There are firings in baseball that feel like natural conclusions, and then there are those that ache with the weight of inevitability. On Sunday, the Colorado Rockies relieved Bud Black of his managerial duties—ending an eight-season tenure that began with promise and ends with a team unraveling. For a man long respected in clubhouses and press boxes alike, Black’s exit is less an indictment of his leadership than it is a sobering reflection of a franchise in search of direction amid historic levels of ineptitude.

As fans filtered into Coors Field on Mother’s Day, they were unaware they were witnessing the end of an era. Hours after a rare bright spot—a 9–3 win over the Padres—the front office delivered its verdict. Black was out. Bench coach Mike Redmond followed him. In their place, the Rockies turned to third-base coach Warren Schaeffer as interim skipper and brought back Clint Hurdle, the man who once led them to their only World Series, to assist as interim bench coach. It was a symbolic move, aimed at conjuring echoes of better days long since faded.

The Rockies’ current plight is no sudden collapse. After losing 103 games in 2023 and 101 more in 2024, the team’s 7–33 start to 2025 borders on the catastrophic. They are on pace to shatter the modern record for losses in a season. Saturday’s 21–0 loss—an avalanche of ineptitude—may have been the final straw, but it was far from the only one. Black, ever the steady hand, kept the ship afloat longer than most could have, but the tide had turned too strong.

Even those outside the organization acknowledged the scope of the Rockies' dysfunction. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, who served under Black in San Diego, offered a poignant rebuke: “I don’t think Casey Stengel could change the outcome of that ballclub.” And therein lies the heart of the matter—this wasn’t about Black’s shortcomings; it was about a roster, and perhaps an organizational philosophy, that had lost its bearings. When a respected voice like Roberts openly questions the structure itself, the conversation must shift from dugout decisions to front-office vision.

Black departs with a 544–690 record in Colorado, but numbers alone don’t tell the story. He managed the Rockies to back-to-back postseason appearances in 2017 and 2018—no small feat in Denver. He guided young pitchers through the unique challenges of altitude and expectation, and he did so with a calm, steady resolve. His dismissal marks not just the end of a managerial tenure, but the closing of a chapter in Rockies history where hope—however fleeting—was possible.

​​Now, the focus turns to Schaeffer and the future. Can he reconnect a fractured team to a passionate fanbase? Can he develop young talent without the scars of past seasons? These questions won’t be answered overnight. But if the Rockies truly seek to turn the page, they must start by writing a new story—one built not just on change, but on a clearer, bolder vision. And if they fail to do that, no manager, not even Stengel himself, could steer them clear of the storm.