Incredible stat shows just how bad the Rockies start has been
Apr 22, 2024, 4:28 PM | Updated: 4:30 pm
Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images
The Colorado Rockies are off to the worst start in the National League, winning just five of their first 22 games in 2024.
While there are many issues from the team from the rotation to the lineup to the bullpen to even way up on high to questionable ownership—there’s one stat that highlights just how rough things are early this season at Coors Field.
The Rockies have trailed at some point in all 22 games they’ve played this year, which is the longest streak to start a season since the 1931 Cincinnati Reds.
That Reds team was 12 years removed from winning the World Series in an eighth game against the Chicago Whtie Sox, who famously threw the Fall Classic. The Reds would get back to the World Series in 1939 but got swept by the New York Yankees. But they were back in 1940, winning in Game 7 against the Detroit Tigers. All of this is to say the Reds were so bad in the 1930s that they went 11 seasons from 1927-1937 playing under .500 baseball. Also, that was a very long time ago.
The 2024 season will be the Rockies sixth-straight year accumulating more losses than wins. Coming off the club’s first triple-digit-loss season and likely headed for worse in 2024, there’s little hope of things turning around any time soon. Coming into Monday, Fangraphs projects the Rockies to repeat their same record from last year at 60-102.
Ryan McMahon has been the best player thus far, slashing .325/.406/.458 while Ezequiel Tovar is off to a nice start… and that’s about it. Team star Kris Bryant was awful and is now on the Injured List, the same story is true of hometown ace Kyle Freeland. With the lefty lost and German Marquez and Antonio Senzatela already on the shelf, the Rockies are in a really rough spot with their pitching staff. The Rockies 5.88 ERA as a team is the worst in baseball, but their bullpen has been a tiny bit better than their rotation to this point. Less good is the offense as a whole, they have a third-worst in baseball 75 wRC+—which means their offense is about 25% below the normal offense’s production
The Rockies actually got a rare win on Sunday, but then ended the day with a loss—splitting a doubleheader. Colorado travels to Mexico later this week for matchups with the Astros which will give them the rare chance to lose in three separate countries this month since they already dropped games in Toronto.
