Snell Will Stifle Rockies Who Stink On The Road

Rockies vs. Giants, 7:05 ET

Expectations are a good thing because they give us hope. They can provide a chance of something to look forward to and a level that something can achieve. We have expectations of everything - movies, television shows, this article, your family, friends, etc. Like many things, expectations can be met, exceeded, or failed. Year to year these things end up changing, for a non-sports related example, the Bear season 2 exceeded my expectations, which then increased my expectations for season 3 of the show. Season 3 fell well short of my expectations. The Rockies and Giants are examples of two teams that are probably exactly hit their expectations for the season at this point.

The Rockies are a team that we knew would struggle for the majority of the season. Colorado came into the year with everyone assuming that they would be the worst team in the NL West. The Rockies are roughly 30 games under .500 and this continues to be a trend for the franchise which makes it difficult to want to support the team. One trend that has remained an issue for the club for years is their play on the road. This season, they are an embarrassing 20 games under .500 on the road and are still in the teens for road wins. The White Sox, Athletics, and Marlins are the only other teams that haven't gotten to at least 20 wins on the road this season. That's not the company you want to keep. The Rockies also have the second-worst run differential in baseball and are the only team that has allowed 600 runs this season. Tonight, they put Ryan Feltner on the mound to make his 21st start of the season. He has been better on the road with a 4.43 ERA compared to just 6.14 ERA. The Rockies are 5-15 in Feltner starts this season and in the 15 losses, they have covered the run line in just four of those losses. He has faced the Giants twice this season, including his last outing. In the first outing, on the road, he pitched for four innings and allowed five earned runs. In his most recent start, he went seven innings and allowed two solo homers, but that one was in Coors Field. Overall, the Giants are 16-for-57 against Feltner. 

Feb 26, 2024; Salt River Pima-Maricopa, Arizona, USA; Colorado Rockies first baseman Kris Bryant against the Los Angeles Dodgers during a spring training game at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

The Giants expectations for this season were to potentially battle for a Wild Card spot, but probably not make the playoffs. It does look like they are going to meet those expectations as they are at least in the conversation. As of right now, they are fourth in their division, 13 games back, so that path is pretty much out of the question. The Giants are also 5.5 games back of the final Wild Card spot so it is unlikely they make the playoffs that way as well, but still possible. They did recently get Robbie Ray back and they have tonight's starter, Blake Snell, in the rotation. Snell, last year's National League Cy Young winner, hasn't looked like a Cy Young winner for most of the season. This will be just his 10th start of the season due to starting late because he was a free agent, and he suffered an injury. Now the question is if Snell will remain a Giant for the remainder of the year or not. What is encouraging is that he has pitched well in his last three outings. He has gone 18 innings since returning from the injured list and allowed just two earned runs. He hasn't faced the Rockies this season, but has allowed just 17 hits to Rockies hitters in 17 at-bats. Aside from Charlie Blackmon, no one with more than one at-bat against Snell has a batting average above .267 against him. 

The way that Snell is pitching right now shows that the Giants have a bit of a tough decision. Do they keep him and hope they can get hot and make the playoffs, or do they trade him away and decide to throw in the towel on this season. For this particular game, there is nothing that indicates that the Giants will lose it. I'm going to back the Giants on the run line for both the first half of the game and the full game in this one. 

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