Colorado Rockies: What are the keys to winning at altitude?

Coors Field, home of the Colorado Rockies — DENVER, CO – MAY 05: Sunset falls over the stadium as the Atlanta Braves face the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field on May 5, 2012 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)

Success at 20th and Blake has not always been an easy accomplishment. In 24 seasons, the Colorado Rockies organization has experienced only eight winning seasons to date, and just four of those include postseason appearances.

Ironically, no one has found a way to duplicate their success from one season, and transfer it to successive years. The closest experience the organization has come to this achievement, was produced from 1995-1997, though the Rockies were more than five games out with consecutive 83-79 finishes in 1996 and 1997, despite the home field advantage they had at Coors Field.

Following this season’s wild ride to Rocktober 2017, I thought it would be time to take a serious look into the success this year’s team enjoyed, and what they may have had in common with those previous postseason teams, and the others who went onto produce competitive, winning years.

The answers could be more duplicatable than one might realize.

The three most common themes for sustainable success at Coors Field and with the Colorado Rockies, start with:

Above average team speed
A strong bullpen
A league average starting rotation

When looking back in history, to prove our point, the Rockies in each of their winning seasons combined to produce 1,058 stolen bases, with 33 different players contributing double-digit steal seasons, an average of 132.25 per year. In 1996, the Colorado Rockies combined to steal 201 bases, with seven players taking at least 10 bags. In comparison, this season’s playoff team, only swiped 59, with two players swiping double-digit bags.

In addition to the stolen bases, the Colorado Rockies offense in every postseason year finished no worse than 8th in the league in triples, and finished in the top half of the league six times in doubles. The above-average speed gave these clubs the ability to take one extra base on singles, while turning singles into doubles and doubles into triples.

What makes team speed dangerous is not only stolen bases, triples, doubles, or offense in general. The biggest contribution team speed has on a major league baseball team comes in the form of run prevention.

Success at 20th and Blake has not always been an easy accomplishment. In 24 seasons, the Colorado Rockies organization has experienced only eight winning seasons to date, and just four of those include postseason appearances.

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