If the week between Christmas and NYE was a baseball team, it would be the Colorado Rockies

It’s that time of the year between Christmas and New Years where the days mesh together and time doesn’t really exist as it usually does. The hype of anticipation for Christmas has resided and all that remains is scraps of wrapping paper, a dried out tree, and the dread of going back to real like after the New Year looms. With more time off from responsibilities and more time to embrace the void of the end of the year, this week can be weird and fun for some people, while some are left pretending to be hard at work in the office. If this week of the year was personified as a baseball team, the Colorado Rockies are a top candidate. Here’s how the Colorado Rockies are very similar to the bizarre end of the year week that we are currently living in.

Anticipation and Build Up to Drop Off

The holiday season brings a lot anticipation and build up during the month prior building up everyone’s expectations and hopes. The Colorado Rockies did this part of December by making the playoffs back in 2017 and 2018. Rockies fans were full of anticipation and hope going into the 2019 season, much like getting excited for the holidays. Now three years removed from that fun, hopeful time, the state of the Rockies feels like the void that is the week between Christmas and New Years. All hope that was before the Holidays has subsided and the reality of the trash left behind from holiday visitors and the job of cleaning up the house of all decorations seem like a task that is beyond all capability this week. The Rockies are the same way after having a couple years of fun and enjoying some success only to find themselves back in clean-up rebuilding mode. Much like waking up to a messy house and dying tree in your living room after ending the night with too much eggnog, the Rockies woke up with a messy roster, wondering where Connor Joe is, and remembering they forgot to buy that big gift (a left-handed centerfielder).

Structure of Time Does Not Exist

Christmas falling on a Sunday makes Monday feel like a Sunday, and Tuesday is now a Monday, but Thursday is also a Friday this week and Saturday will feel like a Sunday during a long weekend, and next Sunday will be a Super Sunday before going back to real life January 2nd. That’s confusing, but you get the point.

The structure of time does not exist in our lives this week and time is all but a mere societal concept that we just agree on. Much like this week, the structure of the Rockies strategy is not normal compared to other baseball clubs. Are they going to rebuild after four straight losing seasons? Resign big free agents to build around like Kris Bryant? Sign no one and hope everyone performs at their best? The Rockies front office is in the same confusion in their strategy to get back to the playoffs as most of us are trying to remember what day of the week it is. Likewise, building a quality baseball team at 20th and Blake seems as impossible and unappetizing to the Rockies as going into work this week.

Weird or Fun?

Finally, this week between Christmas and New Years can be weird or fun with extra time off from work and school, and getting to be around the in laws or a giant purple triceratops in the Rockies case. The Colorado Rockies play in the most unique ballpark in MLB, which can lead to some weird and fun baseball together too. The Rockies might not be fighting for the playoffs next season, or in the near future, but fans can at least hope that the team can be a little weird and at least some fun to watch as they try to get back to their 2017-18 level again. Just like getting tired of your inlaws after an extended stay during the holidays, the Rockies can also be a love-hate relationship for their fans, but at the end of the day, you wouldn’t have any other family, or baseball team.

Enjoy your weird week between Christmas and New Years, and have a great and safe end of the year!

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New year thoughts: Helton, Blackmon and Rockies’ hot stove | MLB.com

Rockies beat writer Thomas Harding breaks three of the most important things for the Rockies going into the New Year. First, does Todd Helton get enough votes to finally be enshrined into the Hall of Fame? Harding believes the voting will be close this year, but the former first baseman is deserving of making it to Cooperstown. Next, can the Rockies quicken up their pace in getting back into contention? The Rockies have quietly improved the bullpen this offseason, but are still a ways away behind other teams in the division and GM Bill Schmidt will need to find a way to shorten their time of the rebuild after key extensions and Kris Bryant’s signing last offseason. Finally, will Charlie Blackmon be able to have an “end of the career defining moment” like Todd Helton got in 2007 and 2009. Blackmon was great early on in his career, but seems unlikely for him to get his big playoff moments for the team at the end of his career.

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