We're not going streaking! Rockies keep their clothes on

Much like Will Ferrell from the American classic Old School, the Colorado Rockies days of wildly going streaking appear to be well behind them. Sure, seven or 10 years ago, the Rockies were defined by their penchant for craziness. Weren’t we all?

They’d go streaking, especially in ’07 and ’09, they’d party for 22 innings in San Diego, experience some massive summer hangovers, wake up in the winter time wondering how so much promise went down the drain so quickly, and then make all the same mistakes over again the next year.

They’re not doing that anymore. They’re keeping their clothes on. They’re acting like adults (or at least pretending as well as any of the rest of us) and they are playing winning baseball the way the big boys do.

The Colorado Rockies have grown up.

In baseball, you are going to lose. You are going to lose a lot. The Chicago Cubs won the World Series a year ago and lost 58 times, and several times in the postseason. As much fun as it can be to have a team get hot and ride that wave straight into the face of the sun (see: September 2007) what is even more encouraging is watching a team that never seems to allow a bad loss to carry over into the next day. Because there will be bad losses. The Saturday game against the Reds, where Colorado blew an 8-3 lead, is about as bad as they come. It was also a perfect symbol for why baseball seasons require so many games.

Because there is so much losing in baseball, long stretches of winning have to be interrupted by cold streaks for the universe to right itself (see: Late October 2007) and that can make teams look like Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde. But the Rockies seem determined to put those days behind them. They were so much younger then, they’re older than that now.

Gone are the days of breaking up with a manager in the middle of a season and relying on highly volatile talent to stay on the field. No more sprinting in the middle of a marathon.

Of course, it’s a bit ridiculous to suggest that winning streaks are somehow a bad thing. Every ballplayer and coach will tell you that ever win is good, and every loss is bad. But winning streaks do rob teams of learning something that every team with hopes to contend must learn about itself; How do you respond after a tough loss? Not just on Sunday afternoon but all year we have witnessed the Rockies bounce right back. This is how, despite having swept just one series and not having won even five-in-a-row yet, the Rockies have the best record in the National League.

With extraordinary consistency, Colorado has taken nearly every series in front of them, regardless of when the inevitable loss comes. Blow an 8-3 lead one day and on the verge of squandering a 6-1 lead the next, but hang on to win 6-4 to move to 6-0-1 (stupid two-game sets) away from Coors Field.

They aren’t riding a wave of good fortune in any sense. They’ve had injuries, gotten a few spotty outings from their young, inexperienced starters, began the season with a cold offense, and now have even seen the bullpen kick away a game in spectacular fashion. They’ve lost because of failings in each aspect of the game at one point or another. But they’ve also won because of success in each aspect of the game and they’ve done that quite a bit more often.

What’s crazy is, like a 30-year-old trying to relive their college days, once your momentum is stopped the merits of going streaking get lost real fast. The Rockies have had their momentum broken over and over and over again in 2017, but because they wake up each morning less like Will Ferrell in Old School and more like Will Ferrell in Anchorman — brimming with an abundance of confidence — every day feels like a day the Rockies can win. No matter what happened the day before.