It’s April. This is the month that Colorado fans have dubbed “baseball month” because as bad as the Rockies always seem to end up being by the time summer rolls around, they’re always good enough to keep people excited for the duration of April.
Last season they won eleven games in April, yet they dropped a total of 94 total games on the season. In 2014, they won sixteen games in April but ended up with 96 losses before it was all said and done. The year before that they also won sixteen games in April, before eventually finishing fourteen games below .500 by season’s end.
For whatever reason April is a ton of fun at 20th and Blake before the wheels begin falling off in May. It’s no surprise that even the most optimistic fans of the Purple and Black are reluctant to get excited about the start the squad has gotten off to in 2016.
Aside from the back-to-back ass whoopings the Rox suffered at the bats of the Padres during opening day and the one that followed, the Rockies haven’t been horrible at any particular point. Yes, those Padres were previously runless until tossing up 13 and 16 runs in that span, but since then, the Rockies have been pretty darn good.
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They’ve taken three of four series so far and most recently opened up their stint in Cincinnati with a convincing victory. They’ve gotten some eye-opening outings from Bettis, Lyles and Chatwood, found gold once again in Arenado’s glove and begun to write the “Story” of their newest great short stop who has jacked eight homers already and hit the fences at Coors Field twice. They’re .500 at home at 3-3 thus far but they are 5-2 on the road. The Rockies are 8-5 overall, have a .615 winning percentage and sit proudly atop the NL West standings along with the Dodgers who they will host this coming weekend.
At 3-3, they’re .500 at home thus far but they’re 5-2 on the road. The Rockies 8-5 overall record gives them a .615 winning percentage as they sit proudly atop the NL West standings along with the Dodgers who they will host this coming weekend.
If only April could last forever.
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May has been a disaster for the Rockies and their fans for the past three seasons. From 2013 to 2015 Colorado has gone 35-46 in that month. They say that April showers bring May flowers, but when it comes to the Colorado Rockies those flowers are black and wilted. Fans are constantly fighting the urge to hop on board the Rockies’ bandwagon because they know that disaster is always waiting right around the corner.
For the past many years it hasn’t mattered one bit what tweaks the Rockies have made in the off-season. They just haven’t been cut out for enduring the rigors of a full year. They have gotten out of the gates hot, though.
Perhaps 2016 will be different.
Maybe baseball month will never end. Maybe the team will stay hot in April, carry some momentum through May and forego their usual “June swoon” where they’re 33-52 over the past three seasons. Maybe the Rockies are finally a decent team that locals can get behind for reasons above and beyond the party deck. Maybe they won’t fall below .500.
Maybe they’ll even contend for a Wild Card.
Now is not the time for such talk, though. This is baseball month, when everything always comes up roses. Unless this season truly is different, fans are smart to be wary. If they latch on the the Rockies’ fast start they’re likely to end up with a fist full of thorns.
