COLORADO ROCKIES

The Official History of the Colorado Rockies | Baseball Almanac

They may not win a lot, but no one can say the Colorado Rockies have been dull. Playing a distinctive "mile high style" of baseball in a pinball machine of a ballpark, they (and their opponents) have been lighting up scoreboards - and pitchers - for almost two decades.

Those who spent years (and in some cases decades) trying to lure a major league franchise to Denver argued that their city was hungry for Major League Baseball. Their vision became realty when Denver was awarded a franchise in 1991, and their arguments vindicated two years later when the Rockies played their first game in front of more than 80,000 fans, the largest opening day crowd in baseball history.

The Rockies won that game against Montreal 11-4, the franchise's first major league win. They had lost their first two games to the Mets at Shea Stadium, 3-0 on April 5 and 6-1 on April 7, 1993.

In their first two seasons the Rockies played to more than 7.7 million fans at Mile High Stadium. They had 52 crowds exceed 60,000 and 21 times exceeded 70,000. This was not lost on Rockies ownership, which had broken ground on Coors Field in 1991. Originally designed to accommodate 43,000, they quickly redesigned the park to accommodate more than 50,000 before its 1995 opening.

The Rockies won the first game at Coors on April 26, 1995, defeating the Mets 11-9 in an example of "mile high style" of baseball. Mile high is not an exaggeration at Coors Field — the 20th row of the upper deck is exactly one mile above sea level.

The "mile high style" of baseball comes courtesy of the thin air at Denver's altitude. According to the Coors Field web site, scientific studies show a baseball hit 400 feet in New York (sea level) will travel 10 percent farther in Denver, or 440 feet. The result? A "mile high style" of baseball where runs and home runs come cheaply, punch-and-Judy hitters become sluggers, no lead is safe, and final scores sound like the teams had field goal kickers instead of batters in their lineups.

The "mile high style" broke new ground in 1999 when a record 303 home runs were launched at Coors Field and the average score was 8-7.

The Rockies have parlayed "mile high style" baseball into seven winning seasons. They have earned three wild card appearances, their first in 1995 in only their third season. Their lone National League pennant and World Series appearance came in 2007 when they lost to Boston. Their most recent postseason appearance came in 2009.

Their short history has not prevented the Rockies from setting some impressive offensive numbers. They have had eleven batting champions and six home runs champions in their first 30 years. The franchise record for home runs in a season is jointly held by Larry Walker and Todd Helton at 49, and Andres Galarraga holds the RBI mark at 150.

"Mile high style" baseball has taken a heavy toll on the Rockies pitching staff. Many years their staff earned run average has been above 5.00. However, hard throwing right-hander Ubaldo Jimenez proved that pitchers can succeed in Coors, posting a 19-8 record with a 2.88 ERA in 2010, rounding out his tenure in Colorado with 56 wins in six years, a 3.66 ERA, and an 18.9 WAR.

Since 2010, the Rockies have experienced flashes of promise amid long stretches of rebuilding. The Nolan Arenado—Trevor Story era delivered some of the most dynamic individual performances in franchise history, highlighted by back‑to‑back postseason berths in 2017 and 2018 — the club's first consecutive playoff appearances. Yet Colorado struggled to sustain that momentum. Arenado was traded in 2021, Story departed a year later, and injuries to key players accelerated a full organizational reset. By the mid-2020s, the Rockies had endured multiple 100-loss seasons, underscoring the challenges of developing and retaining pitching in the altitude-driven environment that has shaped the franchise since its inception.

Still, the Rockies' future is not without optimism. A wave of young position players has begun to emerge, and the organization has invested heavily in pitching development, sports science, and altitude-specific training — long‑needed steps toward building sustainable success at Coors Field. Colorado's history has always been defined by extremes: explosive offense, unpredictable pitching, and the occasional magical run that captures the baseball world's attention. As the franchise moves deeper into the 2020s, the Rockies remain committed to forging a new identity, one built on homegrown talent, modern development strategies, and the belief that the next great chapter in Denver baseball is still waiting to be written.