The Team: Colorado Rockies
The Year: 2033
W/L Record: 107-55
Run Differential: 948 RS vs. 666 RA +282 Runs
Awards: NL Batting Title - Ramon Sacedo, NL RBI Leader Justin Columbus, NL Win Leader Sean Zlotnick, NL Cy Young Award Sean Zlotnick
All Stars: 2B Ramon Sacedo, 1B Jose Rabena, SP Sean Zlotnick
League Leading Stat Categories: .281 Team Batting Average, 58 Home Wins, .357 Team OBP, 948 runs scored
Lineup/Bench Rotation/Bullpen
2B Ramon Sacedo Sean Zlotnick
SS Joel Block Andy Young
1B Jose Rabena Ryan Christner
LF Justin Columbus Steve Sheringham
3B Margo Alvarez Alan Pritchard
RF Jason Wilborn CL Edmund Poez
CF Martin Stanbury SU James Threadgold
C Dan Turkenkopf SR Adolfo Ouintana
SR Marc Rossell
MR John Luttrell
LR Frederic Abcejo
2B Brian Loudermilk
OF Mario Fonseca
OF Aloysius Vincent
IF Aaron Brand
IF Phil McMullin
C Derek Markham
The Key Players: Analyzing a team that played in Coors Field should make it pretty obvious where this team's bread was buttered. It's hard to highlight any one player as the team's star but it was lead primarily by the top half of their lineup. A good team is often built from the middle out and the Rockies featured two outstanding players in the middle of their infield in Joel Block and Ramon Sacedo. Block would go on to have a long career that was fringe HOF worthy and his year in Colorado in 2033 was a solid contributor to that. He hit .320 with 3 HR, 11 SB, 92 runs, 65 RBI, and a .384 OBP. He also played extremely good defense from shortstop. His double play partner was 2033 Batting Champ Ramon Sacedo. Sacedo was another good defender but chipped in his career year at the plate as well. He hit .363 that year with 2 HR, 35 SB, 105 Runs scored, 56 RBI, and a .416 OBP. That's a lot of table setting right there.
The middle of the lineup was made up of some nice power hitters with Jose Rabena perhaps deserving the most attention. Rabena flirted with HOF credentials at the end of his career and ultimately just missed the cut a few times. His 2033 campaign certainly helped get him close - he hit .276 with 34 HR, 105 runs, 108 RBI, and a sterling .442 OBP. Backing up was Justin Columbus, the cleanup hitter that had plenty of opportunities to clean up that year, and did to the tune of 120 RBIs. He had a solid season around all those opportunities as well, hitting 25 homeruns himself. Lastly was Margo Alvarez, a quality third baseman, who chipped in a .309 avg, 21 HR, 91 runs, and 84 RBI. The lineup was in more flux after that - Dan Turkenkopft had a solid season at catcher with 23 HRs and a .368 OBP. In RF and CF the Rockies mixed and matched with Martin Stanbury, Brian Loudermilk, Mario Fonseca, and Jason Wilborn. The group was alright and between the four of them they provided these numbers at the two positions: 280ish avg, 37 HR, 10 SB, 193 runs, and 205 RBI.
The pitching staff was the weaker of the to areas for the Rockies. By 2033 the Rockies had seen a decline in their future HOF starter Ryan Christner, but they did see the rise of another powerful starter a few years earlier. 2033 was about Sean Zlotnick's career year and many would argue that his playoff injury was the real end for this Rockies team. Zlotnick put up an eye-popping 21-3 record with 3.00 ERA in 210 innings. He struck out 182, walked only 65, gave up a meager .209 OBP against, and only allowed 11 HRs. He was the deserving Cy Young that year and lead the Rockies pitching staff with that amazing year.
The team got a solid rotation debut from Andy Young who went 16-3 with a 3.38 ERA in 181 innings. They also had two wiley veterans in Brian Colley and Ryan Christner chip in with solid seasons. Colley pitched 204 innings and recorded 197 Ks, a 15-9 record, and a 4.01 ERA. Christner had a 3.79 ERA in 142 IP with an 11-6 record. The back end of the rotation was patchwork due to injuries but they struggled through Fernando Marisgal, Alan Pritchard, Frederic Abcejo, and Steve Sheringham among others to hold down those spots.
The bullpen featured a tremendous amount of talent, starting with the man who is third all time in FCM saves - Edmund Poez. Poez turned in another fine season in 2033, pitching 57 innings with 82 Ks, a 3.77 ERA, a 5-5 record, and 39 saves. Despite all of Poez's talent, he was bested in dominance by his setup man James Threadgold who pitched 44 innings with 59 ks, 6 saves, a 3-3 record, and a brilliant 1.84 ERA. The middle and back end of the bullpen featured Adolfo Ouintana, Marc Rossell, and John Luttrell - all of whom had ERAs under 4 and managed to compile 15 saves and a 12-9 record.
What Sets Them Apart: The Colorado Rockies had a very nice 8-9 year run at the top of the NL West, so choosing the team that best epitomized that run was difficult, but ultimately the 2033 version may have been the best squad of them all. It was the team that set the highest win total and run differential in Rockies FCM history. It featured two future HOF players and a variety of players who received very thorough HOF consideration. It was a team that ultimately couldn't make it past the eventual champion New York Mets, but were a worthy entrant into this particular list.
Interview with the Owner: Matty's Thoughts
Coming Next: 20th Best Team in FCM History: Blasphemously Good
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