For a franchise such as the Colorado Rockies, this season’s late surge and unforeseen success in the postseason is a tremendous surprise. With but a single player on their roster known throughout the baseball world—the grizzly Todd Helton—and a cast of who-knews, has-beens, and never-was, this year’s Rockies team was expected to do what they have in years past.
But all that changed when the Rockies won 13 of their last 14 games en route to season’s end dead heat with the San Diego Padres for the wild card. The one game playoff to decide who was going to the postseason saw the Rockies fall behind by two runs in the ninth inning, ushering in all-time saves leader and Padres closer Trevor Hoffman to finish them off.
But it would not be so. The Rockies slugged their way to a triumphant three-run inning and beat the struggling Hoffman.
A dominant three game sweep of the NL East Champion Phillies followed and the Rockies were catapulted into their first National League Championship Series, by far the most success this Colorado franchise has ever had.
In the NLCS opener Thursday night, they defeated Arizona in Phoenix to take a 1-0 series lead, and they repeated the feat on Friday. For the Diamondbacks, a tall task lay ahead: no team had ever rallied back from a 0-2 series deficit when losing the first two games at home. Such was the plight of Arizona, and like a house of cards in the breeze, they were blown away in games 3 and 4 to complete the sweep.
The Rockies are currently riding a 10 game road win streak, and have won 21 of their last 22 games—21 of their last 22. It is an accomplishment that will define the Rockies for many years—more so if they can complete this epic run with a World Series victory over the American League’s finest: either the Boston Red Sox or Cleveland Indians. The Diamondbacks tested them, but not nearly enough. The two teams brought a plethora of youth to the table, with previously unknown young stars emerging. However, aside from St. Louis’s surprising World Series victory over the seemingly unstoppable Detroit Tigers last year, the American League has appeared to be the dominating league between the two in recent years.
So with the ALCS only in Game Four and the NLCS already complete, it will be interesting to see if a little time off will ice the red hot Rockies and rebalance the playing field.
It is important to note that for all their consistency over this stretch, the Rockies have needed a few mini-miracles. They saw one against Hoffman in the one game playoff, and they employed another Friday night when Willy Taveras made a sensational catch in right center to perhaps save the game for Colorado.
But what is driving the Rocky Mountain Juggernaut, the Silver Bullet, the Cinderella Mountain Men?
In the first two games of the NLCS, in Phoneix, the Diamondbacks out-hit the Rockies in many regards. According to Yahoo! Sports, the Diamondbacks have a “well-hit” average of .288, meaning regardless of the outcome, 28.8 percent of Arizona at-bats are resulting in hard line drives, deep drives, or sharp ground balls. On the other hand, Colorado only hit the ball on the screws in six of 71 team at bats for a cringe-worthy 0.085 well-hit average.
The truth is, the trusty combination of pitching and defense, mixed with a few heroics, has kept Colorado alive. Despite putting better swings on the ball, Arizona hitters ultimately lost the duel with the Colorado staff, and failed to capitalize on many occasions. Of course, the fact that the Rockies entered the postseason with the best single season fielding percentage in MLB history has contributed significantly.
But there have been big moments too. The Rockies took Game Three at home when catcher Yorvit Torrealba launched a tiebreaking three-run home run in what would end a 4-1 victory. And of course, the Colorado bats pounded out six runs in the fourth inning of Game Four en route to a 6-4 series-clinching victory.
So when the great Todd Helton squeezed the final out at first base and lifted his arms victoriously: his emergence from mediocrity complete, when the raucous on-field celebration began, when an expansion franchise reached its first World Series, October took another big step towards becoming Rocktober.
