Rockies riding Mile High vibe in the NL West

The scorecard in the archives of Colorado Rockies franchise history stands like this: World Series appearances 1, NL West titles 0.

No divisional crowns is a particular figure that all-star shortstop Trevor Story and his teammates are keenly aware of and hope to remedy, especially with the Rockies climbing into a place they’ve rarely been this late in the season: all alone at the top of the NL West. The Rockies haven’t occupied first place this late in the year since 1995.

Colorado began an off day Thursday with a 1½-game divisional lead over the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Rockies (77-62) start a pivotal stretch by hosting the Dodgers for three games starting Friday and then third-place Arizona for four more.

Buckle up. These last 23 games reckon to be quite a ride. “A division title would be huge, obviously, since we’ve never done that,” said Story, who crushed three homers Wednesday, including one that went a Coors Field-record 505 feet according to Statcast. “We’re very confident we can do it.”

The Rockies are a little bit of an anomaly. Consider this: The Rockies are a minus-8 in run differential. For comparison, the front-running Boston Red Sox are plus-223 in the AL East and the defending World Series-champion Houston Astros are a plus-235 in the AL West.

Colorado doesn’t even have the best odds of making the post-season out of its division. According to ESPN, the Rockies have a 48.2 per cent chance, while the Dodgers check in at 77.6 per cent.

“I still think we are the best team and I know when we are doing things right and playing the way we should,” said righthander Jon Gray, who pitches Friday against Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw. “We are going to be where we need to be at the end of the season.”