hasn’t signed a contract yet.
As for the other 19 rounds, I let the game select, and it went heavy on college players, particularly pitchers. Nothing too out of the ordinary than a regular Rockies draft.
All-Stars
The Rockies ended up with two All-Stars this year in Goodman and Moniak. Making his second trip, Goodman has replicated his 2025 success by slashing .303/.354/.55 with 17 home runs and 54 RBI over 79 games. He hasn’t regressed, which is something we hope happens in reality.
Moniak, on the other hand, has ascended to another plane in this season. From the first game of the season, he has been one of the best in all of baseball. He won the first NL Player of the Week award of the season after going 12-for-16 with a home run, five RBI, and six runs scored. He was later named the April Player of the Month with a .413 AVG, 38 H, six home runs, 24 RBI and 20 runs scored. He ended the first half with 26 home runs and 74 RBI while slashing .292/.316/.601 in 91 games.
Oh, and he won the Home Run Derby by defeating Cal Raleigh in the finals 22-21.
Conclusion
So, despite my best efforts, I still haven’t been able to solve the pitching woes of the Rockies. Feltner leads the league in losses with 11 and has an ERA close to seven, while the other starters haven’t been the game changers I saw in spring training. Outside of my All-Stars and big free agent signing, Rhys Hoskins, the offense hasn’t sparked like I hoped it would. They aren’t bad, but there is work to be done for sure.
With the trade deadline coming up, I’ll see what I can do to sell high on some players and start ushering in some prospects like Charlie Condon for the second half of the season. I’ve already guaranteed a better record than the 2025 team, and that’s a win in my book.
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