Last year, the Chicago White Sox set the modern-day MLB record for the most losses in a single season, with a 41-121 record. Many thought that this record would never be touched, as surely in the modern era, there can’t be bad teams, right? Well, over a month and a half into the 2025 MLB season, the Colorado Rockies are giving last year’s White Sox team a run for its money.
As of May 19th, the Rockies are an abysmal 8-38, or .174 winning percentage. By this point in the season, the White Sox had almost double the amount of wins the Rockies have now. For reference, the worst Triple-A team by record are the Rochester Red Wings, an affiliate of the Washington Nationals, with a record of 10-28, or .263 PCT. Some have questioned if the MLB should implement a relegation system, similar to European Soccer, where the lowest team of a higher league, and the highest team of a lower league swap places. Personally, I am all for this. It incentivises winning, and will show who is the best of the best in the lower leagues.
In all my years of watching professional sports, I cannot recall a team with a record or start to a season this bad. According to BetMGM, the Rockies’ odds to win the World Series are +100000, or a 0.0001% chance of winning. That means that there were better odds for Jesus Christ to return to Earth at Easter than the Rockies to win the World Series. This is a problem. The MLB can’t be happy with the Rockies’ performance, but where do they draw the line? What is there to do? I would jokingly suggest that the Rockies initiate a Rule 29 draft, or a ‘disaster draft’, by any means necessary. While this will not be what happens, it opens up the thought of what the league would look like in the event of a ‘disaster draft’.
The Rockies fired their tenured manager, Bud Black on May 11th, with a record of 7-33 at that time. While this hasn’t affected their lack of success, this is something that could help in the long term. Give the new manager, Warren Schaeffer, some time to adjust, and maybe the Rockies will win more than 8 games in a month and a half from now.
The most spectacular loss of the season for the Rockies was a 21-0 loss to the Padres at home. This game was what motivated me to write this article. When I saw the post-game score graphic on Instagram, I said “What is going on with the Rockies?” They aren’t getting as much attention as the White Sox did last year, so why are they off to a worse start? Over the last decade, they’ve lost notable players like Nolan Arenado to St. Louis, Troy Tulowitzki to Toronto, and Carlos Gonzàlez to Cleveland.
Overall, I am almost certain that the Colorado Rockies are going to have a record-breaking season, in a bad way. The benchmark to beat is a 41-121 record, set by last year’s White Sox. At this rate, the Rockies will surpass that, and I think that no team will be able to beat (or well, lose) the record that the Rockies will set by the time September 28 comes around.
