The Colorado Rockies remain one game ahead of the surprising Cleveland Indians in the overall MLB Standings after they took two of three from the Cubs over the weekend. At 12-3 the Rockies hold a four-game lead in the NL West, and the Cleveland Indians (11-4) hold just a one-game lead over equally surprising Kansas City Royals. Out of the three teams, Cleveland and Kansas City are the more surprising. The Rockies at least had some expectations of being able to do something like this. The other two? Hardly, having won 69 games and 67 games, respectively, in 2010.
How have the Rockies gotten their so far? Offensively, Troy Tulowitzki has started out strong with a 1.322 OPS (7 HR, 1 3B). Looking at advanced metrics, Tulo has a .528 weighted On-Base Average (wOBA), which is exceptional since .330 is considered league-average. Weighted On-Base Average is scaled according to on-base percentage, but meant to take into account that not all hits are equal. Anyway you chalk it up, Tulowitzki is off to a fine start.
The Rockies' pitching staff has done well enough as well, ranking eighth in ERA (3.43) and13th in FIP (3.85). They are tied for third in overall bWAR at 2.6 so far.
One of those teams the Rockies are tied with in bWAR are their next opponent, the San Francisco Giants. The Giants are four games behind the Rockies with an 8-7 record. Tim Lincecum and Jonathan Sanchez are striking batters out at more than 10 per nine innings. And Matt Cain has stranded 91 percent of baserunners in three starts. But the offense leaves much to be desired, holding a .318 wOBA.
No matter the outcome of this upcoming series with the Giants, the Rockies will remain in first place through Wednesday.
Here the NL West standings through Sunday: