Colorado Rockies 2016 schedule: The five best series to attend at Coors Field this summer

The Colorado Rockies released individual game tickets this morning, so if you're not a season ticket holder, you can now start buying seats for single games throughout the 2016 season. This is a great thing. It means baseball is getting closer to its return!

We've already broken down what the schedule looks like for the Rockies this summer, but the individual game ticket announcement got me thinking. If you can only budget a couple games into your summer, what are the five best options for heading to Coors Field?

Just like we did with the promotional item schedule, then, here are a few game options to attend this summer in Denver... and yes, I am partial to non-NL West games (since there are SO many in-division contests), and I highly value games against either interesting teams, good teams, or teams the Rockies don't see very often (just for the sheer baseball entertainment value of seeing something new).

Also: I didn't include Opening Day in this list for a few reasons, since (a) it's a pretty obvious draw, and (b) it's sometimes a tough ticket, but if you have a chance to go to the Rockies' home opener—especially if you've never been—you should jump at it.

June 27-29 vs Toronto Blue Jays

Yeah, yeah, we know, Troy Tulowitzki is no longer a member of the Rockies. Thanks for the info! Look, this series is going to be a big deal because of his return to Denver, especially having it coincidentally be so soon—not even a full calendar year—after his departure in a trade last July. Tickets will probably sell out fairly soon for this, I'd imagine, but it's certainly a must-see series.

Other attractive things about this Toronto series: the Blue Jays are good, so it's always fun to see a good team come to Denver. They're also an AL East team—something we very rarely see—so I think it's sort of fun to see different players and a totally different division than the same ol' NL West offerings time and again.

Promotions: Purple Monday player lapel pin (first 5,000 fans; June 27), Xcel LED bulb (no, seriously, I'm not sure either; June 28), $1 hot dog (first 10,000 fans; June 29)

June 14-15 vs New York Yankees

I know, the Yankees aren't the team they were just a couple years ago, but they're probably going to be a pretty solid club even without being the beneficiaries of continued and absurd East Coast bias a few all-time legends and greats. Just like the Blue Jays, this ball club rarely comes to town, so it's certainly worth seeing them for the two days that they are here, if at all possible.

Promotions: Baseball cap (first 20,000 fans; June 15)

July 7-10 vs Philadelphia Phillies

This is fireworks weekend for the Rockies (the team is out of town over the 4th of July, so you'll have to wait a few days to get fireworks until they return to Coors Field). Fireworks weekend is always a fun time, and if you can snag a ticket to one of the postgame fireworks nights—July 8 and July 9—obviously, I'd highly recommend that.

Also, not for nothing, the Rockies are going to be very bad in 2016; the Phillies are one of maybe just two or three teams that might be a little worse. If you wanted to see some Rockies wins, this looks like a promising four-game series for the Rockies to take, I don't know, three victories? We'll see.

Promotions: Post-game fireworks (July 8), post-game fireworks (July 9), Military Appreciation Day (July 10)

May 13-15 vs New York Mets

For the opposite reason as the Phillies' series—Phils are bad, Mets are good—this might be a great series for people interested in good baseball and solid pitching from, ya know, the visiting team.

New York's rotation is insane: young, strong, already elite, and with a postseason pedigree. It depends who ends up throwing for the Mets in this three-game series, but this is a week baseball fans should circle on their calendars, if only to see some really, really good young power pitchers at Coors Field, and dream of our own that may or may not be coming.

Promotions: Fan Friday tote bag (first 20,000 fans; May 13), Plastic ball & bat set (first 10,000 fans, May 15)

Sept 30-Oct 2 vs Milwaukee Brewers

This is the final series of the year, and I specifically recommend the Sunday, October 2 game against Milwaukee to round out the season with Fan Appreciation Day. There's something to be said about the final games of the season, as you inevitably get nostalgic about baseball and yell come back! Come back! to the sport before it departs for the winter and we're left with Sunday football games and whatever else it is people do during the winter. (Shovel snow?)

There's also a fireworks game this weekend! And, just like the Rockies (and those Phillies), the Brewers are not very good, so maybe the Rockies will acquit themselves well in their final series of the year and leave a good taste in your mouth just as they did to finish the 2015 season.

Promotions: Fan appreciation fireworks game (September 30), Fan appreciation Fan Vote t-shirt (October 2)

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Honorable mention!

August 19-21 vs Chicago Cubs

You can say this about several teams' fans in Coors Field—the Dodgers, Giants, Yankees, Mets, Cardinals, Pirates, even Reds, I've noticed—but nobody travels quite like the Chicago Cubs, and boy, are there a lot of Cubs fans in Denver. Go to some of these games, wear purple, cheer for the home team. Nothing is more obnoxious than frontrunnin' fake Cubs fans. Yeah, I said it. Fight me, Chicago.

Promotions: Fan Friday player lapel pin (first 10,000 fans; August 19)

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Assuming you don't have season tickets, what series/single game are you most looking forward to buying single-game seats for in 2016? (Or alternatively, if you do have season tix, what game have you already circled on your calendar as a must-attend, anyways?)