San Francisco Giants 2017 Preview of NL West: Colorado Rockies

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Sep 7, 2016; Denver, CO, USA; A general view of Coors Field in the second inning of the game between the Colorado Rockies and the San Francisco Giants. Mandatory Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports /

We continue with our series previewing all the San Francisco Giants NL West opponents. Today, we take on the Colorado Rockies.

The San Francisco Giants and Colorado Rockies have never had the type of rivalry that the Giants might have with other NL West teams, especially the Dodgers and Padres. However, the Rockies lack of competitiveness since 2007-2009 is something that might have hindered that.

If you harken back to the times of Pablo Sandoval, pre-Aubrey Huff, the Giants and Rockies had an incredible rivalry in the 2009 season. It was going down to the both of them for the Wild Card spot, and the Rockies were fueled by their stud starter in Ubaldo Jimenez. That’s honestly the last time I can remember really being scared about playing the Rockies.

Since then, the Rockies, much like the Padres had been “floundering”. But ever since the arrival of Troy Tulowitzki and Carlos Gonzalez as top forces in the league, they’ve always been close to being a competitor, but not. Last year, the Rockies actually made a nice run at a wild card spot. Once potential rookie of the year candidate, Trevor Story, had his season ended days after the all-star break, the Rockies were out of it.

They got some really good pitching performances from Tyler Chatwood, and a young starter in Jon Gray, started to get some recognition for his work. Arenado started to touch superstar status, and David Dahl burst onto the scene and looked like the top prospect he was projected to be.

The Rockies didn’t really accomplish a whole lot, but many people walked away wondering about how promising their future was. A year to build on for the Rockies. So what did they add to the equation to get better for 2017?