The World Series is Major League Baseball’s final test of the season, and both Texas and Arizona are looking to ace it with a ring.

Colorado is in a far different, less-secure position.

After the franchise’s first 100-loss season, the Rockies are looking for answers. Their season fell short of the playoffs for the fifth consecutive year and set up the club for another offseason of questions.

Here are grades for each part of the franchise, and what the outlook is going forward for each:

Infield

Ezequiel Tovar is the future of the Rockies and their infield, but he could not save the unit as a rookie with his standout season.

Brendan Rodgers and Kris Bryant — a late addition to the infield after a position switch following his lengthy stint on the injured list — are both incomplete grades. Neither was able to put together an entire season of at-bats, but Rodgers had four home runs in his final 11 games and Bryant showed glimpses, too. But, he only hit .233 in his 300 at-bats in 2023.

What’s more, Ryan McMahon was positioned as the team’s anchor amidst injuries and veteran trades but had his most costly strikeout season yet. He whiffed a career-high 198 times and set the franchise’s single-season record ahead of Trevor Story (191).

The Rockies finished in the bottom third of production by wins above replacement (WAR) at every infield position and finished dead last in second-base production and 29th in first-base production.

Defense is the unit’s saving grace. Tovar and McMahon are both Gold Glove finalists and though each will likely fall short of winning the award, they make up an infield that could boast three Gold Glove winners soon if you include Rodgers’ win in 2022.

For a unit that was largely healthy, it fell short of producing.

Grade: C+

Outfield

Put blinders on, focus on the outfield and the Rockies look like an encouraging organization.

Brenton Doyle is in line for his first Gold Glove win as a rookie. Nolan Jones fell short of earning a finalist nod but racked up a franchise-record 19 outfield assists and a top-10 mark in the majors in defensive runs saved (10).

On top of his defense, Jones also accounted for the franchise’s first 20-steal, 20-home run season for a rookie.

Value at the plate outside of Jones is where things get dicey.

Doyle dealt with swing deficiencies that will be ironed out in the offseason and was not able to eclipse the Mendoza line until the final week en route to a .203 average. As a group, the outfield accounted for the fewest WAR in the majors.

The mark is somewhat deceiving, though.

Charlie Blackmon missed a portion of June and all of July with a broken hand. When he returned, he hit .377 in August and got on base in nearly half his chances (.492). Jones’ breakout at the plate also came without a full season after he started the year in Triple-A Albuquerque.

In 106 games, Jones got on base at a .389 clip, and a cut down on his 126 strikeouts could result in more production in his second season with the club.

Sean Bouchard, Hunter Goodman and others in the minors are also part of the club’s deepest group, and the front office may have to subtract from it to help other areas. Of all the Rockies’ concerns, the outfield is likely lowest on the list.

Grade: A-

Rotation

Sometimes a test results in a bad grade, all while the deck is stacked against a team.

The Rockies rotation was bad in 2023 — bad as in nearly setting the franchise’s all-time earned run average record for a season (5.91) but finishing second worst instead thanks to the 1999 season (6.19).

A lot of factors went into the unit’s struggles, and health was paramount among them.

Kyle Freeland, Germán Márquez, Austin Gomber, José Ureña and Ryan Feltner made up the opening-day rotation. By the end of the season, even their replacements had been sent to the infirmary.

Márquez and Antonio Senzatela both underwent Tommy John surgery; Ureña may have thrown his last pitches in the majors as part of a 6.45 ERA in 2023; Gomber and Freeland each dealt with injuries and finished the year on the injured list and Feltner missed nearly the entire season after a comebacker hit him in the head and caused a severe concussion and skull fractures.

The number of injuries rivaled any team in the league. The only problem is the Rockies’ depth fell woefully short of those other beaten-up clubs.

Peter Lambert showed he may be back from his own issues with injuries, and Ty Blach showed his versatility as both a long reliever and starter. Outside of those two, there were few bright spots, especially once the final wave of injuries hit Gomber and Freeland in the midst of their quality pitching.

Entering the season, depth was already a question. Ureña’s inclusion in the opening-day rotation said as much, even before the glut of injuries and poor performance came to light.

Colorado’s leading area of concern entering the offseason should be the rotation. A promising and record-setting season under manager Bud Black in 2018 has given way to some of the franchise’s darkest days on the mound.

Grade: F

Bullpen

Depending on when you tuned in, the Rockies boasted either one of the best or worst bullpens you saw in 2023, and there were few moments in between.

Justin Lawrence, Jake Bird and Daniel Bard each had standout stretches during the year. Lawrence carried a sub-3.00 ERA in four respective months. Bird made 13 appearances in May and carried a 1.65 ERA as part of his league-high innings pitched in 2023 (84 1/3). Even Bard, despite his struggles with physical and mental health, was able to make 10 appearances in May in which he held opponents to a .171 batting average and 0.79 ERA.

The other side of the results is where the bullpen’s numbers went sideways.

Fatigue, though denied publicly, was clearly a factor in the team’s final weeks.

Lawrence, Bard, Tyler Kinley and Nick Mears all took losses from the bullpen in the team’s final weeks and the late innings became a recurring nightmare for the Rockies. They blew 53 leads as a team and, at one point, lost six consecutive games in which they led in the sixth inning or later.

Colorado’s 5.41 bullpen ERA was the worst in the majors and its fifth-worst mark for a season in franchise history.

Lawrence, Bird and Kinley all have the “stuff” and makeup to become quality relievers in the majors if they have not already. But the Connor Seabold long-relief experiment, lack of depth and revolving door at closer did not help the unit’s chances.

There is a reason the Rockies have shifted their organizational focus to pitching, pitching and a little bit more pitching. The mound was a miserable place for the club in 2023.

Grade: D+

Bench

Few teams in the majors have a dominant bench, and the Rockies are no exception.

Bouchard was responsible for the only two pinch-hit home runs of the year for Colorado and the club’s first did not come until Sept. 30 — the regular season’s final week.

The Rockies’ substitutes accounted for minus-0.3 WAR, which was 27th in the majors ahead of only San Diego, Cleveland and Kansas City.

Harold Castro, Bouchard and Alan Trejo headlined the group that was mostly expected to platoon during the year with rare pinch-hit opportunities if the same platoon splits called for it.

Concern over the unit’s inability to contribute is low. There are a few teams with a solidified starting nine, and much less depth on the bench too.

The Rockies’ reserves figure to improve as more talent arrives in the majors.

Grade: C-

Management

A chef without ingredients is hardly a chef at all.

Colorado’s lack of talent depth has never been more apparent, likely in the franchise’s history. A 100-loss season was fitting, given the direction the Rockies have been in since back-to-back playoff appearances in 2017 and 2018.

Black is responsible for attempting to turn chicken scratch into chicken salad and has been unable to do so in recent years. It is hard to put the blame solely on the skipper.

He has made efforts to improve the coaching staff and brought in Hensley ‘Bam Bam’ Meulens to lead the young offense. Third base coach Warren Schaeffer will almost certainly manage one day, and Mike Redmond brings managerial experience to the bench coach spot, too.

The group is creating a positive atmosphere and oversaw several season-long improvements from young players like Jones, Tovar and Doyle.

The win-loss results were the franchise’s worst in its 30-year history. It is hard to imagine any other staff providing greater results, given the franchise’s talent restraints. Even the league’s best coaching staff would likely only add a handful of wins.

Black and company have proved that with the right ingredients, the Rockies can make the postseason. The shopping list is long though, and several minor leaguers will likely have to outperform expectations to fix it.

Grade: B-