SAN FRANCISCO — Nolan Arenado is going to the playoffs.
Although he’d rather get dusty and sweaty flagging down groundballs at third base and hitting home runs, he’ll soon be sitting and watching the playoffs.
“I know some people say, ‘I’m not watching the playoffs because I’m not in them,’ but I’m a fan of baseball,” Arenado said. “I love the game, I love watching the best play, so I’ll be watching those guys on the big stage. Hopefully, one day, they’ll enjoy watching me on the big stage.”
But make no mistake about it, Arenado, the Rockies’ face of today and tomorrow, became a must-see attraction this season.
PHOTOS:
He finished with 42 home runs, tied with Washington’s Bryce Harper for most in the National League. Arenado’s 130 RBIs led the majors. His 89 extra-base hits set an all-time record for third basemen.
Come November, Arenado likely will win his third consecutive Gold Glove.
“What Nolan did offensively and defensively for this team … I don’t think there is anybody in baseball who does as much on both sides,” said veteran first baseman Justin Morneau, who drove in the go-ahead runs with a two-run single in the ninth inning Sunday in the Rockies’ come-from-behind, 7-3 victory over San Francisco to finish the season. “He’s the best defensive third baseman that I’ve ever seen, and he’s so young.”
Arenado, 24, went into Sunday’s game at sun-splashed AT&T Park hoping to slug one more home run and win the home run title outright. Instead, he went 1-for-3, singling in Colorado’s seven-run ninth inning. So he’ll share the title with Harper, the likely National League MVP who was 1-for-4 in Washington’s 1-0 loss to the New York Mets.
“Absolutely, no question I wanted it for myself,” Arenado said, flashing a big grin. “That’s the competitiveness in me. I wanted it all by myself. But you have to give Harper credit. He hit a bomb yesterday. And he had an unbelievable year, and he’s probably the MVP.”
It was a bittersweet season for Arenado.
Colorado finished 68-94, a mere two-game improvement from last year. It was the third time in the last four seasons the Rockies lost 90 or more games. Plus, in late July, the Rockies traded shortstop Troy Tulowitzki, Arenado’s close friend and mentor, to Toronto. Now Tulo’s Blue Jays are in the playoffs and Arenado will be rooting for Tulo to win it all.
“Tulo’s my boy, of course I want him to win it,” Arenado said.
As for his own accomplishments, Arenado said: “After the season’s over and I’m at home, it’s going to sink in more about what happened. I can look back and say it was a great year, individually.
” But I don’t train as hard as I do for individual awards. I want to get to the playoffs and I train for 180 games, not 162. That’s what I do. That’s my goal every year, to help us win. I did the best I could.”
While the Rockies’ season was a downer, they came back from the dead to shock the Giants. The last time the Rockies scored seven runs in top of the ninth for a road comeback win was in 2000 in the season finale at Atlanta.
Corey Dickerson tied Sunday’s game in the ninth with a three-run home run to right off reliever George Kontos. Then Morneau, in likely his final at-bat for Colorado, broke the 3-3 tie with a pinch-hit, two-run, bases-loaded single to right off Cody Hall. Charlie Blackmon drove in two more runs with a single, eliciting grumbles and boos from a sellout crowd that had been celebrating only minutes before.
The Giants loaded the bases in the bottom of the ninth against closer John Axford, but Axford struck out Matt Duffy and induced Buster Posey into grounding out to Arenado to end the drama.
“This was a snapshot of our season, really, when you look at it,” said manager Walt Weiss, who still doesn’t know if he will return for his fourth season. “We dug ourselves a quite a hole, like we did early today, and we always tried to fight back out of that hole. Sometimes we did, sometimes we didn’t. Today we did.”
Patrick Saunders: psaunders@denverpost.com or @psaundersdp
Rollin’ Nolan
Rockies third baseman Nolan Arenado had one of the best seasons in Rockies history. A look:
• 42 home runs, tied with Washington’s Bryce Harper for the National League lead and the most by a Rockie since Todd Helton hit 49 in 2001.
• 130 RBIs, most in the majors and most by a Rockie since Matt Holliday’s in 137 in 2007.
• 89 extra-base hits, the most in major league history by a third baseman.
• Arenado became just the third third baseman all-time (Detroit’s Miguel Cabrera 2012, Toronto’s Josh Donaldson 2015) to collect 40 doubles, 40 homers and 120 RBIs in a season.
* According to the Elias Sports Bureau
