The San Diego Padres delivered a historic 21-0 rout over the Colorado Rockies on Saturday night at Coors Field, marking the largest margin of victory in franchise history. The Padres' offense erupted for 24 hits, tying a team record, and launched five home runs during the game. Gavin Sheets initiated the scoring with a two-run homer in the first inning, followed by long balls from Fernando Tatis Jr., Xander Bogaerts, Jake Cronenworth, and Jason Heyward. Jackson Merrill led the team with four hits, while Luis Arraez and Elias Díaz each contributed three hits. On the mound, rookie Stephen Kolek pitched a complete-game shutout, allowing only five hits and striking out seven batters in his second major league start. The Rockies' struggles continued, as they suffered their eighth consecutive loss and fell to a 6-33 record, tying the 1988 Baltimore Orioles for the worst 39-game start in National League history.

There was a time when the word "rebuild" in Major League Baseball signaled a painful but purposeful path — a bridge from mediocrity to contention. But today, that bridge feels more like a drawbridge left up, with fans on one side and ambition on the other. Thursday’s headlines served as yet another reminder: too many teams in this sport aren't just struggling — they're not even trying. And that, for all the romance and rhythm of baseball, is a tragedy that plays out nightly across far too many ballparks.

Take Pittsburgh, for instance, a proud baseball town with echoes of Clemente and Stargell still hanging in the Allegheny air. The Pirates fired manager Derek Shelton this week after a dismal 12-26 start — but let's not kid ourselves. Shelton wasn’t handed the keys to a Cadillac; he was expected to win with a jalopy. Outside of Paul Skenes’ promise, Oneil Cruz’s flair, and Bryan Reynolds’ quiet consistency, this is a roster built more on hope than horsepower. The club remains among the league’s stingiest spenders, and under GM Ben Cherington, they’ve flirted with 100-loss seasons like they’re part of a long-term strategy.

Then there are the White Sox, once a team on the cusp of something special. Now? They’re plumbing historic depths. Blown out 10-0 by Kansas City this week, they’ve started 10-28 and may break their own modern-day record for losses just one year after setting it. This is no longer about bad luck or bad timing. It's about bad planning, bad development, and worse, bad intentions — or at least no clear intention to right the ship anytime soon.

And what can be said about the Colorado Rockies, whose 6-31 record isn’t just awful — it’s statistically historic. Swept by Detroit in a doubleheader by a combined score of 21-3, they are now pacing for 136 losses. That number isn’t a typo. It’s an indictment. An indictment of an ownership group that has allowed mediocrity to metastasize. An indictment of a front office that seems directionless. And most of all, an indictment of a sport that allows this level of neglect to exist with little accountability.

This isn’t about the players. They're giving what they have. It’s about ownership groups that view competitive windows as optional, payrolls as burdens, and fans as collateral. With expanded playoffs, teams can now reach October with as few as 84 wins. That’s not a high bar. And yet, year after year, there are franchises unwilling to even attempt the climb.

​Major League Baseball has always held space for lovable losers, underdogs, and rebuilding clubs. But this — this is different. This is systemic negligence dressed as long-term planning. It is not just a black eye on the sport; it is a slow erosion of its soul. If baseball is to preserve its integrity, if it is to honor the passion of its fans, then the league must find a way to pressure these absentee owners into doing what they once promised: building a team worthy of the name "Major League."