When the 2016 season began, almost no one expected the Rapids.
They were coming off back-to-back dismal seasons and Pablo Mastroeni was entering the final year of his contract after winning just 17 of his first 68 league games as the Rapids coach.
One man who did believe in the former U.S. international, however, was Rapids president Tim Hinchey, who in November 2015 gave reporters an emphatic guarantee that Mastroeni would be a successful MLS coach.
The pressure was on. And, boy, was he right.
Mastroeni in 2016 led the Rapids to their best regular season in franchise history (15-6-13).