Rockies Join Baseball History with Hard-Luck Series Loss to Marlins

The Colorado Rockies can’t seem to get away from Major League benchmarks that involve losses these days.

Colorado Rockies right fielder Jordan Beck. | Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

How one looks at the Colorado Rockies being swept by the Miami Marlins all depends on perspective.

On the one hand, the Rockies (0-3) lost all three games but only lost each game by a run. So, Colorado was in each game and showed some guts staying in each game. On the other hand, the Rockies lost and after losing 119 games a year ago the franchise just needs to win a game.

Ok, so maybe there’s only one way to look at it. At least that’s how baseball history looks at it, per Patrick Lyons of Rockies Insider.

Rockies Make Baseball History

Colorado Rockies third baseman Kyle Karros. | Jim Rassol-Imagn Images

Per Lyons, the three losses by one run to the Marlins in the series, makes Colorado the ninth team in Major League history to lose each of its first three games and come out of that with a run differential of minus-3.

Lyons did a bit more digging and found two recent examples. One was the team that the Rockies nearly joined in baseball ignominy last season, the 2024 Chicago White Sox. Those White Sox lost 121 games to set the modern-day record for most losses in a season. He also found that the 2012 San Francisco Giants managed the same feat.

Those Giants won the World Series that season.

All three games were low scoring, which may bode well for how the Rockies perform down the line. The Marlins took the opener, 2-1, on Friday. The Rockies followed that up with a 4-3 loss on Saturday and then a 4-3 loss on Sunday. The last one hurt because Miami’s Owen Caissie walked it off to clinch the sweep for the Marlins, who won 79 games last year and finished four games out from the final National League wild card berth.

The only Colorado player that finished with an average of .300 or better in the series was catcher Hunter Goodman, who slashed .333/.333/.333 but didn’t have an extra-base hit or an RBI. The Rockies will need more production from him and other members of the lineup.

Things won’t get any easier for the Rockies, who are in Toronto on Monday to face the Blue Jays in a three-game series at Rogers Centre. The American League champions are coming off a sweep of their own, taking three games from the Athletics.

Colorado returns home for its opener at Coors Field on Friday when they face the Philadelphia Phillies, who won the NL East last season and dropped two out of three to the Texas Rangers this weekend. The Rockies follow that with a three-game set against the Houston Astros that starts next Monday.