Colorado Rockies Are Historically Terrible – And That Matters More Than You Think

The Colorado Rockies won just eight of their first 50 games.

It’s the worst 50-game start to an MLB season in the modern era, going back to 1901. That’s bad enough on its own. But to put it into context, the 2024 Chicago White Sox, who compiled the worst record in modern MLB history, started out 15-35. That team piled up 121 losses. Through 50 games, the Rockies were on track for 136.

In the four following games, the Rockies were able to pick up a win – against the high-powered New York Yankees, no less – before dropping the next three. At 9-45, Colorado is now proudly on track for 27 wins.

Yes, the Rockies are terrible. The numbers concur: they allow 6.46 runs per game, the most in MLB, score the second-fewest, at 3.28, are struck out the most and strike out the fewest batters. In fact, they’re so astonishingly bad that this season is raising questions for MLB, baseball fans and bookmakers alike.

Colorado hasn’t made the playoffs since 2018, and doesn’t seem to be showing any urgent desire to do so. The Rockies continuously place in the top half of MLB in terms of attendance, largely owing to affordable tickets and concessions – not to mention the presence of opposing fans. And their top-paid player, Kris Bryant, has played just 170 games since the beginning of the 2022 season due to injury.

Unless attendance sees a significant drop, what’s the motivation for ownership to spend on talent? The absence of a salary floor means no penalties for underspending teams, and the Rockies seem to stay afloat regardless of the team’s actual performance.

That logic has led to fan calls to “sell the team,” targeting the Monfort family as primary owners.

Meanwhile, sportsbooks are facing a crisis as bettors hammer the under for Colorado runs, the over for the opposing team, and always bet on the opposition.

“Teams playing the Rockies are regularly among the most-bet MLB teams of the day on both the moneyline and run line, so the rare Rockies win is something of a bright spot,” said ESPN BET director of North American sports trading Adrian Horton. “However, those wins don’t outweigh the good days for bettors taking whoever is playing against Colorado.”

In essence, sportsbooks are paying through the nose every time the Rockies lose, and especially when they lose badly. The problem is that both of those things are happening all the time.

“We have to just weather this storm,” said DraftKings head of sportsbook Johnny Avello. “We can adjust prices, but we just have to wait for a time when maybe they get on track a little bit and win a few games.”

For now, though, eight of the Rockies’ next 11 games are against either the Chicago Cubs or the New York Mets, which are currently both sitting at 33-21. Put another way, both teams have won 24 more games than the Rockies this season. It might be a while until Colorado starts to win again, if they ever do. In the meantime, concerns will continue.