Colorado

Rockies

The first-year pitching coach struggled at the helm of the Rockies’ staff in 2026 as they struggled to a 5.59 ERA and 1.52 WHIP that each ranked dead last in all of baseball. It’s possible that Leichman did the best that he could with what he had to work with, but the Rockies will go with a new direction for their pitching staff in 2027. It’ll be interesting to see how wide of a net they cast in their search for a replacement, as most experienced options may shy away from such a difficult opportunity.

Kyle Freeland had a very Kyle Freeland start in his final outing of 2026, and that’s poetic. He finished with a 4-12 record and a 6.65 ERA. He’ll hit free agency for the first time, and interest will likely be scarce. Not invisible, but scarce.

Carrigg hit his 12th and final homer of the season with a solo shot off Trevor Richards in the eighth. The 24-year-old put together a solid season with a .279/.341/.477 slash, and should be a regular for Colorado for 2027 and the foreseeable future.

Only the Rockies. This was a meaningful game for their opponent, too, but not as meaningful as a .300 batting average. Rumfield singled in the first inning Saturday and then was replaced prior to his second at-bat, leaving him at .300/.390/.453 in 631 plate appearances for the year. He’s been a great success as a 26-year-old rookie, but given that he’s sported some of the league’s weakest exit velocity numbers, he still doesn’t seem like a very good bet going forward.

Goodman’s second homer increased the Rockies’ lead from 6-3 to 9-3 in the top of the ninth. That proved quite important after Jordan Romano gave up a three-run homer to Andrew Benintendi in the bottom of the inning. Goodman’s 40th homer season is the 15th by the ninth different player in Rockies history. He’s tied for fifth in the majors with 41 homers, and he’s first among qualified hitters in AB/HR at 12.56.

Quintana gave up homers to Brenton Doyle and Luisangel Acuña, two players who had combined for five home runs all year. Quintana ends up with a 5.44 ERA in a year in which he was limited to 11 starts by an elbow sprain. He’ll be 38 next year, and he’ll probably have to take a minor league contract if he wants to continue pitching.

Feltner spent the last two weeks in the pen after opening up 5-10 with a 5.88 ERA and did well in allowing just one earned run over 11 2/3 innings in three appearances. He should be back in the rotation mix for the Rockies next year, but he needs to figure out how to record a few more strikeouts. His K rate was down to 17 percent this year.

Rumfield blasted a solo shot off Sean Burke in the top of the second inning to give the Rockies their first and only run of the game. It was the 16th homer of the season for Rumfield, who has homered three times in September while slashing a scorcing .351/.425/.545.

The White Sox wasted little time getting after Sugano. After a sacrifice fly by Miguel Vargas brought home Kyle Teel to put the Sox on the board, Munetaka Murakami added to the lead with a 403-foot solo homer to put Chicago up 2-0. Sugano would make it out of the second inning without much trouble, but gave up another in the third inning on a sacrifice fly by Teel to bring home Braden Montgomery. Sugano would end up tying a season-high in innings pitched in this one, making it through 6 2/3 innings before being pulled after allowing another homer to Murakami and then a single to Randal Grichuk with two outs. The soon-to-be 37-year-old righty ends the year with a 12-12 record and a 5.37 ERA and is set to enter free agency this offseason.

Norby has been seeing regular action between second base and third base for the Rockies down the stretch, but he’ll take a seat in this one while Adael Amador starts in his place at second base and will bat second against White Sox’ right-hander Sean Burke. Norby has hit .306/.387/.468 with three homers, 17 RBI and four stolen bases in 142 plate appearances since joining the Rockies.