Rockies are worst team in MLB history through 42 games, and it can get worse

With a loss on Tuesday night time, the Rockies’ document now stands at 7-35. Reaching that thirty fifth defeat after 42 video games places the Rockies in historic territory, as they’re the fastest-ever to 35 losses in a season. The earlier quickest to get there was the 1904 Washington Senators, who misplaced their thirty fifth 45 video games in, after that they had already received their eighth contest of an excruciatingly lengthy season.

If the Rockies don’t flip issues round in a rush, you’re going to be listening to loads concerning the 1904 Senators for the following couple of months. That’s as a result of the Senators, with a quick interruption, are one of many standard-bearers for “worst document via X” video games, beginning with the forty third of the season as much as the 91st, at which level a special group nicely over a century previous turns into the stick in opposition to which awfulness is measured. The Rockies’ season goes so poorly that the earlier assertion won’t even be true anymore by the point you learn this, for the reason that ‘04 Senators have been 8-33-2 via 43 video games — sure, their disaster of a season occurred so way back that ties have been nonetheless a factor at that time. The Rockies are two losses forward of that tempo even earlier than we discover out if Wednesday’s sport will lead to one more L or a uncommon Colorado win.

Which signifies that the Rockies, no matter Wednesday night time’s end result, are already the holders of the worst document via 43 video games, regardless of not even taking part in 43 but. And in the event that they fail to win no. 43, they’ll even have locked down the worst document via 44 earlier than they even get to that sport on the schedule.

Now, all will not be misplaced for Colorado. Earlier than the 1904 Senators come up many times because the worst group via X video games, it’s the 1988 Baltimore Orioles who’re repeatedly referenced in the identical area. In reality, the Rockies share the worst document via 41 video games with them, at 7-34, in addition to a couple of different progress (for lack of a greater phrase) markers via this level of the season.

However it’s the ‘88 Orioles who make up the overwhelming majority of the listing from 14 video games into the season via 41, owing to their 0-21 begin. (To place that into perspective, the Orioles have been the one group to start out a season 0-14 on the time that they managed the feat, after which they pushed that to 0-21.) By some means, a group that started the season 0-21 completed it 54-107: that’s not a document to be happy with by any means, however contemplating that 41 video games in they have been the worst group in historical past to that time and on tempo for a 28-134 document, the O’s needed to be pleased with the place they ended up as a substitute. 

Ending with 107 losses most likely sounds superb to everybody within the Rockies group at this level, however one factor the Orioles had in 1988 have been a mixture of promising youthful gamers and productive veterans, the latter of whom noticed their seasons recuperate. Corridor of Famer Eddie Murray, then 32, completed the yr batting .284/.361/.474, good for a 136 OPS+. Fred Lynn, then 36, wrapped at .252/.312/.482 for a 122 OPS+. Mickey Tettleton (27) hit .261/.330/.424, Joe Orsulak (26) added a 113 OPS+, and one other Cooperstown inductee, Cal Ripken Jr., wrapped his age-27 season — one during which he was the Orioles’ All-Star consultant — with a line of .264/.372/.431. 

The rotation was a catastrophe, particularly after the one common pitcher on the workers, Mike Boddicker, was flipped in a midseason deal. However that commerce introduced again Brady Anderson and Curt Schilling. Neither of whom have been prepared for the majors at that time, however Anderson ended up sticking in Baltimore for 14 years, most of them actual good ones, and Schilling ended up with a borderline Corridor of Fame profession. In fact, not one of the good elements of that profession occurred in Baltimore until they have been in a special groups’ uniform. Nonetheless! 

The Rockies don’t have any of that. Veteran Kris Bryant is affected by again issues which have principally saved him off of the sphere in 2025, however his bat has been gone for a few years now, too. There’s a Tettleton equal in backstop Hunter Goodman, who’s hitting .299/.354/.497 in what seems to be a breakout marketing campaign, and Jordan Beck (.264/.325/.528) has began sturdy, however this lineup doesn’t have the depth of the 1988 Orioles, a group that’s probably one of the 50 worst within the historical past of baseball after adjusting for period, energy of competitors, and extra. And their pitching is a minimum of as dangerous as that Baltimore squad’s, too. 

It doesn’t assist that it’s not just like the Rockies being horrible is a shock. This can be a continuation of the established order. The 2021 group went 74-87, which most likely didn’t really feel on the time prefer it was going to be nearly as good as issues obtained for some time.  The ‘22 squad misplaced 94 video games. The 2023 group misplaced 103, and 2024’s “improved” to 101 defeats. Courting again to the beginning of 2023, the Rockies are simply 127-239. A bounce again, like some members of the ‘88 Orioles skilled, isn’t essentially one thing that may be relied on right here, as there is not something to bounce again to that appears meaningfully completely different from the place they’re.

The 1904 Senators — often known as the Minnesota Twins from 1961 to the current — didn’t begin fairly as poorly as these 1988 Orioles, however they made up for it in a while. They’d end the season 38-113-6, in lifeless final within the majors with 14 fewer wins than the next-worst Philadelphia Phillies, and 13 extra losses than the one different membership to hit the century mark. They performed simply 41 video games in opposition to groups with a worse than .500 document and went a modest 18-23 in these video games, partially as a result of there have been simply eight golf equipment within the AL at the moment, and most of them spent their season beating up on the Senators. Which helped them to a document nicely over .500 within the first place: in these video games in opposition to groups that ended up over .500, the Senators have been simply 20-90 for the yr.

The Senators had two gamers produce above-average seasons on the plate: first baseman Jake Stahl (118 OPS+) and outfielder Frank Huelsman (112 OPS+). The group, as an entire, produced a line of .227/.275/.288 — keep in mind, this was the Lifeless Ball period, however the ball appeared even deader for Washington’s hitters — and an OPS+  of 79. The pitching was even worse, with no starter even coming near being thought of common, by no means thoughts above it, and the workers as an entire producing an ERA+ of 74. 

They started their season 0-10 in April, and with one exception have been really extra like an ordinary 100-loss group for the remainder of the yr, however that exception was a 4-19 June with a .174 profitable proportion: together with the win-less April, the Senators by no means actually had an opportunity, they usually’d end with what’s now the fourth-worst profitable proportion (.252) in fashionable MLB historical past (1901 and onward), in addition to the eighth-most losses ever, regardless of taking part in in a shorter season of 154 video games. 

The Rockies, by the way in which, at present have a group OPS+ of 72, and group ERA+ of 84. A bit worse on offense than the ‘04 Senators, however a bit higher on the mound. Not precisely a consolation.

That is wanting far-forward, however the subsequent groups up on the listing of historical past that the Rockies would like to cease chasing any time now are the 1932 Red Sox — they briefly interrupt the Senators’ run of anti-dominance with the worst information ever for a group via 60 and 61 video games — after which it’s the 1916 Philadelphia Athletics from there on out, till a really current addition to the listing, the 2024 White Sox, arrive on the scene 140 video games in, once they have been 31-109. The ‘32 Sox would lose 111 video games and end with the Twelfth-worst profitable proportion ever — a 117-loss tempo in a 162-game season — whereas the 1916 Athletics really did lose 117 video games, regardless of taking part in simply 154 of them, however are higher recognized for holding the worst profitable proportion in historical past at .235.

The 2025 Rockies, 42 video games in, have a profitable proportion of .167. It bears repeating: the Rockies want to show issues round, and in a rush, if the improper form of historical past is to be averted.

Need nice tales delivered proper to your inbox? Create or log in to your FOX Sports account, and comply with leagues, groups and gamers to obtain a personalised e-newsletter each day!