Playing in Denver is supposed to be one of the best home-field advantages in sports. That’s currently the case, as the Broncos and Nuggets haven’t lost at home and the Avalanche haven’t lost in regulation in the Mile High City to start the season.
For the Colorado Rockies, Denver has been anything but an advantage over recent years. They won just 25 games at 20th and Blake last season, the lowest mark in the league by seven games. They won 37 home games in 2024, the fourth-lowest mark, and another 37 in 2023, which was tied for the sixth-lowest mark. The organization has been on a downwards slide in recent years, and a big part of it is because the team hasn’t been able to take advantage of playing 81 games in the Mile High City.
Is it the humidor? Is it the altitude? Is it the fact that Coors Field has the largest outfield in the league, making it harder for defenders to cover ground?
No, it’s the quality of the team. The other 29 teams are faced with the same factors, they just have the better players to deal with it.
HOW DO THE ROCKIES MAKE PLAYING IN COORS FIELD AN ADVANTAGE?
For the Rockies new President of Baseball Operations, Paul DePodesta, making Coors Field an advantage again is one of his big goals.
“As an opposing team here a number of times through those years, we’d look at the schedule in March, and you’d circle these dates, and you dread them. You’d think, ‘Geez, we’ve got to go in there for three days.’ No lead is safe. We don’t know how we’re going to get through this with our pitching. We’re going to need to need to be thinking about how we’re going to set up our pitching for the series after this. That’s what I want this to be like,” DePodesta said at his introductory press conference on Thursday.
Coors Field definitely puts a strain on pitchers, as it’s widely regarded as the friendliest park for hitters in the league. With a 113 park factor rating (100 is average, higher numbers favor hitters, lower favor pitchers) — the highest in the league by nine — it should be a nightmare for opposing pitchers to take the mound in this park, but instead, it’s been a nightmare for Rockies pitchers.
The Rockies’ starting pitching staff set the record for worst combined ERA in baseball history last season. If DePodesta wants to make Coors Field the best home-field advantage in baseball, he’s going to have to start by assembling a talented staff on the mound.
For fans looking for an answer on how DePoDesta is planning to fulfill this goal, they didn’t get an answer, just another statement that his mission is to do so.
“This has a chance to be the best home-field advantage in all of baseball. So that’s our goal, and that’s what we want. I’m not going to get into the details of exactly how we plan on doing that, but that’s certainly the goal here, I see it as a potentially huge advantage.”
As long as the happy hour deals on The Rooftop stay the same, it’s going to continue to be the best bar in Denver. Fans, or what’s left of the fanbase, are hoping that someday the park will provide an advantage for the actual team playing in it.
