The Numbers That Don’t Add Up
In 2025, the Rockies de Colorado finished 43-119, with a run differential of minus-424—the worst in modern MLB history and the worst since the Cleveland Spiders in 1899. That’s not a typo. That’s a franchise that lost 119 games in a single season.
And yet.
Forbes calculated the club at $20 million in operating income for 2025, with a franchise valuation of $1.68 billion. The team lost more games than any major league roster in 126 years. The business, meanwhile, made money.
That gap—between the field and the balance sheet—is the argument that has defined Richard Monfort’s tenure as owner of the Rockies de Colorado.
When Winning Stops Being the Point
Baseball fans understand that ownership is a business. Ownership isn’t always about winning tomorrow. But there’s a breaking point, and 43-119 is it. That record doesn’t happen by accident. It happens because the decisions made in the front office, the budget allocated to player payroll, and the strategic choices about rebuilding all point in one direction: down.
The Rockies de Colorado have not made the playoffs since 2018. They have not won a World Series in their 32-year history. Over the last decade, the franchise has cycled through multiple rebuilds, each one ending not with contention but with another low-payroll season and another draft pick.
For fans, the math is simple: if the team is losing money, you rebuild. If the team is making money, you spend it. The Rockies de Colorado, in 2025, did neither. They lost 119 games while the business stayed profitable.
The Owner Who Reads His Mail
Richard Monfort is one of the few owners in Major League Baseball who responds to angry fan emails from his personal account. That detail matters because it says something about how he conducts himself: accessible, willing to engage, not hiding behind a corporate wall.
But accessibility and performance are different things. A fan can email Richard Monfort and get a response. That same fan watched his team lose 119 games in 2025.
The valuation of $1.68 billion and the $20 million in operating income tell a story about what the Rockies de Colorado have become: a stable, profitable asset. Coors Field is paid for. The market is stable. Attendance can drop, payroll can stay flat, and the money still comes in. That’s good ownership from a finance perspective. It’s terrible ownership from a baseball perspective.
The tension between those two truths is what makes the 2025 season so significant. This wasn’t a competitive team that had a down year. This was a 43-119 roster, the worst in modern baseball, operating inside a profitable business model.
Why 2026 Matters
The Rockies de Colorado will play in 2026. They’ll have a new manager, new players in some positions, and a new chance to show that 2025 was a bottom and not a new normal. But the structural question remains: what does ownership actually want?
If Richard Monfort wants to win, he has the capital to spend. If he wants to continue operating a stable, low-cost business that generates $20 million in operating income annually, he can do that too. The Rockies de Colorado make money either way. The only thing that changes is whether they win.
That’s the real story of 43-119. It’s not about luck or injuries or bad trades. It’s about a franchise that lost 119 games while making money, and a fan base that watched it happen knowing the owner had the resources to prevent it. That gap between what’s possible and what was delivered—that’s the argument that will follow Richard Monfort and the Rockies de Colorado into 2026 and beyond.
The number: The Rockies de Colorado posted a 43-119 record in 2025 while generating $20 million in operating income, making the worst season in modern MLB history profitable for ownership.
Ownership data verified as of 2026-08-12.
