The Arizona Diamondbacks followed the Colorado Rockies into the National League West in 1998, five years after the Rockies arrived. The two franchises have a great deal in common, from their history to the paths they followed to this year’s National League Championship Series, which gets under way Thursday night at Chase Field in Phoenix.
“We’ve shown a lot of patience, and it takes courage to have patience,” Rockies manager Clint Hurdle said. “Both [teams] have taken our lumps. They’ve had more success than us in the past, and that was always a little rock in our shoe. So now the opportunity to play them in the NLCS is going to be special.”
The Diamondbacks won the 2001 World Series in only their fourth season of existence, only to lose 111 games in 2004. The Rockies earned the NL wild-card playoff berth in 1995 — their third season — then endured an 11-year drought that included six consecutive losing seasons.
During the Diamondbacks’ disastrous 2004 season, his fellow investors forced out managing partner Jerry Colangelo even though he had been the driving force behind the effort to bring Major League Baseball to Arizona and employed an aggressive spending approach that helped the Diamondbacks win the Series so early in their existence.
Hard feelings apparently have evaporated: Colangelo out threw the ceremonial first pitch at the first game of the D’backs’ NL Division Series with the Cubs.
A similar goodwill gesture has not been extended to former Rockies chairman Jerry McMorris, one of the original members of the ownership group. Brothers Charlie and Dick Monfort bought out McMorris in 2005, and his involvement with the team has pretty much ceased to exist.
Diamondbacks general manager Josh Byrnes has a more civil relationship with Colorado. Byrnes worked with Colorado GM Dan O’Dowd in Cleveland for six years before joining O’Dowd as an assistant GM with the Rockies.
During his three seasons with the Rockies, Byrnes met his future wife, Charity, who worked in the team’s public relations department.
After the 2002 season, the two teams tentatively agreed to a blockbuster trade involving the Diamondbacks’ Matt Williams and Colorado’s Larry Walker. But Williams wouldn’t waive his no-trade clause because he had custody of his three children and didn’t want to leave his Phoenix-area home. Walker didn’t want to restructure his contract and stayed in Colorado, though he later was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals.
In addition to competing in the same division, the Diamondbacks and Rockies both conduct spring training in Tucson, though at separate facilities. Colorado went 10-8 against the D’backs in the regular season and is on one of the best rolls in franchise history with 17 victories in the last 18 games.
“There are going to be no surprises,” Rockies first baseman Todd Helton said. “It’s who plays the best. That’s what baseball should be about.”
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mgonzales@tribune.com
