Thomas Marion walked to Coors Field from his apartment in RiNo on Tuesday evening. He settled into his prime seats: section 127, row 12, just a pitch away from the Rockies’ dugout.
Tuesday’s game featured the lowly Miami Marlins against the historically bad Rockies. Storm clouds were building, and lightning was crackling. But Marion didn’t care. He was ready to watch his 75th game of the season.
“I just love baseball,” explained the 32-year-old transplant from Long Island, N.Y. “It’s a struggle, but I keep showing up. At the end of the day, you still see some great baseball, even if it’s by the other team.”
The lifelong Yankees fan transferred his loyalty to the Rockies when he moved to Denver eight years ago. He’s a season-ticket holder, but he’s having second thoughts after watching the Rockies bumble their way to their third straight 100-loss season.
“It’s frustrating, it really is,” said Marion, who wore a Brenton Doyle Rockies jersey to the game. “And it’s tough to justify renewing my season tickets again. I’m still on the fence about it.”
“On the fence” should make Rockies owner Dick Monfort nervous, because cracks are appearing in his team’s bulletproof attendance record. The club is averaging 29,386 fans per game, still remarkable for a team on pace to lose 117 games. But this will mark the first time since 2007 that Colorado will average fewer than 30,000 fans per game. In 2018, the last time the Rockies had a winning team and made the playoffs, they averaged 37,233 per game.
“It’s a team in complete disarray,” said Bill Brown, who sat one row ahead of Marion. “The team is in trouble.”
Brown, 68, lives in Littleton. He came to Colorado 45 years ago. He buys his tickets from friends who are longtime season-ticket holders. Brown and his wife, Judy, have gone to six games this year.
“We used to go to 12 or 15,” Brown said. “It’s hard to find games that my wife will come to when the Rockies have maybe a 40% chance of winning. This is pretty much rock bottom. We brought our son to a game earlier this year, and it looked like all of the Rockies on the field were making the league minimum.”
Judy chimed in, “It’s pretty sad. I would like us to be competitive again; give us at least a 50-50 chance of winning. They just don’t invest enough in this team.”
A pair of fans sit in a section of Coors Field in the seventh inning of a baseball game between the Colorado Rockies and the Miami Marlins Thursday, Sept. 18, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
On Tuesday night, in front of an announced crowd of 22,764, the Rockies lost, 6-5. The game was interrupted by a 1-hour, 1-minute rain delay. By the time the game ended, soggy and cold Coors was practically a ghost town.
Afterward, veteran starting pitcher Kyle Freeland, who did not pitch well, was asked what his message is for disgruntled fans. Freeland, a Denver native and graduate of Thomas Jefferson High School, didn’t hold back.
“I’m from Denver, so I hate this,” he said. “It’s hard to send a positive message out to fans right now. Three straight 100-loss seasons, sniffing an MLB record this year (for the most losses). Not a lot has gone correctly for us, and what has gone right has been mostly in the second half.
“We have been playing much better baseball lately, but the consistency is still not there. I really don’t know what to say to the fans right now. This is a very rough time for Colorado Rockies baseball. We’re not out here trying to lose. We want to win games, we want to be in the playoff hunt, we want to be in a division hunt, but we’re not. You can’t snap your fingers and make it happen.”
Interim manager Warren Schaeffer, who wants a chance to turn things around next season, is trying to send a positive message to the fans who have witnessed seven consecutive losing seasons.
“First of all, thank you so much for sticking with us through this tough time; this elongated tough time,” he said. “I hope they have seen progress over the year. I really do. There is a core group of young players being formed on a daily basis. Hopefully, they can see that.”
Schaeffer’s right, fans have stuck with the team. Sort of.
A three-game series with the Yankees in May drew 128,776 fans, an average of 42,925 per game. Of course, Derek Jeter, Aaron Judge and Mickey Mantle jerseys were ubiquitous.
Shohei Ohtani (17) of the Los Angeles Dodgers bats in front of the Dodger faithful during the first inning against Kyle Freeland (21) of the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field in Denver on Monday, Aug. 18, 2025. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)
Though the Rockies entered the weekend with an ugly 23-55 record at Coors, the worst team in baseball ranked 17th out of 30 in attendance. That’s pretty amazing when you consider that the Detroit Tigers, leaders of the American League Central with an 85-68 record, have averaged 29,587 fans, only slightly more than the Rockies.
Then there is this: the 2024 Chicago White Sox, who lost a modern-era record 121 games, averaged only 17,046 fans last season, 27th in the majors.
Part of the Rockies’ allure lies not in the team but in the ballpark itself.
“You can’t beat this,” said 21-year-old Jessica Raymond as she stood, sipping a cocktail on the Rooftop high above right field on Thursday afternoon.
Raymond was joined in the area commonly known as the “Party Deck” by several friends. The temperature was 73 degrees. To the west, there was a coat of fresh snow on the mountain peaks. Below, the Rockies were losing, 9-7 to the Marlins.
“Baseball’s fine, but I come here mostly to hang out,” she said. “I think this is my fifth or sixth game this year. I can’t remember if the Rockies won or lost.”
In section 106, above the manual scoreboard in right field, 27-year-old Sherman Atkins was paying much closer attention. He wore a No. 17 jersey in honor of Rockies Hall of Fame first baseman Todd Helton.
“I’m a hardcore fan, for sure,” he said. “I first came when I was in diapers. My dad (Sherman Atkinson Sr.) and my uncle (Randy Atkinson) have been bringing me to games for years. We have two season tickets that we split between the family.”
Colorado Rockies pitcher Kyle Freeland (21) reacts after giving up a two-run triple to Toronto Blue Jays right fielder Nathan Lukes (39) in the 5th inning at Coors Field in Denver, on Wednesday, Aug. 06, 2025. (Photo by Andy Cross/The Denver Post)
The Atkinsons have owned their season tickets for only two years, and although Sherman loves attending games, he’s unsure if his family will renew.
“It’s definitely been a conversation,” he said. “Because it’s definitely not been the year I wanted them to have. You get tired of hearing about how bad they are in the media. You turn on MLB Network, and you hear that they lost again, and all of this other stuff. It’s just hard to keep coming back and stay loyal.”
Atkinson said his family invested in season tickets because they thought the Rockies were going to turn things around. He said he’s attended about 65 games this season.
“We have always been big Rockies fans, but we wanted to really commit now because we thought that the young talent would really come through,” he said. “But it really bothers me that we haven’t seen as much of that breakthrough as I’d like to.
“They need to make big changes in the front office, the coaching staff, and analytics. Those are the three bullet points, for me, that they have to address.”
Atkinson likes outfielders Jordan Beck and Doyle, All-Star catcher Hunter Goodman, and he is impressed by the promise of rookie starter Chase Dollander. He also thinks rookie second baseman Ryan Ritter has a chance to be a solid player. Still, he’s skeptical.
Goodman is not, believing the Rockies will turn the corner as soon as next season.
“Look at me as an example,” the catcher said. “I mean, last year I struggled a lot. I didn’t play a lot, and I didn’t play great baseball, but being in there every day and getting experience has allowed things to go better for me.
“You can see that from a lot of guys. Beck is another example. He struggled last year, but he’s shown much better this year and has made a lot of improvements. A lot of these young guys haven’t been great this year, but I think, going forward, that big-league experience will help them. It will be a brighter future with some of the prospects coming up.”
It remains to be seen if the Rockies will make significant changes in the front office or if the team can pull out of its skid of seven straight losing seasons — the longest stretch of failure in franchise history.
Schaeffer hopes that frustrated fans stay patient for a little bit longer.
“For me, the future is bright here,” he said. “Some people may not be able to see that at the moment because we are in such a deep ditch. But I know that the future is bright.”
Rockies’ 10 lowest attendance seasons at Coors Field
For the first time since 2007, the Rockies will average fewer than 30,000 fans per game at Coors Field this season. Three of the 10 lowest attendance seasons in franchise history have occurred in the last four years.
Season
Record
Attendance
2005
67-95
23,634
2006
76-86
25,980
2003
74-88
28,816
2004
68-94
28,865
2007
90-73
28,979
2025#
41-112
29,386
2015
68-94
30,948
2024
61-101
31,360
2022
68-94
32,067
2016
75-87
32,103
# Through 78 home games on Sept. 18 | Note: COVID-interrupted 2020 and 2021 seasons not included | Source: Baseball Reference
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