Sprint to The Finish

Baseball has long been described as a marathon, not a sprint, but with two weeks left in the season, it becomes a sprint to the finish for teams like the Rockies.

Despite the trip up in LA yesterday, the Rockies are positioned well if they can turn on the afterburners to the finish. Because they have been on a roll the past couple of miles, the question becomes do they have enough gas left for the finish?

The NL West Title is looking more and more the likely scenario for the Rockies to get to the Playoffs. The Rockies fell 3.5 games off the Braves pace for the Wild Card over the weekend. The Braves could trip up especially with 6 games left against their NL East opponent the Phillies, however, the Rockies like in 2009 should focus on the West regardless.

One thing many people have overlooked is that the Rockies have shaved 10 games off the Padres lead in 4 weeks. On August 22, the Rockies trailed the Padres by 11. Now they trail them by 1, an incredible move, although in 2007 with their 14 of 15 sprint, they gained 9 games on the NY Mets who although in 1st place in the NL East at this point, eventually fell behind the Phillies, Padres and Rockies to allow the Rockies play the tiebreaker with San Diego. And that all took place in two weeks.

This year from this point it doesn't take a miracle finish, all they have to do is play 2 games better than both the Giants and the Padres and their first NL West Title will be theirs.

Do they have it in them to accomplish that? Stay tuned for the final sprint in the marathon.