With 48 games left in the regular season, the Colorado Rockies know what they must do to avoid infamy.

After a 15-1 beatdown by the Toronto Blue Jays on Monday at Coors Field, the Rockies were assured of a losing record, falling to 30-82 on the season. Two more lopsided losses after that had Colorado heading to Arizona for a weekend series, hoping to find the answers to its pitching woes away from Coors Field.

The Rockies open the series at 7:40 p.m. Friday.

Rockies fans were virtually guaranteed of a sub-.500 finish and third consecutive 100-loss season when Colorado’s record stood at 9-49 at the end of May. While neither prospect is good, the bigger question was just how many games the Rockies would lose in 2025.

The Chicago White Sox lost 121 games in 2024 to set a new mark for futility in MLB’s modern era. Now the Rockies must win 12 of their final 48 games to avoid taking Chicago’s place in the record books.

At 30-84 heading into Friday, Colorado’s winning percentage stands at .263. For the Rockies to go at least 12-36 the rest of the way, the team would have to play at a .250 winning percentage. That’s cutting things a little close with a slice of history with which no team wants to be associated.

Still, inside the Rockies clubhouse and front office, there is a belief that the Colorado team humbled by Toronto and outscored 45-6 over three games is better than the one that stumbled through the first two full months of the season.

“I think Schaeff’s done a good job,” Rockies general manager Bill Schmidt said about interim manager Warren Schaffer, who took over the team on May 11. “I’d say really since the first of June, over the last few months, we’ve been way more competitive.”

On the whole? Perhaps. Against a World Series contender in the Blue Jays? Not so much.

To avoid the record, the Rockies must be competitive against a schedule that can be viewed as anything but favorable, with Colorado’s remaining strength of schedule ranking as the second-toughest among MLB’s 30 teams.

Colorado may have to strike in August to give itself some cushion in September, a stretch that features a daunting seven-game road trip that includes stops in Los Angeles and San Diego. Both teams will likely be fighting for the top of the National League West when Colorado pays a visit.

This month, the Rockies head to Pittsburgh for three games and have seven (three on the road and four at home) against Arizona, a team that jettisoned two of its main offensive threats at the trade deadline as the Diamondbacks suffer through a disappointing season. Those 10 games against Arizona and Pittsburgh could play a huge factor in just how much pressure Colorado will face in September to avoid the dubious record.

For Colorado to win, an answer must be found for what has become a very shaky pitching staff. Heading into Friday, Colorado pitchers have a 10.89 ERA over their last 11 games with 29 home runs given up over that span.

It has been part of a year-long problem as Colorado’s rotation has a combined 6.46 ERA in 2025, on pace to be the highest number of any Rockies rotation in history. No other MLB team currently has an ERA higher than 5.

“Starters didn’t do a good job of setting tones and relievers didn’t do a good job of coming in and holding things down to give us opportunities,” Kyle Freeland said of the just-completed homestand after his start on Wednesday, an outing where he gave up six runs on seven hits in 4.2 innings. “That’s on every single one of the pitchers in this clubhouse.”

That 6.46 ERA has also signaled regression in the rotation as last year’s starters have posted a combined 5.47 ERA, the seventh-highest mark in franchise history. Some of that regression has come from Colorado’s young starters who have been forced into action with injuries to Ryan Feltner, German Marquez and Antonio Senzatela.

“We need the guy who steps on the mound every night to be that guy. That’s pretty much it,” Schaeffer said of how the Rockies’ starters can turn the season around. “These guys, every night, need to toe the rubber and give us a chance to win.”

Can Colorado do that in Arizona and beyond? That is just one riddle that the Rockies must solve if they’re going to avoid supplanting the White Sox as the most hapless MLB team in modern history.