Last year was an anomaly.

The Colorado Rockies won 14 of their last 15 regular-season games, including a one-game playoff, just to make the postseason. That’s not happening this year. Actually, that probably won’t happen for the rest of our lives.

Last year won’t happen because it won’t need to happen. The Rockies aren’t the class of the National League, but they are good enough that they won’t have to do the near impossible to make the postseason.

The big question is: Can Colorado be good enough when there’s a big bull’s-eye on its back? Few pundits are talking about the defending NL champions. The Rockies kind of like it like that. But they know, when the first pitch gets thrown, opposing players want to put a little chink in the Rockies’ armor.

The team’s response to that attention will determine how well the season goes.

The Rockies are a young team, so common sense would tell us they might not respond well. Then there’s the Troy Tulowitzki factor.Todd Helton and Matt Holliday have bigger names and bigger bank accounts, but Tulowitzki will make this club run this year.

Tulowitzki made the club run last year. Defensively, offensively, in the clubhouse – all around, he was Colorado’s best player.

And he’s not slacking now. Recently, after back-to-back spring training losses, Tulowitzki was irritated. A teammate talked about it “only being spring training.” Tulowitzki reportedly responded, “Then why are we playing nine innings?”

You have to love that attitude or at least respect it. It’s genuine. After getting swept by the Boston Red Sox in the World Series, Tulowitzki said he had to get away, he had to think about those games.

Soon after the World Series, numerous Rockies started showing up at Coors Field for workouts. Tulowitzki wasn’t one of them. He still was thinking about the losses. Why did they lose? How did they lose? How can he keep them from losing again?

Tulowitzki isn’t perfect, but he strives for perfection. When the all-around best player on the team is working for perfection, that mentality tends to rub off.

Tulowitzki will be the catalyst, but this is far from a one-player show.

The Rockies boast the best offensive lineup in the NL West and probably in the NL. Their probable batting order starts with speed in center fielder Willy Taveras, followed by Tulowitzki, who should’ve been the NL Rookie of the Year last season. Helton, still one of the best hitters in baseball, is third, and Holliday, who finished with a .340 average, 36 home runs and 137 RBIs, is cleanup.

Garrett Atkins and Brad Hawpe follow. If Hawpe can find a way to hit left-handed pitching consistently, he might put up MVP numbers.

The bullpen should be as amazing as it was last year. Throughout last season, if the starters got to the sixth inning, the bullpen – minus two colossal flops by Brian Fuentes – was solid.

The biggest pitching issue, which could be a serious one depending on how quickly the two can mature, is Ubaldo Jimenez and Franklin Morales, the third and fifth starters.

Both are power pitchers and saved the Rockies on more than one occasion last season when Colorado lost three-fifths of its starting rotation in a 16-day span. But both have been sporadic at best during spring training.

They have a tendency to get in trouble and, worse, not know how to get out. The Rockies need to get six or seven good innings out of those two and do it consistently. If they’re getting chased from too many games too early, it could spell early trouble.

That said, the most important player during the first two months will be catcher Yorvit Torrealba. He has a unique way with pitchers. Pitching coach Bob Apodaca absolutely loves Torrealba and the ability he has in understanding pitchers.

The pitchers are big fans of Torrealba, too – especially Jimenez and Morales.

Like every team, Colorado will have its highs and lows. But in the end, after 94 regular-season victories, it will be standing atop the NL West.

Contact Bryant at 636-0252 or milo.bryant@gazettedev.gazette.com and read his blog at milobryant.blogspot.com

Air Force goalie Andrew Volkening sprawled on the ice after giving up the game-tying goal to Carter Camper, bottom right, of Miami (Ohio) in the third period of their NCAA Northeast Regional semifinal Saturday in Worcester, Mass. Top-seeded Miami won 3-2 Photo by BRYAN OLLER, THE GAZETTE