The Washington Nationals entered the 2018 season with the same core of players that won the National League East by an impressive 20 games the previous year and were expected to do much of the same in the final year before Bryce Harper entered free agency. To think they would fall short of their ultimate goal once again only to win…

Antonio Senzatela has come a long way since signing as a 16-year-old out of Venezuela, both literally and figuratively. After an injury-plagued season at Double-A in 2016, Senzatela made the Opening Day roster in 2017 with a mere seven starts about Class High-A. The 22-year-old tossed five shutout innings in his big league debut to begin the season in Milwaukee…

According to a report on Friday by Bob Nightengale of USA Today, Major League Baseball is discussing an alternate site season that would utilize Spring Training facilities in Arizona and Florida to conduct a shortened 2020 season. In order to facilitate such a plan, the concept of American and National League would no longer exist. Instead, Cactus League and Grapefruit…

In the 27 seasons of the Colorado Rockies, several speedy purple players have been seen sprinting along the base paths of Mile High Stadium and Coors Field. Eric Young Sr once led the National League in stolen bases with 53 in 1996; Dexter Fowler and Charlie Blackmon each sat atop all of MLB with 14 triples in 2010 and 2017,…

When Nolan Arenado’s batting average dipped below .200 following a fly ball out in his first at bat, there was no real cause for alarm; while it may have been only the 11th game of his first full-season in the majors, the 22-year-old would have preferred a better start. In his second at bat, he laced a single past the…

In the wake of the 1994 players’ strike that caused the cancellation of the World Series, part of the collateral damage for the small market Montréal Expos was the need to cut costs on what was already the second-lowest payroll in MLB. After trading closer John Wetteland to the New York Yankees, even more Expos players, including three All-Stars, moved…

For any athlete to be drafted by his childhood team is nothing short of a dream come true. To have been raised in the same city a mere month after the franchise was born adds another dimension to the dream. So it came without any shock that it would all come to fruition for Denver’s Kyle Freeland to make his…

Outside of the delayed start to the 1995 season, April 6 has been the latest any Colorado Rockies season has welcomed an Opening Day. With Clint Hurdle at the helm, the Rockies opened the 2009 season only a year removed from winning the National League Championship. While they would return to the playoffs by season’s end for the second time…

It was not until Eric Young stepped to the plate at Shea Stadium against Dwight Gooden and the New York Mets that the state of Colorado and the city of Denver was finally deemed as the Big Leagues on April 5, 1993. For years, the Mile High City was home to top flight minor league clubs like the Denver Bears/Zephyrs and…

On Opening Day 2016, Colorado traveled to Arizona to pit their shiny new toys against one another. During the offseason, Zack Greinke opted out of a three-year, $71M pact ($23.7M average annual salary) with the Los Angeles Dodgers only to stick around in the NL West and sign with the Diamondbacks on a six-year, $206.5M pact ($34.4M average annual salary).…

When Charlie Blackmon’s name was penciled into the lineup by new Colorado manager Bud Black on Opening Day 2017, it marked the fourth straight season Mr. Nazty began the year atop the lineup. Stepping to the plate at Milwaukee’s Miller Park, Blackmon broke the tie with Walt Weiss for the franchise record in batting leadoff in game one. (He has since…

With three Opening Day celebrations on this date, only one did not result in a win. Although Colorado would lose 8-6 to the Diamondbacks in the first game of 2007, the year would be the most successful in franchise history. Even after the 8-6 loss at the hands of Arizona to begin the season, Colorado would enter play on May…

With six Opening Days on this date, April 1 has been the starting point for more seasons than any other on the calendar: 1997, 2002, 2003, 2008, 2011 and 2013. While Colorado is 15-12 on Opening Day all-time, only one of those April 1 openers has resulted in a win. Even more sadly, just one of the aforementioned years produced…

A rudimentary internet search reveals the first game played at Coors Field took place April 26, 1995. Dante Bichette stepped to the plate in the bottom of the 14th inning and launched a three-run walk-off homer into the night to christen the new stadium in the grandest way possible. However, that’s not entirely accurate. Before the delayed start of the…

The disparity between 5,280 feet above sea level at Coors Field and the relative zero feet of elevation of most coastal cities has often plagued any traveling baseball team tasked to make adjustments on the hitting and pitching side of the game. So, when the Rockies were gifted with a three-game series against the Marlins to begin their 2019 season…

Coming off a successful 2017 campaign that saw the Rockies make the playoffs for the first time in eight years by winning the second National League Wild Card, your pals in purple picked up right where they left off for Opening Day 2018: Chase Field in Phoenix, AZ. The 11-8 loss in the NL Wild Card game the previous season…

For many on the Front Range, Thursday was supposed to represent not only the rebirth of a new season, but the dawning of a new decade in Colorado Rockies history. Instead of the eternal hope that springs forth on Opening Day, society has screeched to a halt all across the country with merely the hope for survival taking precedence over…

DNVR Rockies beat reporters Drew Creasman and Patrick Lyons battle for supremacy discussing various hot topics pertaining to the inhabitants of 2001 Blake Street as well all the scuttlebutt in-and-around the game of baseball. The overriding confidence that starting pitcher Kyle Freeland will have a bounce back season is one of the biggest takeaways coming out of Scottsdale this spring…

It may be the eighth game of Spring Training already, but some Rockies pitchers are just starting to shake off the winter rust and get into Cactus League games. German Márquez, Wade Davis, Jake McGee and Scott Oberg made their 2020 premier on Sunday at Salt River Fields in a 6-3 victory over the Los Angeles Angels. Márquez was fantastic…