Rockies are worst team in MLB history through 42 games, and it can get worse

With a loss on Tuesday night, the Rockies’ record now stands at 7-35. Reaching that 35th defeat after 42 games puts the Rockies in historic territory, as they’re the fastest-ever to 35 losses in a season. The previous quickest to get there was the 1904 Washington Senators, who lost their 35th 45 games in, after they had already won their eighth contest of an excruciatingly long season.

If the Rockies don’t turn things around in a hurry, you’re going to be hearing a lot about the 1904 Senators for the next couple of months. That’s because the Senators, with a brief interruption, are one of the standard-bearers for "worst record through X" games, starting with the 43rd of the season up to the 91st, at which point a different team well over a century old becomes the stick against which awfulness is measured. The Rockies’ season is going so poorly that the previous statement might not even be true anymore by the time you read this, since the ‘04 Senators were 8-33-2 through 43 games — yes, their catastrophe of a season happened so long ago that ties were still a thing at that point. The Rockies are two losses ahead of that pace even before we find out if Wednesday’s game will result in yet another L or a rare Colorado win.

Which means that the Rockies, regardless of Wednesday night’s outcome, are already the holders of the worst record through 43 games, despite not even playing 43 yet. And if they fail to win no. 43, they’ll also have locked down the worst record through 44 before they even get to that game on the schedule.

Now, all is not lost for Colorado. Before the 1904 Senators come up again and again as the worst team through X games, it’s the 1988 Baltimore Orioles who are repeatedly referenced in the same space. In