What kind of magic do you feel on an opening weekend when the hometown team is staring a fourth-straight 100-loss season in the face?
Oddly enough… some?
It’s true that hope didn’t exactly spring eternal during the training season of 2026 for the Colorado Rockies. Nobody expects this team to win much of anything. A 19-game improvement would be considered a solid bounce back. And still see them in triple-digit losses.
So why hope? Why watch? Why go to the ballpark on a sunny afternoon or a cool summer evening?
Outside of the fact that Denver will always be a great baseball town and Coors Field is a splendid place to spend some time, something is different this year. Something is new.
On paper, the Rockies offseason acquisitions amount to finally getting some guys who can actually play at the MLB level. Willi Castro, Jake McCarthy, Michael Lorenzen. These are not All-Stars or headline-grabbing players. But they are better than the huge question marks who stood in their place in season’s past.
Make no mistake, these and a handful of other veterans will not power this team to a Cinderella story. Probably. Most likely. But something is different this year. Let’s put aside the stats for a minute. Let us wander away from the path of the… purely logical.
Things feel different around this Colorado Rockies team.
In the years leading up to the trade of Nolan Arenado, there was a long dark path. Exuberance of back-to-back postseasons turned toxic after back-to-back disappointments. The team crumbled and completely fell apart. So did the whole world for a minute there. Arenado was traded. A pall was cast upon the Colorado Rockies. A curse.
From that moment forward, the vibes were dead. Fan apathy and anger grew to all-time highs. Every game felt like a foregone conclusion. Even momentary joys like the rise of Nolan Jones were followed by frustrating lows. Like the fall of Nolan Jones. Everything was pain. But then, at some unknown point, things started to change.
Bud Black was gone. Walker Monfort was promoted. They got Ethan Holliday in the draft. And suddenly, despite the historic losing, they didn’t feel quite so cursed anymore.
Then came the big news. A full front office overhaul. Out will Bill Schmidt and most of his team and in with Paul DePodesta, Josh Byrnes and a new regime. Just like that, the Rockies were under new management. What felt like decades of entrenchment went out the window in one fell swoop. It happened so fast, it would be no surprise if it gave you whiplash.
And it’s not just that the names are new. The team pulled a complete 180 when it comes to their approach to analytics. Previously showing only a passing interest in the concept, they now employ the Moneyball guy. They went from having the least experienced rotation in MLB to carrying Jose Quintana, who has the third highest workload among active starters.
Not everything is better. But things are different.
It was evident in Spring Training. For the first time in a while, nothing particularly controversial happened. Young players were not blocked by aging veterans. No catastrophic injuries occurred. The roster fell into place in a way that made total sense. In short, nothing weird happened.
So, off to Miami to face the Marlins. And get swept. Nevermind. Same old Rockies, right? Sure, the results were the same, but things did feel different. For starters, the starters.
Kyle Freeland, Michael Lorenzen, and Jose Quintana were all fine. Not great. Not terrible. And definitely not efficient. But they each pitched well enough to keep their club in the game.
The defense? Also fine. Apart from one play that the normally spectacular Brenton Doyle didn’t make in center, everyone looked on point. Oddly enough, the one player who brough a questionable defensive profile to the Opening Day lineup, first baseman TJ Rumfield, made a few nice plays in the series.
The offense? Take a guess. Yep, once again they were fine. Of course, they didn’t score a ton of runs. Only seven total. But they also didn’t strike out a ton, hitting double digits only once. Yes, that bar is pretty low. Same can be said for the defense. Nothing spectacular. Nothing embarrassing. Baby steps.
So, that brings us back to vibes. Sure, you can look at run differential and strikeouts and a few other stats. And we just have. But it’s hard to explain just how different this felt.
At every position, a professional. In every at-bat, a decent showing. No, this series will not win over any cynics. No, it’s not a sign of a dramatic shift to come. In the grand scheme of things, it’s still just three baseball games out of 162.
What does it all mean? Hard to say. It might mean nothing. These might be the first few signs of a bold new era. We might be taking the first steps into something great. Or something terrible. Crystal balls are in short supply these days.
Thing do feel different, though. They most definitely feel different. Will they be different? Let’s watch and find out.
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