Rockies Hit New Low With No Clear Answers in Sight

Another month, another big step toward ignominy. 

The Rockies were swept over the weekend by the Mets and now have a 9–50 record, setting a new low for the worst record after 59 games in baseball’s modern era starting in 1901. After ending April with a 5–25 record, Colorado doubled that up by losing 24 more games in May and another to start June. The club has been swept 10 times in its 20 series thus far, and has four separate losing streaks of at least eight games, including its current one.

During the last month, the Rockies fired manager Bud Black and bench coach Mike Redmond and are now led on the field by interim manager Warren Schaeffer. The club, however, remains just as lost and is at or near the worst in the league in nearly every facet of the game, including team run differential, batting average, fielding percentage, and earned run average.

The Rockies are currently on pace to finish with a 25–137 record, which would smash the modern-era record of 121 losses set just last year by the White Sox. Since May 2, the Rockies are tied with golfer Scottie Scheffler with three victories, despite the daily nature of MLB’s schedule. 

Off the field, the Rockies also have several major obstacles. The club is facing the tightest concentration of big spending of any of MLB’s six divisions, with its four National League West rivals all ranking in the top 13 in luxury-tax payroll. Rockies owner Dick Monfort, meanwhile, has been an outspoken critic of MLB’s widening economic gap, saying recently, “Something’s got to happen. The competitive imbalance in baseball has gotten to the point of ludicrosity now.”

Colorado, meanwhile, has few pieces on its roster coveted by contenders, such as Pirates star Paul Skenes, meaning an accelerated teardown at the trade deadline is unlikely, and that a rebuilding effort almost certainly will be slow and painful. 

The Rockies also have not fully sought a new approach, as the club hasn’t hired a GM from outside the organization since 1999. Current GM Bill Schmidt has been with Colorado for 26 years, during which there have been just six winning seasons, and none since 2018. 

The team’s historic losing has begun to show its impact at the turnstiles. After starting up strongly in attendance, the club is now trailing its 2024 pace by 1.3%, and now averages 26,635 per game, 18th highest in the league. MLB overall remains up by 2%, buttressed in part by some strategic scheduling and the fan appeal of major stars such as the Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani and Yankees’ Aaron Judge.