If you peek at the MLB standings this morning, you will probably notice that five of the six divisions have a close race going on at the top; only the Tigers with a 6-game lead in the AL Central should feel slightly comfortable in their leadership. In the AL West, the top of the division involves three teams – – Astros, Mariners and Rangers – – within 4.5 games of one another. But here in Curmudgeon Central we don’t stop there; we like to look at the bottom rungs of divisions where we focus first on the Colorado Rockies who could still set a futility record in the 2025 MLB season. As of this morning, the Rockies project to a final record of 43-119 which is only 2 games better than last year’s woeful White Sox performance.
Earlier this week, the Rockies lost their 83rd game of the season meaning that in the first week of August with about 2 months left to go in the season, the Rockies had guaranteed a losing season for the franchise. They celebrated that “accomplishment” by losing a game by the score of 15-1.
Baseball is a funny game; even outstanding teams have off days and wind up getting clobbered. Many people consider the 1927 Yankees to be the greatest team of all time; that was the year that Babe Ruth hit 60 home runs and Lou Gehrig drove in 173 runs. In the 1927 season, the Yankees record was 110-44 with a run differential of +376; the Yankees outscored opponents by an average of 2.44 runs per game in that season. And yet …
- One day, the Washington Senators shut out the Yankees and won that game by a score of 13-0.
- Lopsided losses happen to all teams.
But back to the 2025 Rockies … They have had more than a couple of lopsided losses in addition to that 14-run deficit earlier this week: The Rockies have lost games by scores of 21-0 and 18-0 and 17-2 in addition to this week’s shellacking. The Rockies run differential – – with two months left to play – – stands at minus-316. In the modern era for MLB since 1900, the record for the worst run differential in a season stands at minus-349 (Boston Red Sox in 1932).
- Even if the Rockies fail to eclipse the White Sox performance from last year for the worst record ever, the Rockies are poised to take the 1932 Red Sox out of the MLB regular season record listings.
One might look at this wretched season for the Rockies and expect that their attendance has cratered like the team record – – but not so. So far in 2025, the Rockies rank 15th in home attendance; they draw 29,646 fans per game. How amazing is that?
- Ignore the attendance figures for the A’s and the Rays; they are playing in minor league parks where the Fire Marshall would not allow 15,000 fans to cram into the facilities.
- The Marlins average 13,039 fans per game – – and Miami’s metro area is a bigger market than Denver’s.
- The White Sox average 17,755 fans per game – – and Chicago is a bigger market than Denver.
- The Pirates average 19,065 fans per game – – but Denver is a bigger market than Pittsburgh.
- The Twins average 22,101 fans per game – – and Minneapolis/St. Paul is about 3 times the size of Denver.
- The Tigers – – division leaders no less – – average 28,864 fans per game – – and the two market cities are approximately the same size.
I don’t know what sort of marketing magic the Rockies have conjured up, but despite the despicable record by the Rockies, they draw more than the average attendance for all of MLB which is 29,200 fans per game. I doubt that it is because the Rockies are better at home than they are on the road this year; that is technically true – – and meaningless:
- Rockies at home are 16-42
- Rockies on the road are 14-42
As I continued to peruse the bottom rungs of MLB divisions, I noticed that the 2025 White Sox are a significant improvement over the 2024 squad. Here we are with two months left to play in the 2025 regular season and the White Sox have already won more games (42 of them to be exact) in 2025 than they did in all of 2024. No other team can make that statement.
Finally, today’s search for anything positive to say about teams that are stinking it up in MLB for 2025 reminds me of an old joke that distinguishes an optimist and a pessimist:
- Put an optimist boy and a pessimist boy in a closed room full of horse sh*t.
- The pessimist boy will just sit there and bemoan his fate.
- The optimist boy will dig furiously in the manure figuring that there must be a pony somewhere in there.
But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………
20 of 30 MLB teams are near or above .500.