Will Rockies lose 100 again? Computer projections say yes

You can’t spell “pain” without AI, and nobody hurts on the Rockies quite like the computers.

Dick Monfort’s annual preseason vow is as much a part of winter along the Front Range as the Western Stock Show and leaving your holiday lights up through late January. To the baseball guys in the Grading The Week offices, Monfort’s like Punxsutawney Phil, only for the MLB Draft Lottery. Whatever record the Rockies owner projects for the upcoming spring, peg his team to land below that by about 18 games.

2020: Monfort promised 94 wins. The Rockies did land those 94 victories — but not until September 15, 2021. Colorado won 26 during a pandemic-shortened ’20 campaign, then opened the next season with a 68-78 mark through its first 146 contests.

2023: Monfort said he thought his Rox could play “.500 ball.” Which they did — for exactly four games. On April 3 at the Dodgers, the Purple slipped to 2-3, then promptly dropped 14 of their next 18. Colorado went on to lose a franchise-record 103 games.

So the baseball wonks were more than a little disappointed to hear Monfort play it safe last month in Greeley, vowing only that your ’25 Rox will be young while boasting “the best defense, maybe in the history of the game.”

First, the ’69 Orioles (Brooks Robinson, Mark Belanger, Davey Johnson) would like a word. Followed by the ’01 Mariners (John Olerud, David Bell, Bret Boone). Oh, and the ’85 Cardinals (Ozzie Smith, Terry Pendleton).