One-two punch
The Arizona Diamondbacks won only 84 games last season and barely snuck into the playoffs. They were huge underdogs against the Dodgers in last year’s National League Division Series. But with starters Merrill Kelly and Zac Gallen on the mound, the odds didn’t matter. Kelly and Gallen each notched a win in the NLDS, allowing a combined two runs over 11 2/3 innings in the series’ first two games. The D-backs shocked the Dodgers in three games, rallied to beat the Phillies in seven in the NLCS, and advanced to the World Series. The moral of the story: These days, you don’t need pitching icons like Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine or John Smoltz of the 1990s Braves to sneak into the playoffs and make some noise. In 2017-18, the Rockies had a powerful one-two punch in right-hander German Marquez and lefty Kyle Freeland. But Marquez is still rehabbing from Tommy John surgery, and Freeland, who turns 31 in May, is trying to rebound from a 2023 season in which he went 6-14 with a 5.03 ERA. As a group last season, Rockies starters posted a 5.91 ERA, the highest in the majors and the second-highest in franchise history. So, perhaps the question is, who will anchor the Rockies’ future rotation? Could it be Chase Dollander, the right-hander out of Tennessee who was the ninth overall pick in last year’s draft? Could it be righthander Gabriel Hughes, the 10th overall pick out of Gonzaga in 2022? He had Tommy John surgery last July, so his future remains cloudy. General manager Bill Schmidt has made trades and used draft picks to acquire a bushel of minor league arms, hoping the Rockies can strike it rich. “Somebody is going to surprise us in that group,” he insists.