Here come the eyeballs.
The NBA and NHL playoffs wrapped on consecutive nights Sunday and Monday.
The Broncos are fewer than 48 hours away from disappearing for six weeks.
The heat is being turned up on the Colorado Rockies both literally and figuratively. On a near nightly basis, the stage is theirs.
Denver sports fans will be locked in with laser focus.
Sure, the Rox aren’t the only show in town this summer – the recently surging Rapids and defending champion Outlaws are always fun to check out – but those teams don’t play nearly as often as the boys in purple.
As long as the casual observer doesn’t like The Bachelorette too much, a random Monday night for the next 2.5 months will be Rockies, Rockies and more Rockies.
It’s time to find out if this scorching start (at least until they arrived in Pittsburgh) is sustainable.
The good news is this team, no doubt, passes the eye test.
The starting pitchers – full of pleasant surprises – have been excellent. Keep this up and it may finish as the best rotation in Rox history.
The bats have gotten better as the season has rolled on, and the lineup is stacked.
The back end of the bullpen has been lights out. Led by Greg Holland, this feels like a 2007 / 2009 shutdown crew with Holland and Jake McGee channeling roles of guys like Manny Corpas and Brian Fuentes.
As has been stated over and over, Bud Black has proved to be a massive upgrade at manager. The former big league pitcher is pushing the right buttons and getting the most out of the majority of his roster.
And that brings us to the bad news.
Majority.
It’s not clicking right now in two areas – ones which could undo them with the pressure now on their shoulders.
Carlos Gonzalez and Trevor Story are both closer to the Mendoza line than to a .250 batting average.
Yes, both are surefire starters when they’re producing – and both have earned long leashes – but those leashes are starting to tighten. How Black handles each guy, especially if they don’t break out, could make or break 2017.
And while the bullpen has produced plenty of high-fives this year, it’s not clicking on all cylinders.
Jordan Lyles is somehow still employed. Scott Oberg looks a lot like the Scott Oberg we all know. Chad Qualls is cashing checks and Mike Dunn (who did start off well but has tumbled) is cashing even bigger checks.
That’s half the group it’s tough to trust.
When the Rox have a lead going into to the seventh, it’s basically ballgame over. On the other side of the coin, they’ve had one significant comeback win all year. One. This team’s record after seven innings is darn near identical to their actual record.
It’s been the best story in Denver sports so far in 2017, but it’s also been somewhat under the radar.
That changed Monday night when Kevin Durant and the Warriors chased down that ring they so desperately coveted.
If the Rox do start to struggle, and hit a legitimate June swoon, it’ll be interesting to see how local media and fans react. Will Dick’s Deck at Coors Field still draw 40,000-plus every night? Will the media continue to hammer the ‘cool story’ or realize expectations to continue winning aren’t bad?
Let’s hope it’s a moot point.
Heck, some people and teams perform best when the lights are the brightest. Think Peyton Manning in a primetime game: It felt like he never lost.
So here’s your shot, Rockies.
This town will be all in, at least for the next six weeks. Keep winning and it’ll be another six weeks after that. Keep winning all the way to the postseason and (gasp!) Rockies games may be more important than Broncos games in October.
The eyeballs are focused. Give us something nice to look at.
