A month before the Los Angeles Dodgers took back-to-back rings in the World Series in a hard-fought comeback win against the Toronto Blue Jays, the Colorado Rockies had just done the opposite. They had capped off one of the worst seasons in MLB history, losing 119 games, finishing a mind-boggling 50 games behind first place. Needless to say, 2025 was a tough year to be a Rockies fan.

But for one night, we felt on top of the world.

For a while, it looked like we really would be the worst in history. We just had to lose fewer than 121 games, a record set by the Chicago White Sox just a year prior. In the final week of regular season baseball, we scratched out the 42nd win on Sept. 19 over the Los Angeles Angels: the last one we needed.

I was lucky enough to buy a cheap Rockpile ticket for that game. It looked like a classic Rockies performance, as they fell behind 6-3. But a big seventh inning comeback and some innings of good relief pitching sealed the victory, 6-7.

Let me explain how bad the Rockies were this season, in a range of statistics. We had a run differential of -424. That’s the worst in the modern era by 80 runs, and the worst since the infamous Cleveland Spiders in 1899. On the mound, they had a comically poor team ERA of 5.97. They ranked last in hits allowed, earned runs allowed, home runs allowed, WHIP, SO/9, fielding percentage, shutouts, and saves. They led in one category: strikeouts. Trash pitching, sloppy defense, poor hitting, complete breakdown on both sides of the ball.

Regardless, Coors Field was electric that night. I saw a spark in the fanbase that I hadn’t seen much since the 2018 playoff run.

It’s a testament to the magic of baseball. 162 games a season opens a whole lot of possibilities for special moments. Even for the worst of teams, you get a walkoff win, a great pitcher’s duel, or a grand slam once in a while. In a season of grand, fundamental failures, it’s the small victories that count.

Rockies catcher Hunter Goodman won the Silver Slugger after an All-Star season. Last year, outfielder Brenton Doyle and shortstop Ezequiel Tovar took home Gold Gloves. They’re no Commissioner’s Trophies or pennants, but they are meaningful to a stagnant team.

That’s the perspective I’m taking into next season. Believe me, I don’t have high hopes. But maybe we can win 50 games instead of 40. Maybe our bullpen won’t be so catastrophic every night. Maybe our young players will show some promise.

There’s reason to have hope—on Nov. 6, the front office hired Paul DePodesta as our new head of baseball operations. The move was a switch-up from owner Dick Monfort’s history of hiring from inside the organization. The man himself was intriguing, too. DePodesta is most known for being part of the Oakland Athletics 2002 “Moneyball” operation, which used sabermetrics to draft undervalued young talent with cheaper contracts.

He has a history of harnessing innovation. If he can bring expertise from the Athletics and the other franchises he’s worked with since (including the Dodgers and the NFL’s Cleveland Browns), maybe we’ll find something. Yes, his last line of work was with football’s worst team, but we’re grasping at straws here. We’ve finished last in the NL West four years straight. We need a reset. A slap in the face. Wake up, Monfort. Something’s gotta change.

But until we find a generational talent, a brilliant manager or a more proactive front office, we’ll continue hunting those little wins. Hopefully, someday, we’ll have a shot for the big one.