The Isotopes and the Rockies have a announced an exhibition game to be played between the two teams at Isotopes Park on Monday, March 25 at 1:05 p.m..
This marks the first time that a Major League team has played in Albuquerque since the Rockies and Seattle Mariners played an exhibition game in 2010 and it’s the first time that the Rockies and Isotopes have matched up. The two have been affiliated since the 2015 season and the player development contract was extended through 2020 last offseason.
Tickets for the matchup will be available to season ticket and mini plan holders first, beginning on Friday, with season ticket holders guaranteed an opportunity for tickets. They will go onsale to the general public on Feb. 1, 2019.
“We’re thrilled that we can finally make this come to fruition,” Isotopes General Manager John Traub said.
Traub said that he offered a standing invitation to Rockies General Manager Jeff Bridich to play an exhibition in Albuquerque when the two organizations began their affiliation, however, they were never able to make the game happen before due to the logistics involved in the beginning of the new major league season.
“A lot of it for us, from the major league perspective, has to do with where we’re going to start our season,” Bridich said. “The scheduling for two of the last four seasons for us had us staying in Arizona, and it doesn’t make any sense to pick up and move and then go back there, that was more difficult for us. … I teased John about being a pest (about this) but it really was more of an annual conversation about ‘okay, we’re open to it, we have to find the right time.’ Then when you do, act on it and get it done. So we had to figure that stuff out and once we were able to do that and have it make sense it was easy to sign on the dotted line.”
Bridich said that one of the things that the Rockies looked at, even before the two teams were affiliated, was how Albuquerque should be a Rockies market.
“One of the things that we discussed quietly years ago when we were trying to firm up a new relationship was how this had been a Marlins affiliate for awhile, it was a Dodgers affiliate for a long time so there were Dodger fans here because that’s what they knew,” Bridich said. “But it made a lot of sense based on the proximity of Albuquerque and Denver and Colorado and New Mexico that this should be a Rockies fan base, and let’s commit to that.”
The Rockies stay in Albuquerque will be brief, with their final spring training game on Sunday in Arizona, and an exhibition matchup with the Minnesota Twins and UNM alumni Mitch Garver on Tuesday in Florida. Bridich said that the Rockies will fly into Albuquerque, prepare for and play the game in the afternoon and fly to Florida that night.
He wasn’t sure exactly how many players the Rockies would bring, but said that it will be the 25-man regular season roster, plus some additional players. The Rockies starters, including notable names such as Nolan Arenado and Charlie Blackmon, will play a predetermined portion of the game before being substituted. Many of the Rockies players will be making a return to Albuquerque, as 18 of the 25 players on the Rockies playoff roster from last season had previously played for the Isotopes.
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“I’m excited that it’s happening for this community, because a lot of times it’s the first question we get during the offseason, especially when the Rockies caravan comes to town and Jeff is part of the group,” Traub said. “The fact that Jeff and Dick Monfort, the Rockies owner, Zach Wilson ( senior developer for Player Development) have been men of their word in making sure this comes to fruition, it’s not just honorable, it means a lot to the community and to our fans and it’s another example of how good the relationship between the Rockies and the Isotopes is.”
Traub said that the fan experience will be similar to a regular Isotopes game, but the game itself will be similar to a spring training setup, with lots of player rotation and the likelihood that many of the players playing against the Isotopes in that game will be suiting up for the team two weeks later as they open the regular season.
Tickets will start at $23 for the Reserved Level, with Club Level coming in at $35. They will be available at the Isotopes box office or through ticketmaster.com
Cameron Goeldner is a sports beat reporter and photographer for the Daily Lobo. He primarily covers men’s soccer, women’s basketball, softball and the Albuquerque Isotopes, but also contributes content for baseball, basketball, football and track and field. He can be reached at sports@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @goeldfinger.
