Maybe it's the black uniforms. Or the humidor. Or the thin air. Or the ice cold Rocky mountain spring water. Heck, in a superstitious ode to Wade Boggs, maybe every player is eating a bucket of extra crispy chicken before each game. No matter the reason or possible explanation for being there, the Colorado Rockies, after years of sub-.500 and all-hit, no-pitching baseball, are in the World Series.

How in the Name of All That Is Holy did that happen?

Winning 21 out of their last 22 games, including regular season games, might have a little something to do with it.

Sarcasm aside, seriously, how have the Rockies done the impossible? After all, this is a team that was widely picked to finish last in the division, like they have been for years.

Come on, there must be some stat in there that says this was coming. Good idea, let's look:

Did the Rockies lead the league in hitting? Uh, no, the Phillies did--scoring 5.8 runs per game. The Rockies were second.

Did they lead it in pitching? Okay, with a gaudy team 4.65 ERA, no, you're just trying to be funny.

Did they lead in fielding? Oddly enough, yes. But fielding doesn't win championships, sorry.

More home runs? No. More RBI? No. More stolen bases? No.

Wait, here's one! Two-out base hits to win ball games: They had 15 of them.

So one stat out of oodles of stats explains this run? Yeah, I too believe Todd Helton's bushy and odd-looking goatee had more to do with it than that.

So how DID they get there?

Here's the answer: Faith. Faith in that, day in and day out, they can win and win against any pitcher they face. Brandon Webb. Jake Peavy. It doesn't matter. They don't ask how or why or have even attempted to explain the streak, they just have a Yoda-like "there is no try, only do' mentality and approach that, well, helps them do it. It's really that simple. (Annoyingly simple to baseball stat geeks because Faith can't be measured.)

Can this miracle continue? Sure, not a problem. No reason why it shouldn't, despite the statistics and all.

Oh, come now, some will say, it's bound to end sooner or later. Or, they'll lose again. Absolutely! Those who think that are 100% right. The Rockies will lose. They might even lose a game or two or three in Series. But, as soon as the players start questioning their faith in their play and asking why and how they got here, well, they'll lose faith in the faith that they can and will win in the end. And if they do that before or even during the Series, that will be end of this miracle.

So here they are. 17 years of futility vanquished in just 22 games. Now they await the winner of the Cleveland/Boston series. They'll have 8 long days to think about this World Series and about how and why they got here.

Or they can just sit back, shut up and have another crispy tender chicken leg or two.