MSP: Odd prices on certain routes?

Anyone else noticing really odd pricing for routes that used to have sensible prices?

MSP-DCA or MSP-IAD on Sunday/Monday evening and returning Thursday afternoon was normally $500-$700 if you booked a couple of weeks in advance. Currently, it's over $1000 for booking over a month in advance. I've looked at this route through January 2015 and it's still the same price. Furthermore, the price is only high if you depart out of MSP.

An example to illustrate the point -

OUTBOUND Sun, 02 Nov 2014 | 7:25pm MSP to 10:45pm DCA DL 2164
RETURN Thu, 06 Nov 2014 | 2:45pm DCA to 4:25pm MSP DL 1763
Total: $1,080.20 (USD)

If I were to depart from Rochester, MN (75 miles away from MSP) on the same day and take the same flights MSP-DCA-MSP -

OUTBOUND Sun, 02 Nov 2014 |3:49pm RST to 10:45pm DCA DL 5222, DL 2164
RETURN Thu, 06 Nov 2014 |2:45pm DCA to 8:15pm RST DL 1763 , DL 3961
Total: $525.70 (USD)

I understand that certain city-pair routes are discounted but I'm calling shenanigans on charging MSP hub captives more than twice as much (at least in this case) as people connecting.

Am I missing something?