How the 2016 Hartford Yard Goats impacted the 2021 Colorado Rockies

So what do you do on a road trip that lasts all season?

“A lot of card playing and stuff like that,” Freeland said. “Exploring the cities that we were going to be in because we didn’t have really have a home. We were living out of hotels constantly. There wasn’t ever that feeling of, ‘OK, we’re going back home and it’s going to feel good to be in our spot.'”

McMahon laughed when I asked him what kept him busy on the road.

“We did a lot of dumb things, pulled pranks on each other,” he said. “We had this other game where one person was the killer and you had to try to figure out who it was. We were just trying to have fun.”

Salazar was quick to remind me that technology has changed a lot in five years.

“There were guys with video game consoles in their suitcases,” Salazar said. “There was this one golf game we had where we could connect like eight to 10 phones together and guys were playing this race putt-putt type of game.”

Whatever it was, the team was doing it together … and was growing together as well. Maybe, just maybe, some of those lessons learned during tough times in 2016 can pay dividends if the Rockies hit more tough times in 2021.

“In baseball, you embrace challenges and you embrace them together,” Salazar said. “You’re not doing anything by yourself. You’re doing it as a team. You’re doing it as a family. That makes a difference.”