The Rockies held a lead from the sixth inning against the Pirates on Friday, and with it, ended a streak that has plagued the team in its franchise-worst start.

They faced a deficit in every game before Friday’s at one point, and it drove them to a 7-24 record before an eighth win against the Pirates.

Here’s a look at the numbers the streak produced, and what it took for Colorado to break a 100-plus-year league record:

31

Colorado were behind at some point in each of its first 31 games to start the season.

The streak bested the 1910 St. Louis Browns (28 consecutive) for the modern-era record. It also surpassed the franchise’s previous record of 30, though that streak in 1998 didn’t begin at the season’s start.

“I’ll sleep a little better,” manager Bud Black joked after the Rockies broke the streak on Friday. “I haven’t been sleeping well, at all. It’s been awful.”

6

The streak not only saw the Rockies trail at some point in every game, but the club also fell behind first in all but six of the 31 games.

Colorado continued a 16-game streak into 2024 of trailing first. It also did so in the final six games of 2023. It was another franchise-record streak and the longest in the majors since the San Francisco Giants had the same streak in 1989.

1

During the team’s modern-era-record streak of deficits, the starting rotation suffered mightily.

Only one starting pitcher — Ryan Feltner against Toronto in a 12-4 win — earned a win in the team’s first 31 games. It’s the fewest in the majors in 2024, and the Rockies became the second team in league history to go 30-plus games into a season with only one win from starters.

The 2022 Pittsburgh Pirates got their second win in their 33rd game. The previous record for Colorado to get its second starting win was 13 games in 2005.

Rockies’ starters were tagged with a 1-17 record despite seven quality starts from the group — six or more innings with three or fewer earned runs allowed. 

18

The deficit streak often started early for the Rockies. In 18 of the 31 games, they allowed a run in the first inning.

Colorado trailed 39-15 in the first inning, which was the most first-frame runs allowed in the majors. In turn, all seven of the club’s wins in a franchise-worst start came in comeback fashion until Friday’s wire-to-wire win over the Pirates, 3-2.

Minus-75

The Rockies registered a minus-75 run differential during the 31-game stretch. They were outscored 192-117 in that span, which is second-worst in the majors to the White Sox.

The Marlins, who have the third-worst run differential, swept the Rockies in Miami earlier this week.

6

Colorado’s longest losing streak during the first 31 games was six. It also had respective streaks of four and five, and only the league-worst Chicago White Sox have been able to match their streaks.

The Rockies had an offensive outburst against the Blue Jays in a 12-4 win on April 12 before losing the next two games, being swept in a three-game set by Philadelphia on the road and outdone 7-0 by the Mariners when they returned home.

5

The Rockies have been through five walk-off results this year, and come out on top twice.

Miami’s two walk-off wins in a three-game sweep added to Philadelphia’s 10-inning walk-off effort on April 15. It came after the Rockies nearly scored with Kyle Freeland as a pinch runner in the ninth.

Ryan McMahon started the home schedule right for Colorado with a walk-off grand slam against the Rays in a 10-7 home opener, but they have come through late just one other time.

“We’re not getting the big hit,” Black said earlier this year. “We’ve had opportunities to expand the lead. We’ve had opportunities to break (games) open and haven’t. That’s baseball.”

24

Colorado’s offense has failed to convert its spring training focus into regular-season action, and the lineup has been in constant flux because of it. 

During the 31 games, the Rockies put out 24 different lineup combinations in search of a rhythm. Young players like Ezequiel Tovar and Brenton Doyle have moved to the top of the lineup as veterans like Charlie Blackmon and Brendan Rodgers have struggled. 

Colorado has three hitters that are above league average in park-adjusted-OPS (OPS+) in 2024. It carries the second-highest strikeout percentage (27.2%) and is on pace for the franchise’s worst hitting season by batting average (.241), on-base percentage (.304) and slugging (.368). 

4

Colorado has been shut out four times in 2024, which is the third-most in the majors. The New York Yankees (5) and White Sox (9) are the only two with more.

On top of being shut out four times, the Rockies have yet to shut an opponent out in 2024. Ryan Feltner nearly dealt a complete-game shutout against Miami before they blew their biggest lead of the season — five runs — and lost in 10 innings.

.500

Thanks in large part to their deficits, the Rockies enter Saturday’s game with a franchise-worst 8-24 start to 2024.

If they went .500 the rest of the season, Colorado would still only get to 73-89. The improbable finish to the year would fail to put the club into the playoffs but be only a tie for the second-longest playoff drought in franchise history. The Rockies went 11 consecutive seasons from 1996 to 2006 without making it, and a similar seven seasons 2010-2016.