Rockies Rebuild in Motion: Small Steps, Big Questions in 2026

“The man who removes a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.”
– Chinese proverb

As the Colorado Rockies have kicked off their 2026 season, they are certainly not trying to remove a mountain, though they are trying to move the Rockies, and are starting that effort by carrying away the “small stones” that plagued them all of last year. 2025 was the worst season in their history, a 43-119 (.265) abomination that finally forced change at the highest (and most entrenched) positions within the club. 162 games is a long time to enact change, and a litany of new voices have been saying all the right things coming into this new year. Colorado spent one day of last season at .500, when they were 1-1 after two games. The Rockies didn’t have their second win in hand until the ninth game of last season, and it sure kept spiraling from there. Their first series win in 2025 didn’t come until games 60-62 against the Marlins.

And yet, an 0-3 road trip to start it all off in Miami sure felt a lot like last year, even though all three losses were one-run affairs. Even more disconcertingly, the Rockies left Florida to play a three-game series against last year’s AL champs, the Toronto Blue Jays. Toronto took the ever-spending and almighty Dodgers to seven games in last year’s World Series, and have high hopes to be back in the mix this year as well.

And so it was a surprise to see the Rockies find their bats in game 1 of that series, thumping the Blue Jays 14-5. While they dropped the middle game, they came back and won the rubber match in game three in another tightly-contested game. Their fielding looked better, their base running (and especially base-stealing) looks exceptional, and Colorado won their first season series a whopping 54 games faster than last year.

Six games into the season, it’s a little too early to proclaim a new era for Rockies baseball, especially with their current .333 winning percentage. But it’s also safe to say that this looks and feels different than the start of last year. As morbid as it sounds, carrying that .333 out for the year would result in an 11-game improvement for the team from 2025. It got that bleak on Blake.

So there’s a feeling of hope coming into their home opener today and this weekend against the Philadelphia Phillies, who are only playing .500 ball to start things out themselves, and should not be looking at these Rockies as the “easy outs” they have been the last season or two. There’s better baseball being played by the boys from Colorado. Maybe it even translates back to an advantage at altitude, as Paul DePodesta is hoping. Back to the days of the Blake Street Bombers, one might hope.

But that is moving a mountain. For now, these Rockies need to just keep carrying their small stones. If they can keep showing the fight they have in their first six games, they have a chance at a vast improvement in 2026. Does that place them in the playoffs? Probably not. But it also might just keep them out of the cellar of the NL West (they are currently NOT in last place there) and even of the National League as a whole. While the someday-goal is back into some form of contention, the near term goal is to simply not suck quite so hard. And a scant six games into this new season, they appear to be on track to do just that. Baseball is back for another season in Colorado, the Rockies 34th in the league. The small steps they have taken to get off to a better start can still turn into bigger things by the time all is said and done. If you’re headed to one of the most beautiful parks in baseball this weekend, give them a “Go Rockies!” for me.