The Colorado Rockies’ race to 42
Following a trade deadline that saw Colorado ship away mainstays like Ryan McMahon and Jake Bird, the organization now has its sights set on one goal: don’t become the worst team of all time.
There are two months left of the MLB season, with 42 games remaining for the Rockies to reach the magic number of 42 wins. That would miss tying the 2024 Chicago White Sox record of 41-121 by a single game, enough to avoid the title of worst baseball team of the Modern Era.
As of Wednesday, Colorado sits at 32-88, coming off back-to-back wins that snapped an eight-game losing skid. They opened the second half of the season sharp by doubling their number of series wins (from two to four), but have stalled recently with premonitions of another collapse. They’ve lost three out of their last five series, including a sucker-punch sweep at the hands of the Toronto Blue Jays, where they got outscored 45-6 over three games.
The good news for Rockies fans is the team is improving by the month, with 19 wins across June and July compared to a notorious nine through March, April and May. A lot of the progress can be traced back to the managerial change back in May, as the club fired Bud Black and delegated to Interim Manager Warren Schaeffer.
Since Black’s final game on May 11, the Rockies have doubled their win rate and have gone 25-55 under Schaeffer. He’s shuffled the infield and batting lineup far more than Black did, now swapping through the likes of Warming Bernabel, Adael Amador, Yanquiel Fernández and Kyle Farmer.
The offense has gone through a lot of spotlight changes, from Hunter Goodman and Jordan Beck being diamonds in the rough to maturing to a more curated, dispersed attack. They now have consistent base hits from Tyler Freeman, spread-out power from Mickey Moniak, day-in and day-out doubles from Ezequiel Tovar, with brief sparks from prospects making their major league debuts.
Bernabel, a 23-year-old infielder, made Rockies history in just his first week in the majors. Nine days into this career, he took home the NL Player of the Week award after notching 12 base hits and becoming the second Rockie to have a hit in each of his first seven career games. The club also announced they called up infielder Kyle Karros, who had an RBI single in his first career at bat on Friday. Karros is the Rockies’ No. 8 overall prospect.
Colorado has the second-hardest remaining strength of schedule and will face seven World Series-ready teams in their last 13 series: a four-game set against the Los Angeles Dodgers (68-53, 2nd in NL West) in two weeks, back-to-back series against the Houston Astros (68-53, 1st in AL West) and Chicago Cubs (68-51, 2nd in NL Central), and a brutal 10 straight games against the Dodgers and San Diego Padres (69-52, 1st in NL West) in early September.
If they simply win one game in each series down the stretch, that’d give them 45 to escape the record. However, if they get swept in the seven aforementioned series, that would leave the Rockies 19 games to win 11. It’s not impossible, but Colorado is now forced to fight and avoid the most demeaning record in baseball’s 150-year history.