DENVER -- The 2007 Rockies team that went to the World Series and the 2018 squad that fell just short of the National League West title will match up against two other renowned teams of the past in Dream Bracket 2 -- a simulation series featuring 64 historic teams in best-of-seven series that starts this week.

The tournament is being played out by Out of the Park Baseball 21, and the Rockies’ opponents are tough.

The ’18 Rockies have drawn the 1975 Reds -- a team that won the first of two straight World Series during the “Big Red Machine” era -- on Thursday.

The ’07 club will face the 1986 World Series champion Mets on Friday.

The two Rockies teams will hope to fare better in simulation than the flesh-and-blood Red Sox -- who lost in seven games to the ’75 Reds and ’86 Mets.

So what is this tournament all about?

The simulated competition, featuring many of the greatest teams in baseball history, is being produced by Out of the Park Baseball 21, MLB‘s most realistic strategy game (PC and Mac). The tournament features two all-time great seasons from each of the 30 current Major League franchises, three Negro Leagues teams and the 1994 Montreal Expos. Game simulations begin Thursday, and the finals will take place on June 8 and 9.

• Complete Dream Bracket 2 rosters

Here are the Rockies teams:

2007 Rockies

For 22 games, this Rockies team would have taken on any club, past or present. Things changed when Todd Helton homered off Takashi Saito for a walk-off 9-8 victory at Coors Field on Sept. 21, 2007. It was the second win in a run of 14 victories in the final 15 regular-season games -- including a 9-8, 13-inning thriller over the Padres in Game 163 for the National League Wild Card.

Those Rockies also swept the Phillies in the National League Division Series and the D-backs in the NL Championship Series. The magic disappeared during the World Series sweep at the hands of the Boston Red Sox. Many purple and black loyalists wonder if it didn’t wear off during an eight-day wait while Boston came from a 3-1 deficit to beat the Indians in the American League Championship Series.

Even today, it’s a hard team to figure. While the team has a miracle aura to it, fact is it finished 90-73 and Baseball Reference’s Pythagorean calculation says it should have won one more game. Folks in the Mountain Time Zone swore, and still swear to deaf ears, that outfielder Matt Holliday should have been NL Most Valuable Player and shortstop Troy Tulowitzki deserved Rookie of the Year.

Jeff Francis had his best season and journeyman righty Josh Fogg found ways to beat top pitchers, but the rotation lost three of its five original members by late August. The inspirational leadership and timely hitting of Helton, a bang-up bullpen performance, and the emergence of solid hitters Garrett Atkins and Brad Hawpe and all the right moves from manager Clint Hurdle that brought the team close to glory.

The 2009 team that went to the postseason before dropping a hard-luck NLDS against the Phillies under Hurdle and Jim Tracy won a club-record 92 games and had a more experienced pitching staff. But picking that one over ’07 would be like denying love.

Can a band of unknowns, who had been barely seen by the nation before the classic 163rd game against the Padres, stack up against a ’75 Reds team so established that neighborhood kids could rattle off the daily lineup?

• See the full Bracket, make picks, win prizes

2018 Rockies

Remember when the Rockies could never pitch? Well, a rotation led by lefty Kyle Freeland (who brought back memories of Francis in ’07) and righty German Márquez led the National League in innings pitched. And that occurred during a year when one of the better pitchers on the staff, righty Jon Gray, struggled in the middle of the year and righty Chad Bettis moved from the rotation to the bullpen. Manager Bud Black, a former longtime pitcher, molded the team in his image.

It was the closest the Rockies have ever come to winning the NL West. They lost to the Dodgers in the second Game 163 in their history. But Freeland made a classic start, and the bullpen was lights out in the 13-inning, 2-1 win over the Cubs in the NL Wild Card Game. Nolan Arenado led the offense with 38 home runs and 110 RBIs, and Trevor Story added 37 and 108.

This club was like the ’07 bunch in terms of postseason regret. In ’18, the extra game with the Dodgers meant the team played in three cities and three time zones when the arrived for the NLDS against the Brewers. The offense bottomed, and the Rockies were swept.

The Dream Bracket 2 will match the rock-star Mets, who included Hurdle as a player, and the small-market and the workmanlike Rockies.