The Rockies haven’t given fans much hope that they can turn things around this season, but perhaps a look back at the 2007 team, the only one in franchise history to advance to the World Series, could provide a fresh perspective.

In a new book titled Game 163, Denny Dressman dives into a night that turned out to be a turning point for the organization.

That team, much like this current one, didn’t have the best start. In 2007, the Rockies were nine games under .500 midway through May. The 2021 Rockies, at about the same point in the season, are 14 games under .500. As with the 2021 team, the outlook after a quarter of the season in 2007 looked bleak.

But that team in 2007, as Dressman describes, never gave up. They did the improbable, winning most of their games down the stretch to advance to game 163, a tiebreaker that would decide who advanced to the playoffs. The last month of the 2007 season is now known as ‘Rocktober.’

Dressman goes into details about the team, all with a connection back to that game 163. The Rockies faced the Padres in that game, when Bud Black, the current Rockies manager, was in his first year as the skipper in San Diego.

Facing Jake Peavy, who was on his way to win the CY Young Award that season, the Rockies went out to an early 3-0 lead. But, as all Rockies fans learn eventually, no lead is safe for that franchise. The game took 13 innings, and lasted four hours and 40 minutes. It ended with Matt Holliday racing home after a shallow fly ball by Jamey Carroll. It was a controversial call to mark Holliday safe at home. As Dressman notes in the book, “ ‘Did Holliday touch home safe’ will live on in baseball lore.”

The Rockies made it to the World Series, where they were swept by the Red Sox. Nevertheless, Game 163, and the season, are regarded as a turning point for the organization, and a year that future teams can learn a lot from.