For the last seven years, Colorado Rockies baseball has been many things, but “boring” rarely made the list.
Instead, we were treated to a chaotic roller coaster. They didn’t just lose games: They lost them in spectacular, historic fashion. They had public front-office feuds, bullpen implosions that defied the laws of physics, and forced us all to hear way too much about teams like the 1895 Louisville Colonels, which featured players named Tug Welch and Ducky Holmes. Every week brought new, creative
ways to raise your blood pressure.
It was stressful. It was exhausting. It was a 162-game existential crisis wrapped in a baseball uniform.
On the other, hand the 2026 Rockies are, for lack of better words, kind of boring.
But before you mistake that for a complaint, let me clarify: Being boring is the best thing to happen to this team in years.
The comforts of being boring
The first month of the season for the new-look Rockies was fairly exciting. After losing 119 games in 2025, the Rockies came out playing a much-improved brand of baseball with a new lineup and pitching staff. They reached milestones in the win column that hadn’t been reached until the mid-June last season. The pitching was better, the offense was kind of shaky, but overall it was more interesting.
However, things have predictably regressed in May. The Rockies have lost quite a few games as pitching has struggled, and the offense has tried to fight off slumps. Still, things are nowhere near as bad as they were in 2025 and the team has , generally, played competitive ball.
The defense is making the routine plays. The pitching staff is eating innings without setting the world on fire. The offense isn’t exploding for 15 runs, but they aren’t getting shut out by a guy making his MLB debut, either.
There is also very little roster turnover. Fans are always quick to pull the rip cord on a struggling player, but a difference this season is that the team is not being reactive. Moves are being based on need rather than desperation. A significant indication of this fact is that the team has utilized just two rookies this season.
Boring means stability.
A toxic, high-drama losing environment is a terrible place to develop young talent. When a franchise is a walking dumpster fire, every mistake a rookie makes gets magnified under a microscope of organizational panic. Young players press, they try to do too much, and their development stalls out under the weight of a broken culture.
But in a boring environment? A young player can strike out with runners on, go back to the dugout, look at the tablet, and figure it out without feeling like they just ruined the season. The pressure is lowered because the baseline is stable. Both young and experienced players are allowed to make their routine adjustments quietly, tucked away in the middle of a functional lineup, rather than being asked to be savior-of-the-franchise figures.
It’s understandable to want winning baseball — that’s what we all want — but 2026 is all about the climb.
The Rockies have barely started up the trail, and there is growth happening. The big-league team is learning how to compete and win at the big-league level. The organization is figuring out how to win from top to bottom and implement systems that will reap benefits. There is comfort knowing there is a plan behind the rebuild, and boring baseball that isn’t historic for all the wrong reasons is a major step forward.
The Minor League excitement
If you are longing for excitement from Rockies baseball, the farm system may have what you’re looking for.
The Albuquerque Isotopes have played much better baseball this season. There is a healthy blend of external players that were brought for leadership and depth purposes and top prospects that are finding their footing. The Isotopes are putting patience at the plate into practice, which is what the organization is hoping to instill across the system. The Rockies are letting prospects get sufficient time to be ready to face big-league pitching.
There is also excitement to be found in the lower levels with teams like the Fresno Grizzlies. Ethan Holliday (No. 2 PuRP) and Roldy Brito (No. 11 PuRP) are bringing plenty of flair to the offense, and there are plenty of quality pitching performances. Fresno is playing some of the best ball in the system, and it’s a testament to the changes bubbling under the surface for Colorado.
The minors represents baseball in its purest form, and it’s exciting because you get to watch growth in real time and development for the future of the big-league club.
Lowering the bar to raise the floor
Look, I’m not trying to convince you that this is a secret powerhouse hiding in plain sight. The National League West is still a buzzsaw, and nobody is printing playoff tickets in Denver just yet.
But there is a distinct beauty in a team that stops beating itself.
For years, watching the Rockies felt like watching someone try to assemble IKEA furniture without the instructions while the house was on fire. Right now, it feels like they’ve finally found the Allen wrench. They are executing the boring plays, minimizing the catastrophic mistakes, and staying competitive.
In the grand scheme of a long season, boring means stability. It means we can watch a game on any given night and actually enjoy the baseball, rather than treating it like a psychological endurance test. Sometimes, that’s all you need.
The Rockies don’t have to be great right now. They just have to be enjoyable or, at the very least, serviceable.
Before you can become good, you first have to stop being a disaster. You have to raise the floor.
By becoming boring, the Rockies have finally stopped beating themselves. They have replaced the chaotic, unpredictable lurches from crisis to crisis with something resembling a standard Major League baseball operation.
It just feels like baseball. And after everything this fanbase has been through over the last few years, I will take a boring weeknight win, or even a boring loss, every single time.
On the farm
Triple-A: Las Vegas Aviators 16, Albuquerque Isotopes 8
A disastrous seventh inning that saw Las Vegas score eight runs ended up playing the difference in the Isotopes 16-8 loss. Sean Sullivan started on the mound and struggled through his 4.2 innings of work, allowing seven runs on 12 hits with four strikeouts. The seventh inning fell apart for Victor Juarez, but only three runs were earned as the Isotopes committed five total errors on the night. Offensively, Chad Stevens led the way with two hits, including a home run, and four RBI. Charlie Condon also had a much-needed multi-hit game, while Andrew Knizner also had two hits and drove in three runs.
Double-A: New Hampshire Fisher Cats 4, Hartford Yard Goats 3 F/10
The Yard Goats held on to a 2-1 lead heading into the bottom of the ninth inning, but the Fisher Cats managed to tie things up and eventually put up a two-spot in the bottom of the 10th for a walk-off victory. Ryan Feltner made the rehab start on the mound for Hartford and delivered 3.2 innings of work, allowing just three hits while striking out four. Offensively, the team had eight hits, with Braylen Wimmer knocking a pair of doubles.
High-A: Spokane Indians 9, Vancouver Canadians 2
Spokane rode a six-run bottom of the seventh inning, aided by a two-run eighth, to victory as they tallied 10 hits against Vancouver. Eight players had at least one hit for the Indians, seven of whom were starters in the game. Alan Espinal and Robert Calaz each had two hits while Jacob Humphrey led the way with three RBI. Surprisingly, Spokane had just two extra-base hits. Both were doubles from Humphrey and Tommy Hopfe. Jackson Cox started on the mound, allowing two runs on three hits with 10 strikeouts and no walks.
Low-A: Rancho Cucamonga Quakes 11, Fresno Grizzlies 8
Despite out-hitting Rancho Cucamonga 13-11, the Fresno Grizzlies’ pitching struggled with run prevention in the 11-8 loss. Every batter had at least one hit for Fresno, with four notching two hits, and Roldy Brito led the way with three RBI. The team had more walks than strikeouts, but the rally fell short in the latter innings. Marcos Herrera made the start and recorded just two outs in the first inning, giving up four runs on four hits, including three home runs. Manuel Olivares followed in relief and completed three innings, but also gave up four runs on four hits with four walks. Yanzel Correra then tossed 2.1 perfect innings with four punch outs before giving way to Jhon Medina who then allowed three runs in two innings of work.
Patrick Saunders checks in on Holliday and how things are going down in Fresno.
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