Have you ever watched your favorite baseball team rout their opponent in a game, and as they continue to score runs, you think to yourself, “Hey, save some for the next game!”
That may have been on the mind of a few San Diego Padres fans Saturday as they watched their team beat the Colorado Rockies 21-0. It marked the third time this season, and 11th since the beginning of the 2023 season that a team has scored 20 or more runs in a game.
As it turned out on Sunday, the Rockies earned a measure of payback by beating the Padres 9-3. That stopped an eight-game losing streak, but it wasn’t enough to save Bud Black his job as Rockies manager.
BetColorado.com - home to all news at Colorado sportsbooks - wanted to know how teams fare after they score 20 runs in a game. We used data from baseball-reference.com to identify the teams, their record in the following five games and the run differential between their 20 or more run game and the total runs they scored in the next five games.
The data shows that most teams continue winning at Colorado sports betting apps, even if the bats cool off a bit. Of the previous 10 teams, six went 3-2 or better, including the most recent three teams to score 20 in a game. The last three – the Cincinnati Reds (April 25, 24 runs at Baltimore), New York Yankees (March 29, 20 runs versus Milwaukee) and the Los Angeles Dodgers (Sept. 19, 2024, 20 runs at Miami) – all went 3-2 over their next five games.
Two teams, the Yankees this season and the 2023 Chicago Cubs, found a way to keep offense flowing. The Yankees scored 38 runs in their next five games, an average of 7.6 per game, while going 3-2, and the Cubs scored 35 while posting a 4-1 mark.
Saturday’s game marks the third time the Rockies have been involved in a 20-run game since 2023. Last July, they were the ones to do the whipping as they walloped the Boston Red Sox 20-7. Colorado, though, wasn’t able to parlay that into a winning streak as the team dropped its next five games and scored just 16 runs in those ensuing contests.
The team formerly known as the Oakland Athletics may be the unluckiest team to score 20. After beating Miami 20-4 on May 4, 2024, the A’s would score 33 in their next five contests. However, they won just once in that span, a 9-4 win over the Texas Rangers. The Rangers also beat the A’s 15-8 and 12-11 in that series.
With the 2025 season less than two months old, there’s a good chance we’ll see more teams put up 20 on an opponent, and that means there’s a chance to see some history, too. According to StatMuse, 19 teams have scored 20 or more runs in a game twice in the same season. The most recent team to accomplish this was the Atlanta Braves in 2021, when they won the World Series. Atlanta beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 20-1 on May 21 and the New York Mets 20-2 on June 30.
The 1939 Yankees and the 1950 Boston Red Sox co-own the Major League record with three games with 20 or more runs in the same season.
Will the 20-run game help the Padres make a push to the MLB playoffs? They’ve made the postseason in three of the last five seasons, and through Sunday’s games, San Diego owns a 25-14 record. That puts them a game behind the Dodgers in the National League West and puts them atop the NL Wild Card standings.
BetMGM Colorado gives the Pads odds of +600 to win the division. The sportsbook’s oddsmakers give the Rockies +100000 odds to win the division, meaning a $1 bet would net a $1,000 profit.
Visit BetColorado.com for the latest information on with the Rockies and the state’s other major professional and college teams.
Author
Steve is an accomplished, award-winning reporter with more than 20 years of experience covering gaming, sports, politics and business. He has written for the Associated Press, Reuters, The Louisville Courier Journal, The Center Square and numerous other publications. Based in Louisville, Ky., Steve has covered the expansion of sports betting in the U.S. and other gaming matters.
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