Rockies finish May with single-digit wins, still on worst start in MLB history
The Rockies could go .500 for the rest of the season... and still finish with 101 losses.
admin
Every team in the National League finished April with double-digit wins, except for the Colorado Rockies. Somehow, that stat was still true at the end of May.
After two months and 58 games played, the Rockies finished Saturday guaranteed to enter June with single-digit wins. Their record sits at 9-49, keeping them beyond nearly any precedent for the worst start in MLB history.
Their final chance to crack 10 wins came on Saturday against the New York Mets, but a four-run first inning put them on their back foot and no comeback came in an 8-2 loss. Between that and Friday's 4-2 loss, they have already lost another series.
At 9-49, the Rockies could play .500 ball for the rest of the season and still finish with 101 losses. They had the worst April in MLB history, then clinched the worst 50-game start, and now they sit as the first team without double-digit wins entering June in decades. Even on the list of the worst 50-game starts in MLB history, every other team has double-digit wins.
We went through this during the Rockies' last lamentable milestone, but let's just go through the stats of how bad this team is:
They have lost all 19 series this season and have been swept eight times.
They have won consecutive games only once this season, with three different eight-game losing streaks. They are on another seven-game one now.
Their minus-183 run differential is not just the worst in MLB (nearly double the second-worst Athletics, who are minus-106). They are on pace for a minus-511 run differential, which would be the worst mark in MLB history by more than 100 runs.
They are 18.5 games back from fourth place in the NL West.
They lost a game 21-0 to the San Diego Padres, a margin worse than any loss the White Sox took last year. They were shut out by a Rule 5 draft pick making his second career start in that game.
They are the worst offense in MLB by wRC+ (63), which weighs park factors, and by OPS (.633). which doesn't.
Their pitching staff is fifth-worst in MLB by ERA- at 122, which again weighs Coors Field. Without that consideration, their 5.64 team ERA is second-worst in MLB.
Their starting pitchers have a 6.70 ERA. All nine Los Angeles Dodgers pitchers with multiple starts this season have a better number.
They are one of the worst fielding teams in MLB by some metrics as well, such as -30 defensive runs saved, tied for third-worst in the league.
Despite three straight last-place finishes and no winning records since 2018, their minor-league system came in as only the 18th-best on MLB Pipeline's preseason rankings. The Dodgers, who have not picked higher than 20th since 2013, were fourth.
Kris Bryant, the largest free-agent splash in club history, is on the injured list dealing with a lumbar degenerative disease that sounds hard to come back from and has been placed on the IL nine times since 2022. He has slashed .222/.307/.335 over the past three seasons.
More discouragingly, Colorado is running out of reasons to expect they'll get better. Firing managers is usually a natural button to press, but they fired Bud Black when they had a 7-33 record and have gone 2-16 since then. They have some players on the injured list but no one you would call a season-saver.
The only player in their MLB Pipeline top 5 with an ETA of 2025 is No. 1 prospect Chase Dollander, who is already with the team. He holds a 6.86 ERA and is currently on the IL with right forearm inflammation. The trade deadline is certain to make their active roster even worse, because that's how bad MLB teams operate these days.
The only reason the Rockies can expect even moderate improvement is blunt regression, as their expected win-loss record based on their run differential is ... 13-45. So four games better, based on one peripheral.
MLB has seen bad teams hit rock bottom of a rebuilding cycle before, but this is something different. The Rockies right now are below even where the 2024 Chicago White Sox dared to reach, it's going to take a miraculous turnaround to just be considered bad by the time the 2025 season is over.
