Rockies sidestep worst record, set other dubious marks in one of worst seasons in MLB history

DENVER (AP) — The Colorado Rockies went down swinging in the ninth inning to end their unceremonious season, striking out three straight times Sunday in a loss where they didn’t score a run.

A fitting conclusion to a woeful, record-setting year.

By many metrics, this will go down as one of the most dreadful slogs in baseball history. Sure, they finished 43-119, which avoided becoming the worst team since baseball adopted a 162-game schedule in 1961, a mark that still belongs to the 2024 Chicago White Sox (41-121).

But that’s about all the infamy the Rockies could sidestep. Changes are sure to be forthcoming in an offseason directed by Walker Monfort, the son of owner Dick Monfort who was named executive vice president earlier this season. It could be a top-to-bottom overhaul after a third straight 100-loss season.

One of the most immediate decisions will be the future of interim manager Warren Schaeffer, who went 36-86 after taking over following the firing of Bud Black in May. General manager Bill Schmidt’s role may be in limbo, too. Schmidt became the fourth GM in franchise history in 2021 and has yet to see one of his teams make the postseason.

“The biggest thing, the most important thing, is that we learned we never want to be here again,” Schaeffer said. “That is blatantly obvious. If you gloss over that and say, ‘It’s going to be OK next year,’ that’s not good enough.

“For the men in that room, it’s the biggest lesson we can all learn — this isn’t good enough. We all need to get better. Everybody needs to get better moving forward.”

The numbers highlight the depth of the franchise’s on-field misery:

— Colorado’s 119 losses are the most in the NL since 120 by the 1962 New York Mets.

— The Rockies had a run differential of minus-424, the worst since 1900, surpassing the minus-349 of the 1932 Boston Red Sox. It’s also the most since the 1899 Cleveland Spiders, who were a minus-724, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

— Colorado was a majors-worst 18-63 on the road, which was a franchise record.

— The starting rotation finished with a 6.65 ERA, the highest mark since it became an official stat in both leagues in 1913.

“We had high hopes,” said starter and Denver native Kyle Freeland, whose 17 losses were the most in the majors this season. “Obviously, it flopped on us. We have to keep moving forward, continue to do the work.”

It didn’t help that slugger Kris Bryant was limited to 11 games this season as he dealt with a bothersome back. Bryant has played in only 170 games with Colorado because of injuries since signing a $182 million, seven-year contract before the 2022 season.

The Rockies received a breakout season from All-Star catcher in Hunter Goodman, who hit .278 with 31 homers and 91 RBIs. They have 2024 Gold Glove winners in Ezequiel Tovar and Brenton Doyle.

Colorado got a glimpse of some of its young prospects, too, like outfielders Zac Veen and Yanquiel Fernández, infielder Ryan Ritter and right-hander Chase Dollander all being called up.

The Rockies also drafted Ethan Holliday with the No. 4 pick this summer. His last name is well-known around the Mile High City thanks to his father, Matt, who helped ignite a magical late run in 2007 (nicknamed “Rocktober”) that paid off with the franchise’s only World Series appearance.

Since that time, they’ve had as many playoff appearances (three) as 100-loss seasons. Their 323 losses from 2023-25 is tied with Philadelphia (1940-42) for the fifth-most through a three-year span.

The Rockies finished 50 games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL West as they missed out on the postseason for a seventh straight year.

“We need to win differently in the West,” Schaeffer said. “These other teams are spending a bunch of money, and have all these huge names and power and OPS (on-base plus slugging) guys. We weren’t built like that this year. So we had to try win differently. It doesn’t mean we can’t win, but we just have to do it differently, commit to different things.”

Asked earlier this summer if a team sometimes needs to take a step back to go forward, Schmidt simply responded: “Sometimes you do. Sometimes you do.”

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AP Baseball Writers Ronald Blum and Janie McCauley contributed to this report.

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