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Yankees’ DJ LeMahieu reflects on back-to-back postseasons with Rockies: ‘I still root for them’

DJ LeMahieu still talks fondly about the seven seasons he spent as a member of the Colorado Rockies.

However, now in his seventh campaign with the New York Yankees, LeMahieu doesn’t regret his decision to head to the Bronx after the 2018 season.

“I feel like I made a pretty good choice,” LeMahieu said with a smile inside the visitors dugout Friday as the Yankees opened a three-game series at Coors Field.

It’s hard to argue with the 36-year-old LeMahieu, who has a pair of top-four Most Valuable Player finishes and an American League batting title among his honors since heading east after the Rockies were knocked out of the 2018 National League Division Series by the Milwaukee Brewers. LeMahieu has also watched his Yankees total 186 more wins than the Rockies since the 2019 season began.

Getting those 29 extra wins per season in the Bronx has helped soften the emotions that LeMahieu felt after leaving Denver following the Rockies earning back-to-back postseason berths in 2017 and 2018.

“The thing I’m most proud about, playing my first three or four years were pretty tough,” LeMahieu said when asked to pick his favorite Rockies memory. “Our last two years making the playoffs here was a huge accomplishment for this organization. That’s the biggest thing I can take away and the biggest memory and fulfillment of playing here.”

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Many Rockies fans believe LeMahieu not returning to Denver after the 2018 season was the beginning of the end for Colorado’s most recent golden age of baseball. The Rockies could never find a consistent answer for LeMahieu’s absence at second base and in the lineup, finishing 71-91 in 2019, the first of six straight losing seasons.

LeMahieu finished his Rockies career with a splash, slashing .276/.321/.428 in 128 games for Colorado in 2018. That team was forced to play a Game 163 in Los Angeles after tying for the National League West lead with the Dodgers. After dropping that game, the Rockies faced the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field the next night in a winner-take-all Wild Card game.

A 13-inning win against the Cubs pushed the Rockies into the NLDS, where they played in Milwaukee the next day after beating the Cubs, forcing the Rockies into their third road game in three cities in three days.

“Just to see everyone emptying the tank in those three or four days after a long season was pretty rewarding,” LeMahieu said.

In his second trip back to Coors Field as a member of the Yankees, LeMahieu admitted he still not only follows what is happening with the Rockies, but is also cheering them on from across the miles.

“Spending so many years here, I still root for them, just not this weekend,” LeMahieu said. “From afar, I always root for them. There are a lot of good people around here still.”

(Contact Gazette sports columnist Paul Klee at paul.klee@gazette.com or on Twitter at @bypaulklee.)

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