DENVER • Kyle Freeland looked around the clubhouse before his Opening Day start and just felt it.

Freeland had been approached by the Rockies about a year ago about an extension but had his doubts. Reaching free agency is a big milestone for players, and it gives them the chance to decide their own future for the first time in their career.

Rockies agree to contract extension with hometown pitcher Kyle Freeland

Did he want to stay with the Rockies, a team that hasn’t made the playoffs since 2018? Or did he want to try his hand on a different team in two years?

Freeland took stock of the players in the clubhouse that day. The front office brought in Kris Bryant, José Iglesias and Alex Colomé last month to pad their roster. They also handed long-term extensions to Antonio Senzatela, Ryan McMahon, Elias Díaz and CJ Cron.

The Rockies are gathering the tools they need to be successful, Freeland thought. And he decided in that moment that he wanted to stay and be a part of it. He signed his five-year, $64.5 million extension on Tuesday, then went out to pitch five innings for the only team he’s ever known.

“I was like ‘you know what? These are the guys I love going to battle with,'” he said. “When I told my wife that, she said, ‘I’m going to stop you right there. That’s your answer.'”

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Freeland, a Denver native, couldn’t have written his career path any better. He grew up just a few miles away — so close that it was his high school that sang the national anthem before a recent Rockies game — and just so happened to be drafted by the team he grew up cheering for. He debuted at home in 2017, and finished fourth in the Cy Young Award voting a year later.

Now he’s here to stay.

“You can’t script it any better than this,” he said. “The greater part of my career will be spent with the Colorado Rockies.”

He knows how to pitch at Coors Field better than anyone else. After all, he’s spent more time pitching at altitude than just about anyone else. Freeland started the season without a contract, as he and the Rockies were heading to an arbitration hearing next month. But Tuesday’s deal settles that and takes care of him until 2026, with an option for 2027 if throws 170 innings in the previous season.

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He can relax now, and focus on the task at hand.

“We’re bought into winning,” Freeland said. “We’re bought into getting into the playoffs, winning in the playoffs, and hopefully winning a World Series with the Colorado Rockies.”