Welcome to Spring Training! Tell us what you love about baseball

Yesterday, Justin Wick whetted our appetite for Spring Training baseball but today it is finally here. And while Spring Training will be structured quite a bit differently this year (Justin laid out some of the changes yesterday), it is still considered the First Day of Spring in our household (apologies to those who consider Pitchers and Catchers Reporting as the first day of spring).

Baseball fans often associate spring with renewed hope but after back-to-back disastrous seasons (and off-seasons), things are still a bit frosty in Rockies Country. The upside is 2021 promises to be an intriguing year for a franchise at a bit of a crossroads. Will the team commit to a rebuild or hope they can tread the waters of mediocrity for a few years until they can contend again? Which players will emerge as the next core around which the team can build that potential contender? Who will fill the position gaps? Chet Gutwein and Joelle Milholm addressed these questions and more earlier this week, but they will likely take all season to answer. And we’ll have plenty to discuss regarding the various position battles when our annual State of the Position series starts up next week.

For now, let’s take a step back and discuss:

• What makes you romantic about baseball?
• What roped you into the sport and how did you become tied to the Rockies?
• What have you missed most about attending games since the start of the pandemic?
• What are you most looking forward to about the next time you get to attend a game? Who do you most want to attend that game with?
• What’s the first thing you’re going to consume from the Rockies/LoDo concession options?

I’ll discuss more in the comments but for now I’ll say I’m most looking forward to taking my boys to a game: my toddler who missed riding down to Coors Field to watch the Rockies last year, and my infant who we are still waiting to take to his first game. And we’ll make sure to stop by 19th and Wynkoop to see Joel and get some hotdogs on our way into the stadium.

For those who have been around Purple Row long enough, you might consider this almost like an Open Thread, or a FanPost Friday prompt. But as we kick off this 2021 season, which promises to be a doozy in more ways than one, let’s take some time to discuss what brought us here, what brings us together and unites us, and remember the good things about baseball. At least for a day.

So tell us: what do you love about baseball?

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Roster questions loom as Rox begin games | Rockies.com

Thomas Harding takes a look at three big questions facing the Rockies this spring: the lineup, the fifth starter, and the set-up guys in the bullpen. He also has a blurb on Dereck Rodriguez, who’s looking to try to make the roster.

Colorado Rockies 2021 spring training radio, TV broadcast schedule | Roxpile

Kevin Henry, with a hat-tip to our own Ben Kouchnerkavich, has pieced together how and when you’ll be able to watch and listen to Rockies baseball. The good news is if you have MLB.tv, you’ll be able to watch the Rockies and Dodgers (via SportsNet LA) tomorrow at 12:55pm MT. If you don’t have MLB.tv, no fear: KOA NewsRadio 850 AM/94.1 FM will be doing a radio broadcast as well.

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