In October of last year, the long beleaguered Chicago Cubs made history with a World Series victory no one could have predicted. As they raised the Commissioner’s Trophy to the sky, many baseball fans felt a changing of the guard. Someone new would need to take up the title of the “lovable losers,” the team that says “this is the year” every year. Many felt the Colorado Rockies would be that team.
They don’t have the history behind them, the endless curses or the tortured anthems, but the relatively young and battered franchise has one monumental myth to overcome: you can’t win championships in Denver.
The altitude makes pitching impossible, the stadium makes hitting too easy and real talent is too afraid to come here. Yes, Rockies fans have heard it all, but it may be time to say “this is the year.”
There was a feeling of change in the air last season, as things began clicking in all the right ways on both offense and defense. The bats were consistently hot throughout the order, earning the Rockies the most runs scored for the year. The starting rotation, full of promising rookies, looked to be the most efficient pitching unit the team had in quite some time. However, despite a slew of positives, injuries and a poor bullpen consistently let the Rockies down in the second half of the year. They walked away with yet another losing season.
However, a productive offseason has the Rockies looking even more like contenders. New manager Bud Black focused on rebuilding the bullpen, setting up the veterans as effective relievers and signing big names Mike Dunn and Greg Holland as the set-up man and closer, respectively. The starting rotation continued to develop, as rookies Antonio Senzatela and Kyle Freeland stepped up to round out the promising trio of ace Jon Gray, Tyler Anderson and Tyler Chatwood.
Chad Bettis’s sidelining due to cancer and injuries to catcher Tom Murphy as well as to expensive new signee Ian Desmond—slated to play at first—made spring training slightly frightening. However, both veterans and rookies have risen to the occasion.
The Rockies won both of their opening week series, taking three of four against the Milwaukee Brewers and two of three from the Los Angeles Dodgers. All of these appearances marked sensational appearances from the restructured bullpen and solid starts from Senzatela and Freeland. Lesser known veterans Mark Reynolds and Gerardo Parra stole the spotlight from the rest of the order, raking hit after hit. Reynolds, looking to prove himself after being replaced by Desmond, led the National League in RBIs for the week and proved he may be an invaluable tool in this power offense.
Not everything has been positive, as the veteran starters have put in some rocky starts and the top of the order has been searching for its rhythm, but the strength of the bullpen and the efficiency of the rest of the order at the plate is making it look like a playoff run is entirely in the cards. With things only looking better as injured players will begin to return within the month, it may be time for Rocktober in Denver once again.
