Over the course of my on-again, off-again efforts to reboot my blog and newsletter the last couple years, I often revisit the topic that kicked off my blogging career some 15 years ago: the Colorado Rockies.
With the Rockies bottomed out in recent seasons as one of the worst teams in baseball and then as the very worst team, my angle has been pretty consistent: I just want to see those little signs of hope. The players or moments or feelings that might trick me or another fan into thinking there are better days ahead.
I genuinely thought they were slowing getting better before the 2025 season. The Rockies proceeded to have the worst record and to almost reach historic levels of ineptitude. They showed no signs of the progress I thought I saw. Being a fan can make you such a sucker.
Now we're in the 2026 season, and as I write this, the Rockies have the worst record in the National League (22-38). They have the worst run differential in all of baseball (-83). I see those facts, and yet I still think there are reasons to think that the Rockies might actually be getting better. I can at least see the path to thinking they are on the right track.
Like I said: being a fan makes you such a sucker.
Today:
- Being a big fan of the Colorado Rockies
- A few questions after game 7 of the Western Conference finals
- That feeling when you're the very specific audience for a joke
Plus some links and odds and ends to kick off the week. Thanks for being here.
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But really, they are better
I have talked about being a Rockies fan a couple times in the last week.
The first time was a moment that I will remember for a long time. I met Michael Schur and Joe Posnanski as part of their promotional tour for Big Fan, their new book. It’s about being a fan, if it wasn’t obvious from the title.
My wife and I drove to Kansas City for the event. We were among lots of Kansas City Royals fans, a few St. Louis Cardinals fans, and a smattering of other random teams. Perhaps the most random was yours truly in my Colorado Rockies cap and hoodie.
As I met these two people whom I genuinely admire, I noted their potential surprise at seeing a Rockies fan in Kansas City. Not missing a beat, Joe told me that they “don’t really expect to see Rockies fans anywhere.”
Fair. A little sad, but fair.
In our brief conversation from there, they encouraged us to stick with the Rockies. If the team ever digs out of this hole and actually succeeds, we can say we were always there as loyal fans.
My wife posed the question: “What if they never get good?”
Joe’s response: “Well, I’m a Cleveland fan, so I can’t promise you it will ever happen.”
We laughed. Those guys are awesome. And while I might not see the Rockies at the peak of the sport for a long time, or ever, I still find myself sitting here today clinging to little signs of hope.
The other conversations have just been chatting with fellow baseball fans: a friend over text messages and a colleague in the office. Both laughed and jabbed me about the state of the Rockies. I’m used to the teasing, and honestly enjoy it as part of doing this whole sports fan thing in the first place.
But I also told them both that I really think things are getting better.
They might think I’m crazy. Anyone might. Look at those season results so far. The worst record in baseball and the worst run differential. Translation: they stink, and it’s not bad luck. How is that the sign of a franchise pointed in the right direction?
I’ll tell you this: it’s mostly my own gut feelings. Maybe the Rockies will give me something more substantive to back up those feelings before the season is over. But here’s what I have seen over the last week or so.
They got swept by the red-hot Los Angeles Dodgers. That series included a blowout loss. They lost that game 15-6. But here’s the thing: the score was 15-1 at one point. They lost and they were outclassed, but at least they punched back.
In that same series, their pitching held up for sustained stretches within games. That has been true more than once this season, within individual games and even over multiple games on their schedule.
Their pitching isn’t hopelessly bad. It might even be league-average-ish, depending on how much their starting pitchers drag them down. Their lineup is downright bad as a collective, but if you’re asking me to pick a side that might give them something to build with, I’ll take the pitching every time.
It’s not that the hitting isn’t giving little glimpses. Whereas the improved pitching might be more of a nameless collective, the flashes of hope on offense come from the guys I might point to as worthy of excitement.
Two players are new acquisitions by the new front office that took over this winter. First baseman TJ Rumfield might hang around as a Rookie of the Year candidate. Outfielder/first baseman Troy Johnston is a jolt every time he appears on my TV. He’s also among the league leaders in batting average.
Two players are carryovers from the last few helpless Rockies seasons. Ezequiel Tovar’s career has been peaks and valleys, but his bat has come alive lately. Hunter Goodman was an all-star last year, and he was really an all-star; Goodman would have been there even if he was on another team and not the sole Rockies’ representative.
Those two combined for another moment of hope this past weekend: a home run to tie the game...
Patrick D. Lyons
...and a home run to walk off with the win.
I think those four guys might be reasons to get excited. They might even be on the next good Rockies team.
So I put this all together, and I think this feels different than the last couple seasons. Maybe it is. Or maybe I really am just a sucker.
At least we don't really know anything
Speaking of Joe Posnanski, he wrote about a topic that has been on the minds of many baseball writers: the baffling first-place Tampa Bay Rays.
They don't hit the ball hard. They don't hit a bunch of home runs. They do not fit the profile of a typical contender in 2026. For that reason, nobody really saw this coming.
But it also brings me to a source of hope: if Joe is right that "we don't really know baseball," there is a sliver of a chance that the Rockies will someday be good in a way that nobody saw coming.
Bye bye, Thunder
I have three questions about the NBA‘s Western Conference Finals, which concluded with the San Antonio Spurs defeating the Oklahoma City Thunder in three games:
- Do these teams have all of the good guards/wings? Or do I just cheer for a team, the Denver Nuggets, that has none of these cool perimeter players who play good defense and make three-pointers? It seems like the Spurs and the Thunder have like six each (not counting Alex Caruso, who is not cool).
- Will Wemby be back here? The man himself acknowledged that his emotions about reaching the NBA Finals were due, in part, to the reality that you never know when this opportunity will come again. Or if it will come again. It's easy to imagine the Spurs reaching these heights many times in the Victor Wembanyama era. But with how unique he is as a player and athlete, particularly his unique season-ending injury last season, it's also easy to imagine the less-fun scenarios where this is a one-year flash.
- Do the Knicks stand a chance to beat the Spurs? They did just roll through the Eastern Conference, so I'll guess we'll see if the apparent gap between the two conferences was as why as we thought it was.
One sports analytics joke, just for me
I was watching All Elite Wrestling this week, and I had a moment where I was sure that I was part of the intended and very specific audience for a joke.
A wrestler named Kevin Knight recently turned heel. In explaining his turn to the dark side, Knight leaned on a classic bad guy move: drag the hometown's sports teams. In this case, that meant talking trash to Philadelphia sports fans, which I have to say requires a certain level of bravery.
The Philadelphia 76ers were swept out of the NBA playoffs this month. Knight taunted the crowd about that, and then took a swing at the infamous motto of the franchise's relatively recent rebuild.
Knight said part of his turn was the fact that he didn't want to "trust the process" anymore. I laughed. A few fans booed, but the line mostly didn't land, so I am here to say that I appreciated it.
All Elite Wrestling bot
And to the rest of the AEW roster: keep the sports analytics jabs coming in those promos.
Odds and ends
🤖The New York Jets are AI-first now, because of course they are. Their definition of being AI-first focuses on the use of Copilot, which everyone hates. Because of course it does.
📺We are behind but catching up quickly, as we are flying through the final season of Hacks in our house. It is such a great show. It is also the answer to the question of how I can get from AEW to Hacks in three steps: Kevin Knight-->"trust the process"-->season 2, episode 3: Trust the Process.
👽Let's wrap up with a Victor Wembanyama highlight. We get to watch him in the NBA Finals, in Madison Square Garden. That's pretty darn cool.
Unless it involves being AI-first, I hope you all can trust the process and have a great week.
