By Mark Knudson @MarkKnudson41
It’s only been three years, but it seems like forever ago when the final Sunday of the MLB season was more important in Colorado than professional football.
Yes, it really happened.
This year’s final MLB Sunday was a really big day in other baseball cities, like New York, LA, San Francisco, Boston, Toronto and even Seattle. Play-off spots and division titles were at stake from coast to coast.
Just…not in Denver.
The 2021 Rockies completed another losing season with a walk-off loss in Arizona, while at the same time, the Broncos were playing (and losing) a very meaningful NFL game in the Mile High. You’ll understand if only a handful of diehards were paying attention to the baseball game. But there was that day on the final MLB Sunday of 2018 when things were very different around here. It was arguably the best day of regular season baseball maybe ever, and the Rockies were right smack in the middle of it.
That Rockies season will always be remembered for culminating with the club’s second-best post-season performance to date. But it’s also when they came within a single game of winning their first and only National League West crown, capping the team’s best start-to-finish regular season performance ever.
Remember? The day ended with the Rockies and the Los Angeles Dodgers tied at the top of the NL West at 91-71, but the drama wasn’t limited to a single battle for that division crown. Things were intertwined, with play-off positioning at stake all across the league. And with the games all going on simultaneously, it was riveting to watch it all unfold.
If you’d positioned yourself in the right place (like in the Press Box at Coors Field, for example) you could have been watching the Rockies and the Washington Nationals play live – with that NL West crown on the line for the home team – while on TV the Dodgers played in San Francisco. A win by one and a loss by the other would decide the division.
There were still five teams alive and fighting for play-off positioning, including the Brewers, Cubs and Braves. Milwaukee was hosting Detroit and Chicago was facing the St. Louis Cardinals. Atlanta had the NL East wrapped up; they were fighting for home field advantage in Philadelphia. The Cubs and Brewers were also tied atop the NL Central, with the loser of that battle destined for a wild card spot, same as the Rockies and Dodgers. Get all that?
All the games were started at the same exact time, 1pm Mountain. Every press box TV had a different game on. It was awesome.
The Dodgers jumped out in front of the Giants 3-0 early on the coast. Nolan Arenado homered (his 36th) for the home team to put Colorado up 2-0 in the bottom of the first at 20th and Blake while in Milwaukee the Brewers took the same 2-0 lead over Detroit. The Braves and Cubs fell behind.
The Dodgers opened it up on the Giants, 6-0 and by that point, the Rockies knew they had to win to force a one game play-off for the division title. Charlie Blackmon homered and the Rockies lead grew to 4-0 lead over Washington behind Tyler Anderson.
Further east, the Cubs were struggling in St. Louis. As the Dodgers continued to pile on the Giants, the Rockies and Brewers held their leads. The Rockies brass start making flight plans for LAX.
Suddenly the Cubs rallied against the Cards and took a lead. The Brewers would have hold on to force a one-game play-off with Chicago.
David Dahl hit a three run homer to give the Rockies an insurmountable 7-0 lead over Washington. In San Francisco, the Giant fans were saying goodbye to Hunter Pence (but not forever). In Minnesota, the same was happening with Joe Mauer. Adrian Beltre is getting a sendoff in Texas. That was icing on the cake.
About two hours into this drama, the Dodgers were crushing the Giants 14-0, the Rockies on their way to a 12-0 romp over DC, the Brewers were still leading the Tigers 4-0 and the Cubs had a 4-3 edge on St. Louis. But the Braves trailed in Philly and were watching their home field hopes fade away. It was looking like there would be a pair of Game 163’s.
There were also stats and league leaderships to be decided. Arenado hit his 37th homer of the season – squelching the Triple Crown bid of Milwaukee’s Christian Yelich. Trevor Story hit his 36th and Yelich, who was sitting on 36 homers, had two guys to overcome in the home run derby. In the end, Yelich had to settle for the NL batting title and the NL MVP award. Arenado finished with 38 homers, Story 37. Javy Baez ended up with 111 RBI to edge both Yelich and Arenado for the RBI title.
Even though the Rockies were pounding the Nationals, there was reason to stay and listen to the chants of “Beat LA.” Blackmon hit a double to complete the first “cycle” ever recorded on MLB’s final day. The Braves lost to Philadelphia, meaning the NL West champ earned home field in the upcoming Division Series. (How much fun would that have been?)
All that was missing that day was late game drama. The Dodgers, Rockies and Brewers each posted double-digit shut out wins. The results did mean MLB would have a pair of tie-breaking Game 163’s for the first time ever. Rox lost in LA, and the Brewers beat the Cubs. Rockies went to Chicago and beat the Cubs to advance to the Division round, where they were swept by the Brewers…remember?
That same Sunday, September 30, 2018, the Broncos were actually not playing. They lost at home to the Kansas City Chiefs 27-23 on Monday Night Football the next day to fall to 2-2 on their way to a 6-10 regular season.
Our baseball team was in the post season, while our football team was near the bottom of the division.
That really was just three years ago.
The Rockies were never going to be part of baseball’s post season this year, so even with so many teams still alive on this season’s final Sunday, all fans here could do was check in for a meaningless score…and sigh.
Be sure to catch “The Park Adjusted Rockies Podcast” with Mark Knudson and Manny Randhawa available where you find all your favorite podcasts.
