Love of Denver has become contagious among the Colorado Rockies pitching staff

Why are the Colorado Rockies good?

We can squabble over the details all day and we will continue to for the rest of 2018 and well into 2019. Should they have gone after more offensive weapons? Could a more proactive approach have led to a more satisfying end to the season? Will the Rockies be content with simply making the postseason and not take the necessary steps to make themselves legitimate championship contenders?

But one cannot earnestly hold the position that the Colorado baseball club hasn’t taken huge strides over the last two years, taking them from afterthought to firmly in the mix.

And they’ve done it with a myriad of moves, though most of them come with questions marks. Did Jeff Bridich and company really get the best veterans to combine with their young players? Should they have trusted the latter a bit more than the former? And what in the world went on in the bullpen?

The one element of the team where there are more answers than questions (though still plenty of both) is the starting pitching.

This is well known by now. This group of Rockies’ starters just put together the best all-around pitching season in franchise history. Denver-native Kyle Freeland set a new mark for best ERA and while he gobbled up the headlines and attention required for covering a hometown hero, his running mate from Venezuela quietly began to dominate opposing hitters in a way we haven’t seen since Ubaldo Jimenez and Pedro Astacio.

And while clamoring for the kid from Colorado to pitch in the NLDS, an understandable disappointment for fans, it seems to have been a bit forgotten that German Marquez’ development, and embrace of Coors Field, was just as important to getting the club into the dance for the second consecutive year.

Nobody who is paying attention is at all confused about how much Freeland loves the place where he grew up but Marquez has made it home as well.

“As far as pitching here, it’s a special place,” he says. “This is the team that gave me a chance to make it to the Big Leagues, and there’s always going to be a special place in my heart for the city of Denver and for this team. And the fan support has been awesome. They’ve embraced me like no other, and I’m grateful for that.”

He didn’t quite dominate the cacophonous confines of Coors the way Freeland did, but he has managed to navigate the treacherous waters as well as anyone, emerging at the age of 23 as one of the most promising pitchers to ever pull on a Rockies jersey.

It’s their arms that get the ink, but it’s their minds that set them apart.

And their mentality has begun to rub off on an entire rotation that can now look to their performances and arrive at the conclusion that there is no room for excuses; you can be among the best pitchers in baseball while pitching half your games at altitude.

This is easily the biggest reason for future optimism with this club.

There will almost certainly be some major roster changes at key positions, but the entire young rotation will return with even more depth, much more experience, and the hunger that comes with getting so close to the promised land only to fall short.

“I believe we have a very special group,” says Marquez. “The youth that we have in this pitching staff, the way we push each other to become better, we’re competing with each other, we’re not competing against each other. And I think that competitiveness has really inspired me to continue to do my very best and has also helped my other teammates, my pitchers, to do their best. So it’s definitely a blessing that we’re all in this together.”

They still are. And they have their captain at the helm. Manager Bud Black will now oversee the next stage of development for Freeland, Marquez, Jon Gray, Tyler Anderson, and Antonio Senzatela who are now no longer fighting to stay in MLB but to find their ultimate place in it.

“He definitely believed in us, and I think that we backed it up,” says Marquez. “Right now, the way we believe in ourselves gives us the confidence to continue to perform here and to get deep into the postseason like we have this year and hopefully for many years to come.”