In a fitting end to a historically bad first half, the Rockies lost to the worst team in baseball.
Colorado, the National League cellar-dweller, fell 5-3 to the American League chump White Sox in the series opener on Friday at Guaranteed Rate Field.
Brenton Doyle and Michael Toglia both homered, but that wasn’t enough as Chicago tagged Dakota Hudson for five earned runs in five innings. Four of those came when the wheels came off in the sixth, and the Rockies only mustered three hits.
Here’s a look at Colorado’s atrocious first 81 games, which has the Rockies (27-54) on pace for 108 losses that would top last season’s franchise-worst 103-loss debacle. Colorado’s .333 winning percentage is a new club record for the lowest first-half winning percentage, topping the 1993 and 2005 teams that were 28-53.
Playing With Infamy
The bad omens started on opening day, when the Rockies were ripped 16-1 in Arizona, the worst season-opening loss in club history.
In that defeat, the Diamondbacks scored 14 runs on 13 hits in a never-ending third inning that’s the most of both tallies in a single frame in franchise history.
The ugly loss helped ensure Colorado would never sniff the .500 mark in the first half.
The Rockies trailed in each of their first 31 games to start the season, surpassing the 1910 St. Louis Browns’ streak of 28 for the longest such drought to begin a season in the Modern Era.
Even after that was snapped on May 3 in Pittsburgh, it took another week for the Rockies to finally win two games in a row. That came May 10, breaking the streak of 51 games without back-to-back victories going back to ’23, and 37 in ’24. Both stretches are franchise lows.
The next day, Colorado finally won its first series on its 13th try after a franchise-worst 12 series without a series victory to begin the year.
As the Rockies entered a full-blown June swoon, the going only got rougher, making a seven-game May winning streak feel like a distant memory.
Colorado is 6-19 this month, the worst mark in the National League, while allowing an MLB-high 168 runs.
This month, the Rockies blew two more games via catastrophic ninth innings — June 5 against the Reds and June 18 against the Dodgers — to set another dubious Modern Era record. Those meltdowns gave the Rockies six instances in which they were leading in the ninth or later only to give up five-plus runs that inning and surrender the lead, surpassing the four times that the ’39 Browns and ’52 White Sox did so.
Along the way of a look-away first half, the Rockies were dominated by a variety of starting pitchers — the Blue Jays’ Jose Berrios, Phillies’ Ranger Suarez, Mariners’ Luis Castillo, Padres’ Dylan Cease and Pirates rookie Jared Jones, to name just a few — as their streaky offense sputtered.
Colorado’s dreadful pitching underscored the ineptitude. The Rockies entered Friday with a 5.60 overall ERA, 5.52 starting ERA and 5.78 bullpen ERA — all MLB worsts, as is the .289 opponent average.
Injury-Riddled Rox
The Rockies weren’t expected to be good this year, but their futility’s been compounded by a rash of injuries that exposed their severe lack of depth.
It started with Daniel Bard’s knee injury just before the start of spring training. The reliever then underwent season-ending elbow surgery in April.
But Bard’s absence is only the frosting on Colorado’s moldy cake this year, as Kris Bryant continuing to be MIA is the biggest injury storyline.
Bryant hasn’t produced much anyways — he has a .186 average with just two homers this year — but the outfielder/first baseman is working on his third injury-riddled season of a seven-year, $182 million contract that’s shaping up as the biggest bust in club history.
Bryant missed 31 games with a low back strain earlier in the year, and has currently missed 22 more games with a left rib contusion in conjunction with an oblique strain. There is currently no timetable for his return.
On top of Bryant, Colorado’s endured other significant injuries.
Southpaw Kyle Freeland missed about two months with a left elbow strain. Outfielder Nolan Jones missed 41 games with a low back strain and a knee sprain. Second baseman Brendan Rodgers missed 11 games with a hamstring strain. Right-hander Justin Lawrence missed 20 games with a right shoulder strain.
And in ongoing ailments: Promising rookie outfielder Jordan Beck has missed 30 games with a fractured left hand. Catcher Elias Diaz has missed 15 games with a left calf strain. Right-hander Jake Bird has missed 28 total games, first for elbow inflammation and now for a groin strain. And rotational stalwarts German Marquez and Antonio Senzatela have yet to pitch this year in their return from Tommy John surgery, though Marquez is close to re-joining the club.
The Bright Spots
While there’s been no shortage of embarrassments on the field and off — hitting coach Hensley Meulens sparked controversy and an FAA investigation when he posted a video of himself in the cockpit of the Rockies’ charter flight in April — there have been a few bright spots.
Shortstop Ezequiel Tovar and third baseman Ryan McMahon are both playing like all-stars. Backup catcher Jacob Stallings has proven to be a solid free-agent signing. And Cal Quantrill, acquired in a trade with Cleveland in November, has been the consistent linchpin of an otherwise erratic rotation.
Heading into Friday, Tovar ranks among NL leaders in doubles (24, 2nd), hits (94, 3rd), multi-hit games (28, 3rd), extra-base hits (38, tied for 3rd) and total bases (158, tied for 4th) while being second among NL shortstops with a .986 fielding percentage.
McMahon, meanwhile, is among the NL’s best hot corner hitters by ranking second in average (.277) and OBP (.353), tied for second with 14 homers, and third in RBIs (42) and OPS (.829).
He’s also made the most starts in the majors at third with 78, and his walk-off grand slam in the home opener was one of the more memorable moments at Coors Field this year.
With Quantrill, his 3.2 bWAR ranks ninth in the majors and second among NL pitchers. He has 10 quality starts, third-most in the NL West, and his 3.50 ERA is the lowest by a Rockies starter through the first 16 starts of a season since Kyle Freeland’s historic 2018 season.
McMahon and Tovar are under contract through 2027 and 2031, respectively, and barring a trade for the former, both will be part of the Rockies’ attempt at a rebuild over the next few years.
To the Rockies faithful who can be that patient after watching last season, and the disastrous first half of this one, may your faith be rewarded. Because these first 81 games of 2024 have been nothing short of a baseball abomination.
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Originally Published: June 28, 2024 at 10:08 p.m.
