DENVER — For the first time in a long time, there was no consensus coming into the season that the Colorado Rockies would likely be an afterthought, or at least need just about everything to go right in order for them to make themselves relevant. For the last seven years, pundits could pretty much count on the Rockies to lose more games than they won, but 2017 is different.

Sure, there is no wide-sweeping agreement that suddenly the sparky little club from Colorado are the class of the National League West. But the new energy surrounding this team is palpable. While it’s a huge step in their direction, the national media is definitely still looking at Colorado as a “dark horse” team, at best.

But the club’s biggest star, third baseman Nolan Arenado, says he cares far less about that and more about how his teammates are feeling.

“Expectations in this locker room are high,” he says. “Outside this locker room, they’re pretty low. Some people see us as a sleeper and some people see us as just another typical Rockie team.”

And Arenado knows all that being a part of such a team entails. He has nearly as many Gold Gloves as he does national TV appearances. He has more Silver Sluggers than he does postseason games. And he’s just 25-years-old.

“We’re out to prove a lot of people wrong but our main concern is just taking it one day at a time and win ballgames,” the All-Star  says. “We’re not worried about what the outside people say, we’re worried about what we need to do because we know we have the talent to do something special.”

Indeed Nolan, with new manger Bud Black, a heightened talented in the bullpen combined with improved rotation, people are expecting something of the Colorado Rockies this year, which is infinitely more than it has been for the past half dozen.