LAS VEGAS -- Kris Bryant has been hearing about odds his whole life.

That literally comes with the territory when you grow up in Las Vegas. So it was fitting that as Bryant and the Rockies arrived in his hometown for two games against the Royals at Las Vegas Ballpark in the second Big League Weekend of the spring, he was asked about, well, the odds.

A day after one of the most improbable upsets in college basketball history took place in Columbus, Ohio, as 16th-seeded Fairleigh Dickinson defeated top-seeded Purdue in the first round of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, the stunning result inspired a question for Bryant: Could the Rockies “shock the world” and make the postseason in 2023?

“It happens in baseball even more than in other sports,” Bryant said before Colorado dropped an 8-5 decision to Kansas City on Saturday at Las Vegas Ballpark. “Like in basketball or football, you just kind of assume that the Chiefs are going to go all the way [in football], or the Warriors in basketball. That’s the cool thing about baseball: it can be anybody in any given year. I think you saw that with the Phillies last year. It can happen.”

Fairleigh Dickinson’s victory Friday was more than a “Fairleigh" noteworthy accomplishment. The odds of the Knights advancing past the Boilermakers were astronomical. So, it seems, are the odds of the Rockies reaching the postseason this fall -- FanGraphs puts those chances at 0.1%.

So what would it take for Colorado to reach the playoffs? There are now three Wild Card spots to be had, so it may not take much more than a .500 record. The Rockies aren’t projected to get anywhere near .500 this year, but if they are to make things interesting, nearly everything will need to go right.

A pain-free KB needs to rake
Since 2019, we haven’t seen a truly prodigious season at the plate from Bryant. Injuries have been a big reason for that. Last year, he was limited to 42 games due to back and foot problems.

Bryant will need to be on the field for 150 games or so, and he needs a performance reminiscent of his 2016 NL MVP campaign, when he posted a .939 OPS with 39 home runs to help the Cubs reach the postseason and ultimately win the franchise’s first World Series championship in more than a century.

Bryant thinks he’s got that type of season in him -- potentially even a career year.

Márquez and Freeland need to find it again
Germán Márquez, when right, is one of the best starting pitchers in baseball. From 2017-20, he posted a 119 ERA+, with an electric fastball-curveball-slider mix that flummoxed opposing lineups. In the first half of the ’21 campaign, he had a 3.36 ERA and earned his first All-Star selection. Since then, his ERA is 5.27 over 249 2/3 innings. The big culprit has been a lack of command, but he and the Rockies think they may have straightened that out.

As for Kyle Freeland, he finished fourth in NL Cy Young Award voting in 2018, posting a 2.85 ERA (166 ERA+) over 202 1/3 frames. But since then, it’s been a rocky road for the Denver native -- from 2019-22, he struggled to a 4.94 ERA over 89 starts. A good sign so far this spring is that he’s pitched well for Team USA in the World Baseball Classic, yielding a run on two hits while walking none and striking out three over three relief innings entering Saturday night.

Mac and the kids need to step up
Bryant, Márquez and Freeland are three of the better-known names on the roster, but they can’t do it alone. The future is now in Colorado, and prospects like shortstop Ezequiel Tovar -- considered a preseason NL Rookie of the Year candidate -- Michael Toglia and possibly even Zac Veen, at some point this year, need to deliver.

A hitter on whom the Rockies are waiting to unlock the potential they see in his bat is Ryan McMahon, who is enjoying a strong spring -- he’s hitting .303 with three homers thanks to a retooled swing.

On the pitching side, with Antonio Senzatela out until sometime in May, it’ll be up to young arms to fill the void -- here’s looking at you, Ryan Feltner. Feltner has struggled this spring, with a 10.50 ERA over four starts after he surrendered eight runs over 4 2/3 innings Saturday.

Unexpected heroes must emerge
Chief among them could be veteran corner infielder Mike Moustakas, who did some reworking of his own swing over the offseason and is seeing the fruits of his labor.

He went 3-for-3 with a double and two RBIs in the Rockies’ 6-3 split-squad win over the Royals on Saturday in Surprise, Ariz. That brings his Cactus League average to .500 (9-for-18) with three doubles and a homer.