Who’s worse, the Colorado Rockies or the Chicago White Sox?
The standings say the Rockies have a bit stronger claim to that honor. They begin play in May with a 5-25 record, two games worse than Chicago’s 7-23 standing.
Of course, extenuating circumstances have to be taken into consideration. The teams have played different schedules, and the South Siders have recent history on their side, having lost 121 games just last season.
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The two teams will get a chance to settle the question on what passes for the field of battle when the Sox arrive in Denver for a three-game series during July 4 weekend… not that anybody will be paying attention to either team by then.
MLB occasionally produces a very bad team, such as the 2024 White Sox. But it’s rare when two such teams develop to simultaneously stink up the joint.
In fact, not in two decades have a pair of teams hit May 1 with a worse combined winning percentage than the Sox-Rockies’ .200. To find such a disagreeable circumstance you have to travel back to 2003 when the Detroit Tigers finished play in April at 3-21 and the then-Cleveland Indians stood 7-20. That’s a combined 10-41 record, good for a paltry .196 winning percentage.
Back in 1995, the Reds and Marlins were a combined 1-9 (.100), but that stat is mitigated by the fact that the teams had only played a combined 10 games due to the season’s late start, a byproduct of the end of the 1994 strike. And in 1988, the Orioles and Braves opened 4-38, a .095 winning percentage.
That’s how rare it is to be as bad as the Rockies and White Sox have collectively been in 2025.
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But back to our original question: Which team is worse?
The Rockies have the worse offense, averaging just 3.2 runs per game. That’s an unforgivable number given that they play in Coors Field, the game’s best hitter’s park. To date, the Rockies have played 15 games at Coors, and they are 4-11 while averaging 4.27 runs per game.
That doesn’t sound bad until you consider that in their four home-field wins, the Rockies have averaged six runs per game. In their 11 losses, they’ve averaged just 3.7 runs, and that includes a 12-11 home loss to Washington on April 19.
Chicago’s offense is better, but not by much. The White Sox are averaging 3.37 runs per game.
Chiago’s .614 team OPS is baseball’s worst, although Colorado’s .631 is giving it a good run for that distinction. The White Sox are averaging eight-tenths of a home run per game, the Rockies close to nine-tenths. Do not be impressed; the Major League average is nearly 1.1 HR per game.
You can annually count on the Rockies to bring up the rear in most pitching categories, and they’re giving it another go in 2025. Colorado has allowed 5.77 runs per game through April 30, ranking 29th ahead of only the Marlins (6.20). The White Sox are actually passable in this category, allowing 4.43 runs per game. That’s hanging around the 4.34 league average.
At 5.30, Colorado is 28th in ERA, ahead of just the Marlins and Orioles. Again, the White Sox are at least decent with a 4.19 ERA, which is worse – but not a lot worse – than the 4.03 MLB average.
So far, that makes a pretty strong case that the Rockies have supplanted the White Sox as baseball’s worst team. But there are other factors to be considered, the two obvious ones being schedule and luck.
The White Sox have, to date, played seven different teams across their 30 games, and those seven collectively are ranked 16th by Call To The Pen's Power Index. Based on games played versus each opponent, the average Power Index of a White Sox opponent is 16.60
The Rockies play in the tough NL West, which should mean they have the tougher schedule. To date, they have played 10 different teams, with three games each against the Dodgers and Padres but none yet against either the Diamondbacks or Giants.
Still, the average Power Index of a Rockies opponent is 14.2, indicating that Colorado has indeed played a tougher schedule than Chicago.
What about luck? Chicago’s Pythagorean record, the projected record based on runs scored and allowed, is 11-19, four games better than their actual record. Colorado’s Pythagorean record is 8-22, three games better than its actual record but three games worse than the White Sox.
You can also look at the position-by-position breakdown, but the conclusion doesn’t change. Based on Positional Wins Above Average, the White Sox's talents are superior to Colorado at nine positions: the starting rotation, catcher, second base, third base, all three outfield spots, designated hitter, and the bench.
The Rockies only have the edge in the bullpen, at first base and at shortstop.
Conclusion: So far in 2025, the Rockies have supplanted the White Sox as MLB’s worst team. It’s not much of an honor, but it's the continuation of a downward trend for Colorado's baseball team.