Anyone getting off the elevator outside the Colorado Rockies’ clubhouse in the bowels of Coors Field is greeted by the logo from the 2007 World Series, the only one the Rockies have played in.
Around the corner, near the entrance to the visitor’s clubhouse, the walls are covered with drawings of Dante Bichette, Todd Helton, Larry Walker, Andrés Galarraga and other former Rockie greats. The youngest of those players is 52 and has hasn’t played for a dozen seasons, giving the whole tableau the feel of a tattered and worn museum exhibition.
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Colorado has made the playoffs just twice in the last 15 seasons, winning no postseason games over that span. The Rockies last won a playoff game in 2009.
This year the team has the worst record in the majors, have already lost 101 games for a third straight season and their run differential of minus-364 heading into the weekend is the worst for any team in at least 125 years. The team’s fWAR, or FanGraphs wins above replacement, is a big-league low 2.0.
In other words, it’s a mess.
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Yet the Rockies, who were eliminated from playoff contention long ago, just may factor in who wins the National League West. Because after they finish a three-game series with the second-place Padres this weekend in Denver, they come to Dodger Stadium for three games with the first-place Dodgers beginning Monday. After that, they head to San Diego for four more with the Padres.
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But as the Rockies prepare for those showdowns, they are focused on neither a glorious past nor a dismal present. The team is concentrating instead on what it insists will be a bright future, one that will arrive sooner rather than later.
“We can win,” said Warren Schaeffer, the team’s interim manager. “We can absolutely win here. And we’re going to win here. It’s just a matter of time.
“But why not get the ball moving right now in the right direction?”
The big question is how to get that ball rolling. The team has finished with a winning record just twice since 2010 and last three seasons have been the three worst in franchise history.
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Digging out of that deep hole, said veteran infielder Kyle Farmer, will first require changing the culture and expectations around the team by refusing to accept losing. That may already be happening: The Rockies’ 11 wins in August were a modest total but it was the most in a month for them this season. Building on that momentum gives the team something to play for in the final month of an otherwise lost season.
“We’re starting to create an identity with the team,” Farmer said. “The last part of the year is really important as long as we can keep winning games.”
Colorado Rockies interim manager Warren Schaeffer stepped in after Bud Black was fired following a 7-33 start to this season. (David Zalubowski / Associated Press)
How fast the Rockies rebuild will depend in part on the depth of their farm system and how they use it. That’s not exactly encouraging news since Colorado’s collection of prospects ranks in the bottom seven in baseball in multiple surveys.
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And that rating has slipped precipitously since the start of the season.
That’s a problem for a team that has spent more than $146 million on its opening-day payroll just once. The Dodgers agreed to pay Shohei Ohtani alone $70 million a season, although much of that money is deferred. To compete, the Rockies are going to have to strengthen their farm system and loosen their wallet.
“You constantly look at how you’re going to carve the path forward,” said Chris Forbes, the team’s director of player development. “Right now is a great time to evaluate what we have that’s ready, or maybe closer to ready, in the farm system and who you want to go forward with as you try to clear your path for 2026.
“I think that’s the space that we’re in right now. You truly have to find out who you want to go forward with.”
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For a small-market team like Colorado, the margin for error is small since its can’t afford to buy its way out of a mistake. For that reason Forbes said he takes character and makeup into account in both signing and promoting players.
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“You try to kind of grow that way. And some guys are going to get it and rise to the top. And some guys are going to fall on the wayside and kind of point fingers,” Forbes said.
As for the second part of that equation, the spending part, that will be determined by general manager Bill Schmidt, a former coach at Anaheim’s Magnolia High who has never seen his team finish higher than last in the National League West as full-time GM. Schmidt declined multiple requests to be interviewed for this story.
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Yet despite the losing, the Rockies are drawing more 30,000 fans a game at Coors Field, 15th in the majors and better than the playoff-bound Detroit Tigers.
“A lot of time they are cheering for the other team,” Schaeffer said of the fans. “But they are here.”
The nucleus of young, talented players the team has to build around could soon have those fans rooting for the home team.
Catcher Hunter Goodman, 25, has made great strides in his first full big-league season and led the team with 27 homers and 83 RBIs while slashing .280/.326/.526 heading into the Padres’ series. Shortstop Ezequiel Tovar, 24, is an exciting player who won a Gold Glove and led the league in doubles last season and Kyle Karros, the son of former Dodger star Eric Karros, has played well since his promotion from the minors last month.
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Karros, 23, is one of 17 players on the Rockies’ roster who has yet to turn 26 and one of 17 who spent at least part of the season in the minors. How fast those young, inexperienced players develop will determine how fast Colorado becomes competitive.
Colorado Rockies catcher Hunter Goodman leads the team with 27 homers and 83 RBIs in his first big league season. (David Zalubowski / Associated Press)
Schaeffer, 40, also figures to have a big say in how long that turnaround takes. A baseball lifer, Schaeffer has spent the professional portion of that life with the Rockies, who took him in the 38th round of the MLB draft — a round which no longer exists — the same year Colorado made its lone trip to the World Series, where it was swept by the Boston Red Sox. An infielder, Schaeffer hit .214 over six minor league seasons before retiring as a player to become a minor league manager in the Rockies system.
He joined the big-league team as the third base and infield coach in 2023, then was asked to finish the rest of 2025 as manager after Bud Black was fired after winning just seven of the first 40 games this season.
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Schaeffer, who has the mien of Marine drill instructor, is animated and intense. But he can also be as calm and understanding as a high school counselor, making him a good fit for one of the youngest rosters in the major leagues. And while he’s popular in the clubhouse, he’ll likely remain an interim manager until a decision is made on a full-time replacement for Black this fall.
“He’s done a great job changing the culture around here,” said Farmer, a former Dodger who played for two other teams before signing a one-year deal the Rockies last fall. “You know it starts at the top and Shake has done an incredible job.
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“I think guys are going to look forward to seeing him next spring starting [with] a clean slate and building a culture from the get-go.”
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In the meantime, Schaeffer said the rest of this season will be as much about learning as it will be about winning.
“You can either look at it as we’re trying to not do something like not have the worst record — and you make bad decisions when you think like that,” he said. “[Or] you can also think these games provide an unbelievable opportunity for the players to earn a position for next year and the future when we become a winning team.”
The walls outside the Rockies clubhouse testify to the fact the team has won before. The challenge now is to make it happen again.
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
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