"If you’re not adapting, you get left behind,” Nolan Arenado, DJ LeMahieu shares insight on former team Rockies’ 2025 struggles

The Colorado Rockies are imploding this season and are on pace to eclipse the Chicago White Sox's abysmal 121-loss season from last year. While the Rockies continue to be the worst team in baseball this year, several former Colorado players shared their insights on the things going wrong for the franchise.

One of the former players stupified by the Rockies slump this season is perennial All-Star infielder Nolan Arenado. The ten-time Gold Glove winner who started his career with the Rockies in 2013 and spent eight seasons with the franchise, shared his insight in an exclusive interview with the Athletic:

“The only way you get out of this, in my opinion, is you have to really start over. Trade guys that have value and deal with the restart. But I don’t know if that’s what (owner Dick) Monfort wants to do. That’s not really what they like to do. But at the end of the day, if you’re not adapting, you get left behind."

The Rockies are on pace to finish 30-132 despite firing manager Bud Black in May after a 7-33 start to the season. Although Colorado headed into 2025 on the back of six consecutive losing seasons, the spiral has taken aback many, including DJ LeMahieu, who made two All-Star games with the Rockies before signing with the New York Yankees in 2019.

The veteran infielder pointed out the contrast in joining the Yankees after seven seasons with the Rockies.

"I think they’re a little behind, for sure,” LeMahieu said.“That doesn’t necessarily translate to wins and losses. It’s not like I’m going to point to that and say that’s the reason. But I think (joining the Yankees), it was like, ‘Wow, they’re really, really on top of things here.’ That was, like, one of the biggest surprises.”

Nolan Arenado feels sorry for Rockies battling in tough division

Colorado Rockies made the postseason in 2017 and 2018 but has failed to contend in any season since then. Arenado, who was part of the team in consecutive postseason appearances, felt the ultra-competitive National League West was not doing the team any favors.

“They have a lot of good teams over there, a lot of good teams that spend,” Arenado said. “I know this is Major League Baseball and nobody really feels bad, but I do have a soft spot for people there because I know them."

The Rockies slumped to 12-54 for the season after a 6-5 loss to division rivals the San Francisco Giants in the series opener on Tuesday. Colorado's series sweep against the Miami Marlins remains its only series win this season.

About the author

Chaitanya Prakash is an editor who covers US Sports at Sportskeeda. His first brush with sportswriting was in 2012 when the greatest football manager of all time, Sir Alex Ferguson, bid farewell to the beautiful game.

Although having started out professionally as a cricket writer in 2022, Chaitanya's curiosity and indiscriminate interest in all sports in general eventually introduced him to America's favorite pastime.

While Chaitanya's favorite player from the current crop is the dynamic Venezuelan Ronald Acuna Jr., his all-time favorite, however, is Pedro Martinez, for his self-belief and consistency. He also rates Jose Bautista's iconic bat flip in 2015 as his favorite moment in baseball history.

Chaitanya specializes in reporting on technical aspects of the game or analyzing patterns behind specific plays. He also likes pondering over players' self-assessments following the conclusion of a game as it helps him get an idea of how they think about the sport in general.

When not cheering for his favorites across sports, Chaitanya likes being transported to the past through a good war documentary or a historical documentary in general.

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Edited by Chaitanya Prakash