“People used to say we were the integrity of the game, that the umpires held the integrity of the game,” former Major League Baseball ump Paul Emmel told me Thursday morning. “And the integrity of the game is being removed from the umpires.

“You want to bring the technology to make people be better, bring technology to help me be better. But in this instance, I’m not sure it accomplished that goal. I think it’s removing the integrity of the game.”

The Rockies lift the lid on their 2026 season Friday in Miami with a pinch of history on the side. It’ll be the first regular-season MLB game in Colorado history to use robotic umpires — or rather, to use robo-ump oversight.

Major League Baseball this year , in which batters, pitchers or catchers can instantly appeal a ball or strike call at home plate.

All calls will be checked by a framework that utilizes the 12 Hawk-Eye cameras that are universal to all MLB parks. According to Baseball Savant, MLB’s advanced stats page, ABS will judge balls and strikes from a zone with a width of 17 inches (same as home plate), with the top of the zone altered by batter to 53.5% of a player’s listed height without cleats, and a bottom set at 27% of the player’s listed height. Strikes/balls are judged when a ball passes the middle of the plate, not the front of it.

“But each player has a different strike zone,” said Emmel, who retired in July 2024 “I don’t know if anybody (who calibrates ABS) has ever seen Greg Maddux, who can miss the front edge of the plate and hit the back of the strike zone. I don’t know if they’ve ever seen Justin Verlander’s high curveball fall from 12 to 6, hit the high side of the strike zone and then hit the catcher in the legs.”

Emmel, 57, isn’t some fogey and telling the tech kids to get off his lawn. But he is proudly old-school by nature. And an even prouder Artificial Intelligence (AI) skeptic.

The Michigan native, who made his MLB debut in 1999 and worked a World Series, three League Championship Series, eight Division Series and two All-Star games over the next two-plus decades, has seen some … stuff.

Paul recalled to me how he worked a playoff tilt once and was in the locker room pregame watching Yankees-Blue Jays on TV next to Joe Torre and Jim Leyland. All of a sudden, the strike-zone box disappeared from the broadcast feed.

“I remember calls being made,” Emmel chuckled. “And I’m paraphrasing here, but the person on the phone said that the person who set the box on the TV got tired and went home.

“So, we’re looking around the room like, ‘What?'”

Which, in hindsight, is how one becomes an AI apostate.

Look, Emmel never professed to be perfect, which is also his point. He’s been good, though —

His peers, past and present, have been getting better, too. In 2025, according to MLB, umps recorded a 92.83% accuracy rate on ball/strike calls, the best percentage ever recorded by the league, and up more than three points from 2016 (89.31%). The umpires’ 10.88 missed calls per game were down from 16.58 misses nine years earlier.

“I get it in tennis,” Emmel continued. “But what’s next for baseball (once this) conversation (moves) down the road? Right now, the only things that are out there and subjective are check swings and balks. How do you take check swings and balks out of our hands?

“I called a balk , and I was wrong. And I was right for the wrong reasons. Are they going to be able to challenge check swings? Are they going to be able to challenge balks?”

Curious, I reached out earlier this week to a current MLB umpire I know to talk about ABS. Citing league policy, he respectfully declined to comment. Emmel told me he thinks the crews dealing with the new tech are “less than cautiously optimistic … I would say very skeptical” about ABS going forward.

“We’ve seen boxes move each game. If you’ve got Aaron Judge (who stands 6-foot-7) and Jose Altuve (5-6), you’re changing the box … I know in and out, up and down. How do I know where your boxes are?

“You’re always going to have a pitch (being missed) here or there. But (with) the statistics in baseball, it all washes out in the end.”

Like a lot of us, Emmel jumped into some deep convos about the pros and cons of AI these days. He’s got friends who run businesses. He’s got friends in the tech industry. He wrestles with AI usage with UMPS CARE, a nonprofit founded by MLB umpires of which he serves as vice president.

“And I find fault (in some CEOs’) arguments,” said Emmel, who’ll host “On one hand, you can’t turn a blind eye to something new that’s coming through the tunnel. On the other hand, God creates us to be human, and that human interaction and that human empathy — those are things that aren’t computerized.”

Being 100% right on calls, being 100% certain, absolutely matters, Emmel says. But once you’ve opened Pandora’s box when it comes to homogenization in baseball, he wondered, where does it end? Variance, human variance, quirky variance, has always been at the core of The Show.

Baseball used to be the only major North American sport that didn’t use a clock of some kind. It’s still the only major North American sport in which the dimensions of the playing field vary widely by city and venue. Although Emmel wonders how long that last one will last.

“The argument was that in baseball, there are all these (quirks) we’ve used to elevate this sport in culture, and all those things were good,” Emmel said. “But now all those things seem to be bad. They didn’t have this technology back in the ’70s, when they were playing two-hour games.”

Which is why Emmel’s not a fan of the pitch clock, either. He says it takes away from conversations. And that baseball has always been a conversational game — pitcher to catcher, catcher to umpire, hitter to umpire, first baseman to runner, shortstop to second baseman, third baseman to his coach.

“The game’s gone silent,” Emmel said. “And I don’t think that’s going to save the game.”

The other day, to decompress, Emmel took a lawn chair out to a park, cracked open a 6-pack and watched some local kids play baseball. Know what? He didn’t yell at a single cloud. Not once.

“And I don’t know that I would get the same enjoyment out of going to a big-league game anymore,” Emmel sighed. “I don’t understand where it’s going.”

Baseball delivered a huge win with the All-Star Game. Yet the Rockies keep losing.

Major League Baseball is evolving, and the Rockies are not, asleep at the wheel as the franchise careens into a ditch.

The importance of change was on full display Tuesday night. Whether you like commissioner Rob Manfred or not — and you will not when there is a work stoppage after the 2026 season — he has revived baseball with new rules like the pitch clock and limits on pick-off attempts and defensive shifts.

At the Midsummer Classic, a national audience was introduced to the automatic ball strike system, in-game interviews with pitchers and catchers and a home run derby to determine the winner. This is what good businesses do. They grow. They expand. They change.

And then there are the Rockies. Their idea of forward thinking is installing a pitching lab in Scottsdale five years too late and promoting the owner’s son to president. Walker Monfort insists the Rockies want to win, and have the resources to do it.

Why don’t we believe him?

Maybe because the old president Greg Feasel wasn’t fired when Monfort was promoted. Instead, he was given until the end of the season to get his affairs in order as if his ownership stake wasn’t already a golden parachute. Or maybe because general manager Bill Schmidt remains employed.

Things have gone south since he took over on May 3, 2021, because of limited homegrown prospects, horrible pitching, abysmal hitting and zero trades beyond spare parts. And he’s the guy you want making trade deadline acquisitions to build up the farm system?

Sorry, just trying to keep up.

In the business world, they call this negligence.

The Rockies have been living off their back-to-back playoff berths in 2017 and ’18. They want you to believe that this historically bad season — they must go 20-46 over the final 66 games to avoid the worst record in modern baseball history — is a fluke. They fail to reveal they own MLB’s worst record since 2020 and are 274-441 with Schmidt in charge.

Tuesday in Atlanta provided evidence why.

Every NL West team featured a star like Freddie Freeman, Manny Machado, Logan Webb or Eugenio Suarez. The Rockies offered Hunter Goodman. Goodman is a promising slugger, but ranks among the league’s worst catchers in the field. On cue, he committed the game’s first error, firing a throw into center field on a stolen base attempt.

And if your explanation is of course other teams have big names because they have bigger payrolls, then how do you explain the Reds’ development of starter Andrew Abbott or the Rays trading for Junior Caminero or signing first baseman Jonathan Aranda out of Tijuana, Mexico? The Rockies’ recent feel-good stories are Jake Cave and 31-year-old Wynton Bernard hitting a home run in 2022.

This is a direct reflection of their scouting and refusal to invest heavily in analytics, where they are woefully understaffed.

You think Royals closer Carlos Estevez became an All-Star just because he left altitude? Riiiiight. He went to organizations that could help him better understand his strengths.

The excuses for the Rockies’ failures are silly. They don’t draft and develop well. Period. Dick Monfort has shown over and over again that he would rather remain comfortable, seeing the ballpark as the main attraction, not the players. You know what that makes him? A real estate mogul, not an owner. An owner, much to fans’ dismay, who has shown no indication he will ever sell the team.

What’s the point? To fill a stadium with beer drinkers and sunset watchers? Or win?

As rookies reported on Wednesday, it drew into focus the stark differences between the Broncos and Rockies. Co-owners Greg Penner and Carrie Walton Penner are no longer novices. They are entering their fourth season. They never hesitate to make difficult decisions. They fired a coach in his first season. Hired a Super Bowl-winning coach. Cut ties with Russell Wilson. They splurged in free agency twice, and took a prudent approach once when it was important to hit the reset button around a first-round quarterback.

They have spent $100 million on stadium renovations,ushered in sleek new uniforms — nothing like the Rockies’ gender reveal City Connect jerseys — and are inching closer to a stadium decision that will define their legacy. They come from the corporate world of Walmart. They don’t have stockholders in the NFL. That, however, is how they view their season ticket holders.

They conduct surveys, ask questions, constantly seeking ways to improve the fan experience. And they realize what fans want — real fans, not ones who go to 20th and Blake Street to cheer the opponent — is success. Since August of 2022, they have built trust that they can execute a vision on and off the field. It’s never about keeping the train moving, but where the train is going and how fast it gets there.

The Broncos owners see themselves as custodians of a public institution. The Monforts treat the Rockies like a trust fund for their children. Accountability over loyalty. What a concept.

Pro sports are cutthroat. Adapt or die. The All-Star Game, like the Broncos, showed the importance of innovation. Walker Monfort claims the goal is to win. There is no other way to prove it than by embracing dramatic change.

They dated for nine years, ever since they were high school sweethearts growing up outside of Memphis. They’ve been married for almost two years, so they’ve learned to read each other’s moods.

They know the toil and rhythms of a long season. They usually don’t talk baseball, especially not in the morning.

“That is our time together, it’s pretty rare that we talk about the game,” says Sydney, who’s been to about 90% of the games this season, usually adorned in her Rockies gear. “We talk about what’s going on in our Netflix shows. We talk about our families.”

Goodman adds, “I don’t want to be hanging out with Sydney and be thinking about baseball. I think about that all of the time, but not when I’m with her.”

But this day is a bit different.

Hunter is in the midst of a breakout season. The Rockies catcher is riding a seven-game hitting streak in which he’s slashed .321/.387/.679, and he’s about to return to the lineup after missing four straight games with a tight left hamstring. He says he’s pumped to get back behind the plate and not worried about the injury. Sydney is a bit more concerned.

“I’m really nervous,” she says. “We were reading on Twitter the night before, everybody saying that Hunter might go on the injured list. Twitter said, ‘IL, IL, IL.’

“Little did they know that he was going to play that day, but it was still nerve-wracking because you don’t want him to go out there and push it too hard.”

The life of a big league catcher is never easy, of course. In an effort to provide a glimpse of the rigors that come with donning the tools of ignorance, The Denver Post chronicled a day in the life of the Goodmans — from those sips of coffee in their LoDo apartment all the way to the cold tub in the bowels of Coors Field. Here’s their story.

The pregame routine

Just before 1 p.m., Goodman makes the short trek to Coors. It’s the 96th day of the Rockies’ season and their 85th game. The club carries the baggage of an awful 19-65 record into the night’s series-opener against the Astros.

The catcher’s pregame routine is extensive, a mix of preparation and relaxation:

• Lunch, a combination of protein and carbs (steak and pasta on this day). He often eats with left fielder Jordan Beck, one of his best friends on the team.

• Treatment in the training room for his sore hamstring. Before some games, he’ll soak in the hot tub to ease his aches and pains, but treatment takes precedence today.

• A short session in the batting cage. “Just to get in game mode and get my body loose,” he says.

• A half-hour session in the video room where Goodman studies videos of the Astros pitchers, as well as some of the Astros hitters. As a catcher, he has to pull double duty.

“I’m looking for tendencies,” he says. “We have (written) scouting reports, but it helps to get a look at the pitchers and hitters. You can sometimes pick up on things.”

About 3:45 p.m., Hunter goes into the weight room to stretch before heading out to the field for batting practice. On days when he’s catching, he hits with the first group.

After BP, Goodman meets in an office inside the Rockies’ clubhouse with rookie starting pitcher Chase Dollander to dissect the Astros’ lineup. Pitching coach Darryl Scott and bullpen coach Dustin Garneau also attend the strategy session. Houston is a hot team, having just posted an MLB-best 19-7 record in June. The Astros are also patient at the plate.

Dollander has never faced the Astros, so he’s getting a tutorial. He knows that veteran Jose Altuve is dangerous and has hit well at Coors Field (.333 career average). Still, the player who consistently hurts Colorado is Mauricio Dubon, who’s hit .333 (13 for 39) with three doubles, a homer and eight RBIs in 14 games at Coors.

It’s a big test for Dollander, who’s pitched well on the road but has been beaten up at Coors, posting an 8.54 ERA in his first six outings, the highest home ERA among any major league pitcher with at least six starts.

About a half-hour before the 6:40 p.m. first pitch, Dollander and Goodman throw an abbreviated bullpen.

“We’re just trying to get a feel for where I’m at, what I’m feeling that day, what’s working,” Dollander says. “I feel good, strong. I’m ready.”

Settling in

The first-pitch temperature is 85 degrees when Goodman squats behind the plate, adorned in his catching armor. The helmet, catcher’s mask, chest protector and shin guards add almost 10 pounds to Goodman’s 6-foot, 210-pound frame. The sweat begins to roll immediately.

Catching is gritty, dirty work, but Goodman loves it.

“There are definitely some days that are better than others,” he says. “For the most part, I feel like I have handled it pretty well. I do a lot of things in the weight room, stretching, lifting, going to the training room to make sure my body is fresh and feeling good.

“So far, it’s been better than I expected, especially being my first full season of big-league catching. I came into the year kind of thinking, ‘This is going to be a grind.’ But being ready for it has helped me a lot.”

Dollander and Goodman have a good top of the first inning. Dollander sets the Astros down in order, striking out Isaac Paredes with a nasty curveball, getting Jake Meyers to ground out to short, and coaxing Altuve to fly out to right field. Dollander throws 17 pitches.

“After the first inning, we came back into the dugout and I said, ‘Let’s stay right here. I like where I’m at,” Dollander recalls. “I was painting the zone. We said, ‘Let’s start flipping some changeups and sliders.’ ”

In the bottom of the frame, Goodman, hitting second, ambushes rookie right-hander Colton Gordon’s first-pitch, 91.7 mph fastball, sending it 431 feet and over the center-field wall as the water fountains fire up in celebration. The 431-footer is the longest homer of his career.

“I hadn’t played in four days, it was my first at-bat, so I was excited just to be back in the lineup,” he says. “We knew that (Gordon) likes to attack hitters early, so I was just going up there looking for a first-pitch fastball.

“But to be honest, I was really up there just trying to see where I was, timing-wise, because I hadn’t been there in for a few days. I was like, ‘All right, let’s just try to be on time for a first-pitch fastball.’

“I was able to put a good swing on it. It felt good, it felt great. It’s always nice to have an immediate impact.”

Family affair

Sydney usually sits in the Rockies’ family section near the dugout, but because her husband’s family is in town for the game and takes up those seats, she and some other players’ wives have a suite for the night.

Sydney goes a little bit crazy when Goodman hits the homer, but also calls it “surreal.”

“Hunter’s never really had to sit like this before and take days off,” she says. “I’m also thinking, ‘Well, that’s a way for him to not have to run.’ ”

The Astros tie the game, 1-1, in the second on Christian Walker’s single, but both Dollander and Goodman are feeling good about Dollander’s performance. That all changes in the third when the Astros score five runs and Dollander’s pickoff attempt to first base results in an error. It’s an ugly half inning.

Scott strolls from the dugout to the mound, where he and Goodman confer with Dollander.

“It usually starts by trying to settle the pitcher down,” Goodman says. “In Denver, you can lose your breath really quick, so in those mound meetings, you want to make sure and give the pitcher a few moments to relax and catch his breath.

“Toward the end of the meeting, we talk about the hitter coming up, how we’ll attack him, and what we will throw that first pitch.”

However, on this day, the consultation is of no help. The killer blow is a grand slam into the right field seats by Victor Caratini. Goodman calls for a 1-2 curveball, but Dollander hangs the pitch and Caratini launches the ball 413 feet at 102.6 mph.

“It was the right pitch, but I completely missed my spot,” Dollander says. “It was a terrible pitch. If I had buried it, it would have been a swing-and-miss punchout, and I would have been out of the inning.”

Dollander’s day is done after a mere 2 2/3 innings, the shortest start of his career.

On the basepaths

The bottom of the third tests Goodman’s hamstring. He leads off with a four-pitch walk and advances to third on Beck’s single to right field.

“I was holding my breath,” Sydney says. “But I think he knows he can only go 65-70%.”

Goodman knows he doesn’t need to push it.

“Honestly, I was pretty timid going first to third there, but it was a single through the hole, and their right fielder (Cam Smith) wasn’t charging in very aggressively, so I figured I had first-to-third pretty easily,” says Goodman, who scores on Thairo Estrada’s sacrifice fly.

Colorado chips away at the Astros’ lead but trails 6-4 entering the bottom of the ninth. With one out and no one on base, Goodman comes in to face Houston lefty Josh Hader, one of the game’s best closers. Josh Hader is a perfect 23 for 23 and has the most saves without a blown save in the majors. Hader’s perfect streak is the longest in club history to open a season.

But Goodman attacks Hader’s first-pitch, 95.3 mph sinker, sending it 443 feet to left-center, surpassing his first-inning blast as the longest homer of his career.

“In situations like that, you have to try your best to make it like it’s any other at-bat,” Goodman says. “In those situations, when you’re trying to rally, you just want to take a good at-bat, get on base and keep it going.

“But it’s hard sometimes. You’re going to put pressure on yourself. This game sets you up for that. You just have to try your best to counter that. Try to relax and treat it as another at-bat.”

‘Could I have called a better game?’

Despite Goodman’s two-homer game, the Rockies lose, 6-5, falling to 19-66.

“It����ap been kind of frustrating sometimes, for sure, but you look at the past month and the games we’ve been a part of and the competition we’ve played,” Goodman tells the media after the game. “That Houston team is leading the American League, or right up there at the top. Playing against them and playing a good ballgame against them is a positive.”

When the Rockies win, Goodman usually enjoys a beer or two, but on this night, he sits and contemplates how Colorado lost again.

“It’s nice when you do something well, and it felt good to hit two homers,” he says. “But at the same time, you have to take a hard look at what you could have done better. Could I have called a better game?”

After a few minutes of contemplation, Goodman takes a cold tub (about 40 degrees), followed by a long, hot shower to wash away the game.

“Baseball is a game of failure, so you always have to pat yourself on the back when you can,” he says. “That’s my mechanism, once I’m in the shower, to do that. But after I get out of the shower, I try to stop thinking about all of that stuff. I change my clothes, walk out of the clubhouse, meet my wife, and we head home for a late dinner together.”

Hunter Goodman’s All-Star credentials

Hunter Goodman will represent the Rockies in the 95th MLB All-Star Game on Tuesday night at Atlanta’s Truist Park. The 25-year-old is just the second Rockies catcher to make the All-Star Game, joining Elias Diaz in 2023. Diaz was named the MVP after hitting a go-ahead, pinch-hit home run in the eighth inning to give the National League its first win since 2012.

Goodman was selected for this year’s team by a vote of other major league players. He put up some impressive numbers in his first season as a big-league starting catcher. Among those numbers:

• Goodman ranks first or second among NL catchers in nearly every offensive category.

• His 39 extra-base hits (17 homers, 18 doubles, four triples) are the most by an NL catcher before the All-Star break since Jonathan Lucroy’s 42 extra-base hits for the Brewers in 2014.

• His 17 home runs and 52 RBIs are both the most by a Rockies catcher before the All-Star break in franchise history. Of his 17 homers, 12 have come on the road.

• When catching, he’s slashed .306/.341/.594 with 14 doubles, two triples, 15 home runs and 39 RBIs in 60 games.

• His 52 total RBIs lead the team, and he’s hitting .333 with runners in scoring position.

— Patrick Saunders, The Denver Post

As the Rockies rebuild for the future amid another season on track for 100-plus losses, McMahon’s career year gives him value on the open market that the club could exchange for what they need most: pitching.

But McMahon, who is under contract through 2027, said he received assurance in a recent conversation with GM Bill Schmidt that No. 24 isn’t leaving LoDo anytime soon.

“I’m excited to stay here,” McMahon said. “Coming in as an 18-year-old kid, I’ve grown up a lot in this organization, and there’s a lot of guys I enjoy playing with here. I’m not sad about it, I’m happy about it, and I’m glad Schmidt and I had that talk.”

McMahon slashed .272/.350/.447 over 95 games en route to becoming the fourth Rockies third baseman to earn an All-Star nod. His six defensive runs saved at third are fourth-most in the majors, and his walk-off grand slam in the home opener on April 5 was one of the few notable highlights of an otherwise ugly first half for Colorado.

In the All-Star Game on Tuesday at Globe Life Field in Arlington, McMahon came off the bench in the sixth inning, playing second base. It was his first appearance at the position since last season, when he played 22 games there (16 starts). At the dish, the 29-year-old was 0 for 1 with a strikeout.

“That was weird (playing second) because I hadn’t been there in a while,” McMahon said. “(San Diego’s) Luis Arraez had a little thumb (injury) he was dealing with, so (Diamondbacks manager) Torey Lovullo ran me through it the day before about getting me in the game at second, and I said, ‘Alright, let’s do it.'”

McMahon said he soaked in the week, from the red carpet to the Home Run Derby to the game itself, “like a kid on the first day of school.”

“I wanted to do everything and get the full experience,” McMahon said. “(Kris Bryant) told me to get everything I could out of the gift room, and that was really cool, so I’m glad I did that.”

And after watching Dodgers outfielder Teoscar Hernandez win the derby, McMahon said he’ll continue to try to get into the event at some point. As a prospect in 2016, McMahon was in the Arizona Fall League’s Bowman Hitting Challenge, a derby where players can also earn points for hitting targets around the field.

“I would love to do it,” McMahon said. “I’ve tried to get into it a couple times, throwing the idea my agent’s way. Fingers crossed it happens eventually.”

Rockies injury updates. Rockies manager Bud Black said Kris Bryant will play this weekend’s series with Triple-A Albuquerque and then Colorado will re-evaluate the first baseman/outfielder, who has been on the injured list with a left rib contusion/oblique injury since June 3. … Black said outfielder Nolan Jones is “feeling better” from the lower back strain that’s kept him out since July 12. Jones took batting practice on the field ahead of Friday’s game, but there’s still currently no timetable for his return. … Outfielder Jordan Beck (fractured left hand) has resumed hitting in the cage and he’s going to start playing games in Triple-A again sometime soon, Black said. He’s been out since May 26. … Southpaw Lucas Gilbreath, who has yet to pitch this season in his comeback from last year’s Tommy John surgery, is throwing live batting practice on Saturday at the Rockies’ complex in Arizona. He’ll then throw in an Arizona Complex League game next week before heading on an extended minor-league rehab assignment. … Right-hander Antonio Senzatela, also coming off Tommy John surgery, is inching his way back. He threw a bullpen on Friday and he will likely move to throwing live batting practice sometime next week. A September return remains the target.

Johnson walked toward the microphone between the mound and home plate at the home of the Texas Rangers on Tuesday night wearing a white cowboy hat and cream-colored blazer. The 37-year-old Texan removed the hat just before he started singing and raised it in his right hand several times along the way.

Johnson had already thrown out a ceremonial first pitch at Globe Life Field earlier this season before drawing the assignment for the anthem.

It ended up being under more scrutiny after the drama surrounding Andress, who said in her apology on Instagram that she planned to enter rehab. Andress sang the anthem before the Home Run Derby on Monday night.

Johnson is performing at the home of the Rangers in November.

Nice Horse, the Canadian duo of Katie Rox and Brandi Sidoryk, sang the anthem for that country before Johnson’s performance. The harmony-filled version went smoothly as well.

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This story has been corrected to fix the spelling of the first name of the national anthem singer at the MLB Home Run Derby to Ingrid, not Ingris, Andress.

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AP MLB:

That’s the final line in Ryan McMahon’s bio in the Rockies media guide.

It’s not what you might think. There are no flaming torches involved, no sharp-edged swords.

“Yep, I can juggle three baseballs,” the Rockies’ first-time All-Star third baseman confirmed.

More important to McMahon, 29, is how he’s balancing his play on the diamond and his life off it.

In February, his wife, Natalie, gave birth to a baby girl they named Austyn Brook. The circles are darker under Daddy’s eyes these days, but he’s having the best season of his eight-year career. Natalie doesn’t think it’s a coincidence.

“He comes home for the ballpark and Austyn is looking up, smiling at him,” Natalie said. “She’s just so happy her dad is there. I think it’s given Ryan the opportunity to separate the ballpark from home.”

McMahon, Colorado’s lone representative in Tuesday night’s All-Star Game at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas, admits his life has become a juggling act. And he couldn’t be happier.

“A lot of changes,” he said, laughing. “I had my first child in February. I change diapers, all of that. But I love it. And I feel like I had a really good offseason and I feel pretty focused.

“I’m so lucky. My wife is a rockstar and she handles the bulk of (parenting). She’s great at being a mom.”

McMahon, a three-time Gold Glove finalist, but never a winner, is terrific at talking about his teammates.  But he clams up when talking about himself, even when discussing his first trip to the Midsummer Classic.

“It’s cool. It’s an honor. I’m excited.”

That’s about all you get.

But Natalie knows what a big deal it is.

“Truthfully, I think it means the world to him,” she said. “I get to see how hard he works and then he comes home and is a husband and a great father. To be recognized in his craft means a lot to him. And I know it means a lot to his family and friends.”

In previous seasons, McMahon has enjoyed star-spangled months, followed by disheartening droughts.

Last season, for example, he slashed .349/.434/.644  with eight home runs, 11 doubles, two triples and 25 RBIs over 35 games from May 12 to June 19. But he slashed .206/.292/.357 with 11 homers and 29 RBIs in 80 games from June 20 through the end of the season.

“Baseball is such a long grind and it can be such an emotional ride,” Natalie said. “But I think he’s handling it so much better this season.”

Although McMahon entered the All-Star break without hitting a home run since June 22 (a span of 69 at-bats), he’s avoided a prolonged slump. Over his last 30 games since June 11, he’s hit .302 with a .859 OPS and 15 extra-base hits (including four homers).

“It is about balance, man, but over the course of a long season, that’s not easy,” McMahon said. “For me, it’s about experience and taking trips around the league and kind of understanding what (pitchers) are going to try to do to me. There are certain things you can only learn by playing at this level.”

He believes he’ll put together a star-worthy second half of the season.

“I feel good, I think I’m in a good place,” he said. “But I want to get back to playing really good baseball. It’s been kind of a grind for me, personally, the last month and a half. But I’m trying to do my best.”

Although McMahon didn’t become a full-time starter until 2019, he was part of the Rockies’ 2017 and ’18 playoff teams. The memory of that success drives him, even as the Rockies careen toward their sixth consecutive losing season and are likely headed toward their second straight 100-loss season.

“It’s not fun, it’s not what you want to be doing,” said McMahon, who’s three years into a six-year, $70 million contract. “I got spoiled because I got a taste of the playoffs my first two years in the big leagues. It was awesome. It’s definitely something I want to experience again, hopefully, a couple of more times, and hopefully in Colorado.”

Does he think the Rockies can turn things around?

“I do,” he said. “You see signs around the league, with a team like the Royals, with some good young players, making a little noise. I can see some of that with us.

“We have a little bit of that with (center fielder Brenton) Doyle and (shortstop Ezequiel) Tovar. Some of our starting pitchers are getting healthy again, so I think there is a possibility.

“You always have to believe there is a possibility. If you don’t think you can make the playoffs, you’re not going to, that’s for sure.”

Manager Bud Black views McMahon as essential to Colorado’s reconstruction project.

“He’s grown into a leadership role,” Black said. “He wants us to be contenders. This is his team, it’s part of him. Getting recognized as an All-Star is good for ‘Mac.’

“The fact that he was selected by his peers, coaches and managers, that’s important. He’s deserving. I think it’s helped him grow. He’s a key for us going forward.”

All-Star Credentials

Rockies third baseman Ryan McMahon is putting together the best season of his career and it’s landed him a spot in the All-Star Game for the first time in his career. Here are his credentials:

• Leads all National League third basemen in on-base percentage (.350) while ranking second in batting average (.272), hits (98), OPS (.797) and total bases (161).

• Leads all NL third basemen in total chances (280), assists (214) and range factor (2.98), and ranks tied for third in defensive bWAR (0.9), and fourth in defensive runs saved (6).

• Named a Gold Glove finalist each of the past three seasons. Since 2021, his 7.0 total dWAR ranks second among all third basemen and his 55 total DRS rate is the third-most among all position players.

— Patrick Saunders, The Denver Post

Source: Baseball Reference

On Sunday, the Rockies’ veteran third baseman was selected to the for the first time. He made the team as a reserve via the players’ vote.

“It’s a cool honor,” McMahon said. “For me, personally, getting voted in by the players is the biggest honor you can receive.”

McMahon will be Colorado’s lone representative in the Midsummer Classic on July 16 at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas. The fans voted Philadelphia’s Alec Bohm as the NL’s starting third baseman.

McMahon, 29, is the fourth Rockies’ third baseman to be selected to the All-Star Game, joining Vinny Castilla (1995, 1998), Jeff Cirillo (2000) and Nolan Arenado (2015-19).

“We had a nice celebration in the clubhouse for ‘Mac’,” manager Bud Black said. “He’s deserving. He’s been close a couple of different times. Now his time has come (to be) recognized throughout the league by his peers.”

McMahon said being celebrated by his teammates was special.

“To be embraced by those guys, the (genuineness) of it all from those guys, felt really good to me,” he said.

Black talked to shortstop Ezequiel Tovar, center fielder Brenton Doyle, catcher Elias Diaz and starting pitcher Cal Quantrill to “give them a quick little nod” for their performances in the first half of the season. There is still a chance that one of those four could be added to the roster if some National League players are unavailable because of injuries.

McMahon entered Sunday’s game against Cincinnati slashing .272/.349/.456 with 14 home runs, 19 doubles and 45 RBIs. His 14 homers are two shy of tying the most he’s hit before the All-Star break. He hit 16 in 2021.

McMahon was leading all NL third basemen in on-base percentage (.349), and ranked second in average (.272), OPS (.802), hits (90) and total bases (151). He was tied for second in home runs and ranked third in RBIs.

The three-time Gold Glove finalist had five defensive runs saved, tied for second-most among major league third basemen.

“This is awesome for ‘Mac,” veteran left-hander Kyle Freeland said. “We came through the minor-league system together and I was able to see him grow into the baseball player he is today.

“It’s hard to put into words to see someone you grinding through the minor leagues with (become) an All-Star.”

This is a prove-it season for McMahon, who’s flashed promise since making his debut in 2017 but has been an inconsistent hitter.

“If you look, he’s an average player right now, and I’ve told him that,” general manager Bill Schmidt said during last December’s winter meetings. “He’s an above-average defender, which makes him the average player. He can be better. There are a lot of people who believe that.”

McMahon, who signed a six-year, $70 million contract in the spring of 2022, took Schmidt’s words as a challenge.

“It doesn’t hurt my feelings,” McMahon said just before the Rockies opened spring training. “Bill and I have a pretty open relationship about things like that. If you know Bill, he’s very blunt about things like that. But he doesn’t say that unless he wants (success) for you as well.

“He and I have had countless talks. I’ve heard it meaner than that. I’ve heard it nicer than that. I’ve heard it a lot of different ways from him.”

Last season, McMahon finished fourth in the majors with 198 strikeouts, setting a dubious Rockies single-season record. His 31.6% strikeout rate was also the fourth-highest in the majors last season (among qualified hitters) and the third-highest in franchise history. He’s reduced his strikeout rate to 27.5% this season.

“I want to see him consistently put the ball in play,” Schmidt said. “Cut down on the strikeouts and put the ball in play. He’s capable of being a .260-.270 hitter, not .240. There was a point in May when he was one of the better players in the league. He’s capable of doing that.”

From May 12 through June 19 of last season, McMahon slashed .349/.434/.644 with eight home runs, 11 doubles, two triples and 25 RBIs in 35 games. But he slashed .206/.292/.357 in 80 games from June 20 through the end of the season and hit just .183 in September.

“It’s always a work in progress,” McMahon said Sunday after going 1 for 4 in Colorado’s 10-1 loss to Kansas City. “I don’t think you should ever put a ceiling on a player. I still think there is a lot left in me.”

Black said he’s seen McMahon embrace the challenge of getting better.

“He’s in the process of taking that next step,”  Black said. “This is a step now for him, getting an All-Star nod. And not to put (too much) on Mac’s shoulders, I think he will tell you he can do more. And from a coach’s and manager’s standpoint, there’s more in there.”

Festivus is back! And with my aluminum pole, with a high strength-to-weight ratio, now pulled out of the crawl space we are ready for a tinsel-free Festivus miracle.

Another year has come and gone in the sports world, memories were made, champions were crowned and over the past 12 months, my basket was filled with content for this year’s piece.

We will start by paying our respect to the classic TV show Seinfeld with my favorite tradition, the “airing of grievances.”

I have a lot of problems with teams, commissioners, fans, owners, players, rules and mascots. And now, you’re gonna hear about it.

Here are all the ways the sports world has disappointed me over the past year:

Rockies mascot Dinger is the worst in professional sports 

Is this really the best the Rockies could do in the mascot department? Time to make a trade my friends, I’ll take another pantless mascot in Clark from the Chicago Cubs all day.

I thought Colorado letting Charlie Blackmon rob Monfort and Co. of $13 million with a contract extension was bad, but having Dinger on a contract that won’t end takes the cake.

Baseball Hall of Fame dropped the ball 

The 2023 class was filled with talent and real hall of famers. But again, the writers dropped the ball and left out some truly deserving players.

It was nice to finally see the “Crime Dog” Fred McGriff get the call to Cooperstown. Still not sure why a guy with 493 homers and one of the most feared hitters of the 1990s had to wait for the Contemporary Baseball Era Players Committee to get in.

Scott Rolen also got the call he was headed to Cooperstown, but I would argue he shouldn’t get in before other deserving guys. I mean, Rolen only had 316 home runs and 2,077 hits. Whereas, Jeff Kent and Todd Helton were better players with stats on the back of their baseball cards to prove it.

Kent finished with 2,461 hits and 377 homers (most all-time for second base), and a .290 batting average. Helton tallied 2,519 hits and 369 homers while hitting .316 for his career.  Those are just a few stats to make my point.

Shannon Sharpe acting like a clown during NBA basketball game 

Sharpe got into a courtside yelling match at a Lakers game with the Grizzlies’ Ja Morant.

It is laughable how a grown man jumps onto the court and makes a huge scene that is all about him being a tough guy.

Anyone else pulls that stunt sitting on the hardwood at an arena would have been ejected from the complex. All we got was a weak apology from Sharpe.

“I’ve preached for the last six and a half years responsibility and accountability, and I take full responsibility for what transpired,” Sharpe said. “I’m never gonna say that wasn’t Shannon Sharpe because that was me. That was just me getting out of character. And I’m sorry for all those who saw my actions and took offense to my actions.”

Good lord, no emotional impulse control mixed with no common sense. Doesn't realize he should be absolutely embarrassed. This is similar to Juwan Howard slapping a coach and not realizing for a week he did anything wrong. A regular fan gets permanently banned for this behavior.

— Jason Whitlock (@WhitlockJason)

We have said it before, but MLB commissioner Rob Manfred hates baseball.

Have a feeling Manfred will be on this list yearly until his time in MLB is done.

He keeps adding to the list with new rules that aren’t improving the game. The pitch clock and extra innings are at the top of my list.

Baseball was never intended to be a timed sport. If that’s your jam, head over to Dick’s Sporting Goods Park and watch the Rapids.

Baseball is a classic game purists love. I enjoy the experience of going to the ballyard and not having anywhere to be.

The other change was extra innings with the California tiebreaker rule with a runner starting on second base. If you don’t want to play free baseball, win it in nine. Gone are the thrilling 15-inning games where a bench runs low and the teams have to claw out a win.

I miss old-school baseball

I’m an old-school guy and happy I worked in professional ball back when the game was played the right way. I miss throwing inside, sliding hard into bags/taking guys out and pitchers wanting to go 7-8 innings a start… none of this quality four innings junk. Yes, looking at you Kyle Freeland.

Would love to hear a manager tell the likes of Gibson, Koufax, Palmer, Gooden, Hershiser, Clemens, Maddux and other greats to give us a solid five. And while you’re giving us that quality start, you can’t throw inside. Players today are soft.

This is tough to hear… would not fly in the old days! Unfortunately this is how players are being taught with modern analytics…. What are y’all’s thoughts?

— Roger Clemens (@rogerclemens)

Golf Aurora

Golf Aurora and other courses that charge full-price green fees in winter months.

I have heard it is because they don’t want to devalue the course. Well, I have news for those folks… it isn’t devaluing the course. A lot of high-end courses have seasonal rates.

Golfers will agree, a dormant course in winter months shouldn’t be charging premium green fees.

Will give a tip of the cap to the superintendents who work countless hours keeping a course in tip-top shape.

Rockies broadcasts due for some change 

With AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain shutting down, it’s unsure who will broadcast Rockies games in 2024.

The change may be a good thing in the end, as many fans feel this area needed an overhaul. There are only so many Supermo references, or clinics a guy can give during a broadcast. Baseball fans are knowledgeable, and don’t need seven people contributing during a game in and around the booth.

It would be a breath of fresh air for some new talent to take the reins in 2024.

Gary Player trashes Augusta National

Player might be a three-time Masters champion, but that doesn’t give him the right to trash its members or course. about not being able to get tee times at Augusta National is one of the main reasons he isn’t invited more often.

It could also have to do something with his son being for promoting golf balls during the opening tee shots in 2021… yes Player has won the Masters, but the traditions and way the club operates are what makes Augusta National a special place.

I will give Player some advice, stop running your mouth about how . It����ap not just another course, it is what we golfers consider hallowed grounds.

Sporting events should not start at 8 p.m.

We had this on the list last season, and it still rings true today. The only difference this year is Coach Prime agrees with us and thinks the 8 p.m. game times are bad for all involved.

“Who makes these 8 o’clock games? Dumbest thing ever. Stupidest thing ever invented in life. Who wants to stay up until 8 o’clock for a darn game?” Sanders said on his weekly radio show. “What about the East Coast — do they even care about ratings? Is anyone watching it? What are we supposed to do with the kids all day until 8 o’clock? What are we supposed to do in the hotel?”

Members of the media covering teams acting like fans and not journalists

To all the media outlets and local journalists openly rooting over the top for Avs/Nuggets and Buffs on social media during the postseason runs must have forgotten that they are journalists who are supposed to be impartial and report the news. If you want to be a fan and pumped after the fact I’m all for it… to all my coworkers who are beat reporters, I applaud you for how you run your beats. Y’all are professionals and I’m happy to work with ya.

MLB All-Star Game needs some fixing 

Home run derby pitchers need to start throwing back at the bottom of the mound, go back to 10 outs and stop with the rapid-fire pitches.

The biggest change had to do with the uniforms. The ASG needs to go back to having players wear team uniforms. It made the game special seeing players in the home and away unis… baseball has lost its way over the years.

Golf course etiquette

This one is for all the players who decide they are special and need to hit in the lesson area at the driving range.

Those lesson grounds are for people who are paying a golf professional to give them a private lesson. And what comes with that is an area of more lush grounds to hit balls from. It’s one of the perks of paying for a private lesson at a course.

So next time you decide to hit a bucket of balls from the lesson grounds, just know the golf gods are looking down upon you with shanks and slices coming your way during your next round of golf.

Dick Monfort loves Wrigley West

Coors Field is Wrigley West when the Cubs come to town.

Monfort should be ashamed of the culture the Rockies have created around 20th and Blake. Saying his team will be a .500 ball club, striving to be average and then losing 103 games. How do you lose 100-plus games and not fire anyone?

But hey, at least when the Cubs come to town a packed house at Coors is a given.

MLB players wearing the oven mitts

The oven mitts these guys are wearing are a laughable joke. Players from years past are laughing at these guys… they aren’t about player safety. They are about getting an extra six inches closer to sliding safe into bags. Mr. “I hate baseball” Manfred won’t do anything about it, but clubhouse attendants across baseball need to throw these things in the trash where they belong.

College athletics are drunk with NIL, at least we know “now it����ap legal”

All those California teams going to the ACC is pure comedy. Did those educated school presidents forget what the ACC stands for? I’ll give them the answer, Atlantic Coast Conference.

Everyone knows NIL and the massive power conferences are all about football and broadcast money. Other sports are going to feel the pain here. I feel bad for the normal student-athlete who has to deal with the brutal travel schedule.

Never thought I would see the day when players are staying in college longer and would rather go to class than make the jump to the professional ranks. Amazing what a few million dollars will make a student-athlete do.

We aren’t done here folks, it will continue to blow up in NCAA’s faces in 2024.

The No Fun League doesn’t like big hits

Big hits in football are not allowed anymore, even the legal ones.

Football has become so soft, at the sight of a big hit the laundry starts flying. The league needs to get back to some form of football or it will all turn into a glorified flag football league. And if you are going to have the FFL, you might hire Manfred as your commissioner since he has a thing for destroying legacy and creating unnecessary rules.

Festivus Yes! Bagels No!

As Festivus rolls on, we come to the feats of strength. As we have no room currently in the newsroom for such wrestling activities, I’ll leave ya with something relaxing you can enjoy: The Butler Cabin Yule log from Augusta National.

Tweet of the year

Vic Carapazza just informed the Reds dugout, it seems, that the second inning is not the time for the Cincy bullpen guys to go on an Eagle Scout adventure through the trees beyond CF.

— Parker Gabriel (@ParkerJGabriel)

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Colorado’s shiniest silver lining amid the potential of a 100-loss season made club history on Tuesday at T-Mobile Park, becoming the first Rockies player to earn All-Star Game MVP by blasting a pinch-hit, two-run homer in the eighth inning.

Diaz’s dinger off Orioles right-hander Félix Bautista gave the National League a 3-2 lead and propelled the Senior Circuit to its first win over the American League since 2012, snapping a nine-game win streak for the AL in the exhibition. Diaz sent Bautista’s 2-2 hanging splitter 360 feet into the left field seats in Seattle.

“That was absolutely electric!” Ryan McMahon told The Denver Post. “I know myself and a bunch of my teammates were all screaming at the TV in excitement. It was so cool to see that homer.”

The 32-year-old Venezuelan, making his All-Star debut as the first Colorado catcher to appear in the game, was pinch-hitting for Jorge Soler. Diaz’s clutch bomb came against the best bullpen arm in baseball, as Bautista leads all relievers in ERA (1.07 in 39 games), strikeouts per nine (18.00) and WAR (2.0).

If not for the MLB rule that every team is represented in the game, Diaz might not have even been there for his decisive stroke.

Diaz’s homer was only the sixth go-ahead homer in the eighth inning or later of the All-Star Game when a team was trailing, and the first in 20 years. He joins Hank Blalock (2003), Mike Schmidt (1981), Cookie Rojas (1972), Gus Bell (1954) and Ted Williams (a walk-off to end the 1941 game at Briggs Stadium in Detroit) in accomplishing that feat. Diaz is also just the sixth catcher to win the game’s MVP, joining Brian McCann (2010), Sandy Alomar Jr. (1997), Mike Piazza (1996), Terry Steinbach (1988) and Gary Carter (1981, ’84).

The AL tried to spoil Diaz’s Ted Williams MVP Award bid in a dramatic ninth inning, but Phillies closer Craig Kimbrel worked around two walks and shut the door by striking out Guardians third baseman Jose Ramirez to end the game.

Diaz’s big moment in Seattle continued his stellar season as one of the top performing players on Blake Street. At the All-Star break, Diaz is batting .277 with nine homers and 45 RBIs. Behind the dish, he’s improved vastly from 2022 while emerging as one of the more reliable backstops in the NL.

He’s under contract through next season, and even though Diaz could fetch a decent return on the trade market ahead of the Aug. 1 deadline, it’s unlikely the Rockies would deal the veteran catcher in exchange for much-needed pitching prospects. Beyond Diaz, only veteran Austin Wynns (a waiver claim earlier this season) is on the roster, while Brian Serven is the lone catcher in Triple-A with big-league experience.

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Elias Díaz just flipped this on its head!

— MLB (@MLB)

Elias Diaz isn’t going to forget his first trip to the All-Star Game any time soon.

The Rockies catcher smashed a two-run, 360-foot home run in the top of the eighth inning Tuesday to give the National League a 3-2 lead in the midsummer classic.

Facing a 2-2 count against Orioles closer Felix Bautista, Diaz connected on a shot that sailed just past the left-field fence, driving in Phillies outfielder Nick Castellanos.

Soak it all in, Elias!

— MLB (@MLB)

The NL would hold on to win, 3-2, with Diaz being named the game’s MVP award. It’s the first time a Rockies player has received the honor.

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