How the Colorado Rockies could have won the 2004 World Series

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DENVER – JULY 4: Vinny Castilla #9 of the Colorado Rockies bats against the Detroit Tigers on July 4, 2004 at Coors Field in Denver, Colorado. The Rockies swept the Tigers with a 10-8 win. (Photo by Brian Bahr/Getty Images) /

2004 was not a banner year for the Colorado Rockies but it could have been, with some luck and a few minor moves.

The 2004 Colorado Rockies are not a team that anyone wanted to write home about. They finished the season in fourth place in the NL West with a record of 68-94, as only the Arizona Diamondbacks (three years removed from defeating the three-peat champion New York Yankees in the 2001 World Series) with a record of 51-111.

The Rockies offense was pretty good (100 OPS+ excluding pitchers hitting) but their main problem was their atrocious pitching staff. Their 5.54 ERA was dead last in both the National League and all of baseball by more than a third of a run (the Reds were next worst in baseball with a 5.19 ERA). The starting pitching got better after the All-Star break but they really couldn’t get much worse as they had an ERA of 6.16 in the first half.

The bullpen got worse as the season went along but for the season overall, the blame of bad pitching was equally shared as the starter’s had an ERA of 5.54 and the relievers had a 5.53 ERA.

However, entering the season, the Rockies did make some moves that were meant to improve the team. They signed outfielder Jeromy Burnitz, shortstop Royce Clayton, starting pitcher Shawn Estes, reliever Jeff Fassero, catcher Todd Greene via free agency, and traded for their 2005 Opening Day starter Joe Kennedy in a three-team deal with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and Toronto Blue Jays.

But two of the biggest signings of that offseason were the signings of two players that were integral to the Rockies teams of the 1990s: reliever Steve Reed and third baseman Vinny Castilla. And that theme, along with some help of not having injuries, and a few minor trades would have helped the Rockies win it all in 2004.

PITTSBURGH, PA – JUNE 3: Albert Pujols of the St. Louis Cardinals bats against the Pittsburgh Pirates during a Major League Baseball game at PNC Park on June 3, 2004 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The Cardinals defeated the Pirates 4-2. (Photo by George Gojkovich/Getty Images) /

Personally, I’m a big fan of the video games from yesteryear, even though they may not be nice to the Colorado Rockies.

I’m particularly a fan of the MVP Baseball series from 2003 through 2005. MVP Baseball 2005 is still the best baseball game ever made and, frankly, I don’t think it’s that close. (When MLB The Show has a create ballpark mode, a 120-year dynasty mode, around 120 unlockable classic jerseys, 15 classic stadiums including some lovable dumps like Montreal’s Olympic Stadium (2005 was the first season of the Nationals and therefore, both of the Expos’ stadium in their last years were in the game) and Cleveland’s Municipal Stadium, 60 unlockable Hall of Fame players plus players that were active then and are Hall of Famers now, great arcade modes, and where you can have your manager argue and get ejected by umpires on pretty much any call, you let me know.)

However, MVP Baseball 2004 is a close second. The cover of the game was graced by St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Albert Pujols.

The series was primarily on the PlayStation 2, the original XBOX, and the Nintendo GameCube. I have MVP 04 for both of the latter two. However, since the XBOX has a ton of memory on the system, I chose that just to see if I could make the 2004 Rockies better with going with the nostalgia that Rockies GM Dan O’Dowd seemed to be going with at the time with the signing of Reed and Castilla.

I started the franchise and I did not have force trades on so I would have “fair” trades and I decided to keep it in the theme of the 90s Rockies reunion (with a few other changes). I also chose to play the entire season with the designated hitter for reasons I will explain shortly.

The main thing I knew I needed to work on was the bullpen. That’s part of the reason that heading into the game, the Rockies had a pitching ranking of 28th. The offense, on the other hand, was fourth.

Colorado Rockies Larry Walker(L) and Preston Wilson vs Los Angeles at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, CA on July 21, 2004. (Photo by Jon Soohoo/Getty Images) /

The offense for the 2004 Colorado Rockies was actually pretty good.

This was the offense, at the start of the game, with the designated hitter:

Royce Clayton, SS
Denny Hocking, 2B
Todd Helton, 1B
Preston Wilson, CF
Larry Walker, RF
Jeromy Burnitz, LF
Vinny Castilla, 3B
Charles Johnson, C
Todd Greene, DH

The bench consisted of utility man Damian Jackson, infielder “Clint Barnes” (better known as Clint Barmes but apparently, they didn’t know it was Barmes, which is very odd), and outfielders Rene Reyes and Chris Richard. Obviously, the bench would need some help.

The starting pitching staff is not terrible on paper. In real life, you would not have taken that but it is partially because of injuries for one of the starters.

Jason Jennings, SP
Aaron Cook, SP
Denny Neagle, SP
Shawn Estes, SP
Chin-hui Tsao, SP

Neagle was the best starting pitcher by overall rating and, therefore, my actual ace when I rearranged them by overall rating. However, in real life, with his injury issues and legal issues, he didn’t even play at all in 2004. I tried trading him to other teams but considering his large salary, that did not happen.

The bullpen looked like this:

Adam Bernero, long-reliever
Denny Stark, long-reliever
Jason Young, middle-reliever
Cory Vance, middle-reliever
Steve Reed, middle-reliever
Brian Fuentes, set-up man
Shawn Chacon, closer

Young and Vance had a combined 21 career MLB appearances so that’s part of the problem there. Bernero and Stark aren’t good either. Steve Reed is the only one that ended up staying.

OAKLAND, CA – OCTOBER 3: Andres Galarraga #20 of the Anaheim Angels swings at an Oakland Athletics pitch during a MLB game at the Network Associates Coliseum on October 3, 2004 in Oakland, California. The Athletics won 3-2. (Photo by Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images) /

Why not go with a Colorado Rockies franchise legend as the designated hitter?

Since I was doing a bit of a Rockies reunion, I decided to sign Andres Galarraga from the free-agent market. He’s the reason why I decided to play with the DH because, obviously, at that point in his career, he was not unseating Todd Helton at first base.

I attempted to sign Pedro Astacio for the starting rotation and Ellis Burks as a DH/bench bat but with budgetary constraints (particularly with Neagle), I could not. However, I was able to trade Chin-hui Tsao and Jason Young to the Texas Rangers for second baseman Eric Young.

I traded Royce Clayton to the Anaheim Angels for David Eckstein. Eckstein is not as well rated as he should have been in the game but he was a bit better defensively than Clayton and, personally, I think he was a better hitter but the stats were about the same.

I also traded Rene Reyes and Chris Richard for Mark Sweeney (former Rockie) and Ryan Freel to get some more versatility on the bench.

I completely revamped the bullpen as I ended up acquiring Chad Bradford and Chris Hammond from Oakland, former Rockies reliever Mike Myers from Seattle, Julian Tavarez from the Cardinals, and Jeff Nelson from Texas for Bernero, Stark, Vance, Fuentes (I really didn’t want to trade him but I had to so I could get Nelson), Chacon, and some minor leaguers.

I made Scott Elarton (who is in Triple-A Colorado Springs in the game) my long reliever due to budget constraints so I was set. My 25-man roster was this:

Eric Young, 2B
Larry Walker, RF
Todd Helton, 1B
Preston Wilson, CF
Jeromy Burnitz, LF
Andres Galarraga, 1B
Vinny Castilla, 3B
Charles Johnson, C
David Eckstein, 2B
Todd Greene, C
Denny Hocking, 2B (utility man)
Mark Sweeney, 1B (and outfield)
Ryan Freel, LF (utility man)
Denny Neagle, SP
Shawn Estes, SP
Jason Jennings, SP
Joe Kennedy, SP
Aaron Cook, SP
Scott Elarton, long relief
Julian Tavarez, middle relief
Mike Myers, left-handed middle relief
Chad Bradford, middle relief
Chris Hammond, left-handed set-up man
Steve Reed, set-up man
Jeff Nelson, closer

BRONX, NY- AUGUST 8: Pitcher Jeff Nelson #43 of the New York Yankees delivers a pitch during eighth inning against the Seattle Mariners in the American League game at Yankee Stadium on August 8, 2003 in the Bronx, New York. The Yankees defeated the Mariners 9-7. (Photo by Chris Trotman/Getty Images) /

There’s one guy I always trade for bullpens in mid-2000s video games and I did that for the 2004 Colorado Rockies.

A good tip for the old video games is to acquire Jeff Nelson for your bullpen. He’s got an above-average fastball and a wipeout slider that make him great in the game and a cheap closer. He was one of the most underrated relievers of the late 90s and early 2000s with some phenomenal teams. He will prove to be a huge part of the game and the 2004 Rockies.

The only game I played in the entire season was Opening Day. The Rockies won 7-2 as Neagle faced Randy Johnson of the D’Backs. Neagle does not have great control so some pitches were not great but he scattered 10 hits in 5 innings, giving up those two runs. The bullpen was great in four innings while I was playing, I realized that outside of Tavarez and Nelson, none of them topped 85 MPH with their fastball. But it worked in the game and during the season.

After Opening Day, I simulated the entire season, including the playoffs. Entering June, the Rockies were 2.5 games back of the NL Wild Card spot and 4.5 back of the Padres in the NL West. In June, Charles Johnson went on the DL for a month with fractured knee cap and Jason Jennings was out for two months with a hernia.

I called up reliever Nelson Cruz from AAA and elevated Elarton from long reliever to fifth starter and Tavarez from middle relief to long relief. Todd Greene started as catcher for the month and I called up JD Closser from AAA for the bench until Johnson returned in July.

DENVER, CO – AUGUST 30: Todd Helton #17 of the Colorado Rockies stands at first base in the ninth inning of a game against the Cincinnati Reds at Coors Field on August 30, 2013 in Denver, Colorado. The Rockies beat the Reds 9-6. (Photo by Dustin Bradford/Getty Images) /

The Colorado Rockies picked up some steam as the weather got warmer.

The Rockies gained some ground on the Expos (surprising that the Expos were in the hunt, I know) for the Wild Card spot heading into August as at the trade deadline, they were 1/2 a game up on the Wild Card spot.

I attempted to get some help for the starting pitching since Jennings was injured at the end of June and Elarton was struggling but I didn’t have the budget so I had to stay pat at the deadline. For that, I was a bit weary.

The Padres ended up winning the West but the Rockies won the Wild Card by two games with a record of 89-73. The four NL playoff teams were the Padres, Cardinals, Expos (who overtook the Braves for the NL East), and the Rockies.

Shawn Estes ranked in the top five in NL Cy Young voting and Todd Helton also was in the top five in NL MVP voting.

The Rockies were to face the Cardinals in the NLDS. The Rockies defeated them in four games after good starts from Estes and Jennings. Helton and Walker led the offensive charge as both hit over .400 in the series.

The Rockies would face the Padres in the NLCS. It was a good series but the Rockies were able to beat the Padres in six games. The NLCS MVP was Todd Helton, who hit .450 with six home runs and 13 RBI in the series.

The Rockies were the National League Champions and they were going to face the Boston Red Sox.

ARLINGTON, TX – SEPTEMBER 27: Pitcher Jeff Nelson #43 of the Texas Rangers throws against the Anaheim Angels September 27, 2004 at Ameriquest Field in Arlington in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images) /

The 2004 Colorado Rockies and the actual NL champion in 2004 had one common player: a future Hall of Famer.

More from Rox Pile

In real life, the Red Sox would go to the World Series and defeat the St. Louis Cardinals in a four-game sweep to vanquish “The Curse of The Bambino.” Future Hall of Famer Larry Walker was traded from the Rockies to the Cardinals in the 2004 season but since the Rockies were not in the basement of the NL, he obviously was not traded.

The Red Sox team looked slightly different than the true 2004 team but all the big players were all still there: Pedro Martinez, Curt Schilling, David Ortiz, Manny Ramirez, Johnny Damon, and Jason Varitek to name a few.

Again, I completely simulated the playoffs (and the regular season) to get a more accurate look on the team. The Rockies defeated the Red Sox in five games. In Game 5, the Rockies were down 1-0 in the ninth inning but Jeromy Burnitz had a walk-off, two-run home run to win the game and win the World Series.

The World Series MVP was Jeff Nelson. In the series, he had three saves and he did not allow a baserunner. Overall, in the playoffs, he pitched eight innings and he had eight saves with an opponent batting average of .043, two walks, and eight strikeouts. He finished the regular season with 51 saves.

Next. The Rockies and their history with the 9th overall draft pick. dark

I have to say, I was surprised that the team won the World Series, especially against the Red Sox. But it goes to show that when you’ve got health, a good offense, a passable pitching staff, a little bit of luck, and, in this instance, some nostalgia, you could have yourself a team that wins the World Series.

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