Welcome to The Opener, where every weekday morning during the regular season you’ll get a fresh, topical story to start your day from one of SI.com’s MLB writers.
Playing baseball in the heart of the Rocky Mountains at a far higher altitude than MLB’s other 29 teams has its advantages. The picturesque, snow-capped backdrop can’t be beat. No lead is safe in the thin atmosphere conducive to home runs, high-scoring games and thrilling comebacks. The mountain range even lent the Rockies their nickname.
But the mile-high style—the 20th row of Coors Field’s upper deck is literally a mile above sea level—also comes with one debilitating drawback. In their 28 years of existence, many of which have featured explosive and even historically good offenses, the Rockies have yet to figure out how to consistently prevent their opponents from scoring, too. Both the team’s hitters and pitchers essentially have to learn how to play in two vastly different environments; that in the only ballpark in the Mountain Time Zone, and everywhere else. But the pitchers have it much tougher.
