Lessons From The Colorado Rockies Other 7-2 Starts

Apr 12, 2015; Denver, CO, USA; General view of Coors Field during the fourth inning of the game between the Chicago Cubs against the Colorado Rockies. The Cubs defeated the Rockies 6-5. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports

1995 (finished 77-67)

The 1995 Colorado Rockies enjoyed the first playoff berth in club history, losing in the NLDS to the Atlanta Braves, three games to one.

That club actually started 7-1 in the strike-shortened season, but on May 5, 6, and 7, they were swept by the Los Angeles Dodgers (where the current Rockies find themselves this weekend). The ’95 club went just 6-6 after the sweep to come back down to earth with a 13-10 record by the end of play on May 20.

That iteration of the Rockies was 44-28 at home (.611), and 33-39 on the road (.458), while doing very well against Montreal (7-1 in eight games), and very poorly against the Braves and Dodgers (4-9 against both clubs).

Offensively, everybody led those Rockies; five guys had more than 20 doubles in the 144-game season, and four guys had more than thirty home runs, including Dante Bichette who somehow managed to drive in 128 runners in just 139 games.

The pitching staff was surprisingly not awful (you know, for the park and the era), with Kevin Ritz having a nice year (4.21 ERA, 4.15 FIP across 173.1 innings) and Curtis Leskanic pitching his face off (probably literally!) out of the bullpen (1.18 WHIP, 9.8 strikeouts per nine innings across 76 games/98 frames).

Interestingly, the 1995 Rockies fielded the ball well, too; the club finished fourth in the National League in fielding percentage, so perhaps the Blake Street Bombers had a little Coors Shield in ‘em even then.

ONE WEIRD STAT: Uh, well, maybe this right here when the Chicago Cubs put up 26 runs in Denver on August 18, 1995.

The Cubs, on the road, made three errors, walked five batters, allowed ten hits, and….. won. By.…. 19 runs.

That’s because they hit seven doubles, a triple, and three home runs in front of 48,082 poor, unfortunate souls at Coors Field.

But!! Current bullpen coach Darren Holmes threw a scoreless ninth inning with two strikeouts, so I guess that’s good.

Next: 1997: A streaky team