Rockies Are No Longer on Record-Setting Path to Rock Bottom

The Rockies’ march to ignominy has hit a bump in the road—in a rather positive way for the beleaguered MLB club. 

The franchise, which earlier this season was well on pace to post the worst single-season record in modern baseball history, is no longer on target for that ugly history. By winning its 36th game of the season Monday night against the Dodgers, and fourth straight overall, the Rockies are just six victories away from surpassing the win total of last year’s White Sox, the sport’s current standard-bearer for losing. 

Colorado still has nearly six weeks and 37 games left in the regular season to get that 42nd win, but the way it is now surging, it appears poised to hit that with plenty of time to spare. The Rockies are 8–9 this month, and 14–15 since the All-Star break, measures that in both instances essentially match the division-leading Dodgers.

Even as Los Angeles has begun to reassert its competitive dominance in recent days, the Rockies made a statement of their own, walking off the Dodgers on Monday with a dramatic, ninth-inning single by first baseman Warming Bernabel. The heroics gave the Rockies their first win of the season against the Dodgers. 

“You definitely see flashes,” said Rockies catcher Hunter Goodman. “We’re a super-young team. But getting that learning experience and figuring out how to win at this level, and how to do it together as a team, has been pretty cool to watch the last month or so.”

The Rockies are on pace for a 47–115 record, which would match the performance of several recent teams, such as the 2018 Orioles and 2019 Tigers, that have since rebounded to become playoff entrants. 

Still Plenty of Holes

Despite the recent on-field improvement, the Rockies still have plenty of issues. The team has by far the worst run differential in the league, more than doubling the negative margin of the next-worst team, the Nationals. There is currently little in the way of front-line talent for the Rockies, suggesting that the rebuilding effort still will be a multiyear effort. Top draft picks such as Ethan Holliday, the son of former Colorado star Matt Holliday, are likely years away from reaching the majors. A 100-loss season for the third year in a row remains quite likely. 

The Monfort family, who owns the Rockies and has generated widespread criticism for its stewardship of the team, is likely to continue into another generation. The team promoted 38-year-old Walker Monfort, son of chairman and CEO Dick Monfort, to EVP in June, and beginning in January, he will lead the club’s day-to-day business operations. Younger brother Sterling Monfort is the club’s director of professional scouting operations.

Fans, meanwhile, are still taking something of a wait-and-see attitude regarding watching the Rockies at Coors Field. The club is now down 6% in attendance at 29,312 per game, 17th in MLB. That decline has accelerated from a 1.3% drop in early June.