Know Your Foe: The Rocky Mountain Vibes

Welcome to Know Your Foe, your friendly fast facts to get to know the Ballers’ opponents at Raimondi Park this season.

Next up: The Rocky Mountain Vibes!

Their Season So Far:

The Vibes are in 7th place in the Pioneer League at 21-18. The Ballers and Vibes are playing this week in Colorado Springs, where the Ballers have yet to lose. Vibes outfielders Kellum Clark and Sam Linscott are in the league’s top ten for average, Clark despite missing two-and-a-half weeks with an illness (and getting a hit his very first at-bat back!). 6’7’’ pitcher Malik Binns, who pitched six strong innings this week against the Ballers with two earned runs and seven strikeouts, was also on the roster for Great Britain during the World Baseball Classic. Vibes broadcaster Jesse Cook notes that second baseman Tristin Garcia, previously of the Florence Y’alls (great name or the greatest name?) is having an excellent year somewhat under the radar, batting .352 with 28 RBI.

Colorado Springs Urban Renewal Authority

Hometown: Colorado Springs, Colorado

-              The Springs is the second-largest city in Colorado, with a metropolitan area population around 750,000. It sits 6,035 feet above sea level, or 6,025 feet above Raimondi Park.

-              The United States Air Force Academy and its famous chapel are nearby, and so is NORAD, the North American Aerospace Defense Command, hidden deep within Cheyenne Mountain, which also boasts the highest-elevation zoo in the country where I once saw a gorilla eat its own barf.  

-              Pikes Peak towers above the city, one of only two of Colorado’s 54 “14ers”—summits above 14,000 feet—that allow driving to the top, because, you know, hiking is hard.

-              Though inventor Nikola Tesla had a laboratory there less than a year, he made one of his most significant discoveries—terrestrial stationary waves, though to residents it looked like he was creating artificial lightning—in a lab near the city’s Memorial Park, and his time in the Springs was partly fictionalized in Christopher Nolan’s film The Prestige.

-              The “man of a thousand faces,” silent horror film star Lon Chaney, was born in the Springs to deaf parents; his grandfather founded the Colorado School for the Deaf and Blind, which still serves K-12 students. 

-              The city also hosts the first US Olympic and Paralympic Training Center, originally selected because of the advantages of high-altitude athletic training. 

Mascots:  Toasty the S’more

-              Perhaps the most delicious of all mascots, Toasty loves “just going with the vibe,” which, as a native Coloradan, I can say is pretty exactly on brand. During their inaugural season, the Toasty hats ranked in the top ten for all of minor league baseball merch sales. And yes, the stadium has fire pits and s’more-themed nights, including a campfire on the right field side of the concourse with s’moring chairs made out of recycled skis.

-              However, other finalists in the fan naming contest were equally good. Ever been tricked into eating a Rocky Mountain Oyster, thinking it was a mollusk from some alpine lake and not a deep-fried bull testicle? Ever been hiking in the thin air and convinced that the adorable screams you’re hearing are your brain begging for oxygen and not a Punchy Pika?

-              Toasty was nominated as one of the ten best minor league mascots by USA Today for 2025. (I think Scrappy’s application must have been lost in the mail…)

Team History:

-              The Vibes began play in Colorado in 2019 after coming from Helena, Montana (as the Helena Brewers) and Medicine Hat, Alberta (alas, not as the Hats, but the Blue Jays).

-              They play at blocktickets PARK, formerly the home of the Sky Sox, the Triple-A affiliate for Cleveland, Milwaukee, and the Colorado Rockies. Last season, the Vibes set the Pioneer single-game attendance record on the 4th of July with 8,427 fans.

-              The team made the Pioneer League playoffs in 2023, losing to eventual champions the Ogden Raptors.

-              Yes, they have a bat dog. Not only do canine crewmembers like Finn grab the discarded bats from the field, they also sign “pawgraphs” for fans afterward. (However, Vibes broadcaster Jesse notes, “every now and then, Finn sort of has a Steve Lyons moment, and oh, doesn't have any pants to pull down, but you can imagine what a dog does on a field of grass. But that gets cleaned up very quickly, and everybody loves Finn.”)

Best Promos:

-              Taylor Swift Night, a Swiftian friendship bracelet giveaway/swap.

-              Christmas in July, with the obligatory ugly Xmas jerseys.

-              Baseballoween—trick-or-treating on the field, plus craft beer and fireworks? Yes.

-              Multi-theme marshmallow fights follow a few games throughout the season.

-              Rodeo in the Rockies night, with the chance to ride a mechanical bull (no word on its automated oysters).

-              Par-Tee Night, a golf theme featuring an appearance by Christopher McDonald, the actor behind one of cinema’s all-time great villains, Shooter McGavin from Happy Gilmore.

What to Watch For:

-              Spooky Vibes: The team’s alternate mascot, La Llorona, “is a cursed ghost mother, dressed in a white gown, forsaken to roam rivers and creeks throughout the Southwest in search of her lost children.” She usually makes her appearances at home, but if you show up to Raimondi and see her prowling Scrappy’s Sanctuary, just ask her for some of the awesome Las Lloronas de Montaña Rocosa merch. (Amazingly, the team’s alternate identity came from their Baseballoween event one year when a fan’s Llorona costume was so good it sparked the idea.)

Special thanks to Jesse Cook, the Vibes Director of Broadcast & Media Relations and fellow Star Trek: The Next Generation fan