Quotes from Scripture are posted in the weight room. Chapel service is packed on Sundays. Prayer and fellowship groups each Tuesday are well-attended. It's not unusual for the front office executives to pray together.

On the field, the Rockies are trying to make the playoffs for the first time in 11 seasons and only the second time in their 14-year history. Behind the scenes, they quietly have become an organization guided by Christianity — open to other religious beliefs but embracing a Christian-based code of conduct they believe will bring them focus and success.

Now that we're at the All Star Break, it seems like a good time to check in on the Rockies and see how their new model Christian ball club is doing.

By the end of the day when the article was published, one third of the way through the season, the Rockies were at .500 (27-27), in last (5th) place in the National League West, 4.5 games behind the division-leading Arizona Diamondbacks. They were in the middle of what would be a six-game losing streak. In the Wild Card, they were in 7th place, 3.5 games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers

Since then, they've played another 33 games, winning 17 and losing 16 for a record of 44-43, just one game over .500. They've moved from last place to third place in their division, 3.5 games behind the San Diego Padres. In the Wild Card race, they've done better: they're in second place, 1.5 games behind the Dodgers.

So, it's a bit of a mixed result. Their devotion to Christ hasn't seemed to help them a lot where the division race is concerned, since they've only improved by 1 game, but God did have the foresight to put them in a very weak division and a generally weak league, and is apparently bent on insuring their success not through direct means (i.e. better hitting, pitching, fielding and generally playing good baseball) but by making the teams they're competing against be bad enough to possibly allow the Rockies to succeed.

There's still a lot of baseball left to play, and perhaps their new baseball philosophy (religion as a determinitive factor rather then those tired old baseball considerations like skills and talent) will prove to be a winner, the next Moneyball for our times -- we'll have to wait and see. If it turns out to be successful, will other teams adopt the Christianball strategy, or will we see Jewish teams, Muslim teams, Atheist teams, White teams, Black teams, Hispanic teams and Asian teams all directly competing with each other for supremacy? How jolly that will be.



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