Sports Illustrated power rankings

[isestrex]

So here's a quoted summery of the Orioles in the SI (ahem, I mean BP) power rankings since the All Star Break

Week 14 - Rank 22nd

The O's would be in the playoffs if the season ended today, but it is difficult to project them holding this position with so many questions in their rotation and their ace out for a big chunk of the season

Week 15 - Rank 24th

but it looks like their record is still built on a house of cards, and it's hard to see the Orioles staying in the race over the final two months of the season.

Week 16 - Rank 23rd

the Orioles are clinging to the race, but it is difficult to see them hanging on long enough to seriously contend.

Week 17 - Rank 23rd

Both their WAR ranking and run differential suggest the Orioles should hit a wall at some point, but they continue to win games despite not having a well-rounded team.

Week 18 - Rank 20th

They have been a statistical anomaly all season, but with a lack of firepower in the rotation it is difficult to see them maintaining their current winning percentage throughout the last month and a half of the season.

In other words, they're repeating the message "the Orioles are keeping this up, but they won't keep it up" for well over a month. I guess these ranking really are a slave to numbers without any desire to embrace other possibilities.

[SilentJames]

So here's a quoted summery of the Orioles in the SI (ahem, I mean BP) power rankings since the All Star Break

Week 14 - Rank 22nd

Week 15 - Rank 24th

Week 16 - Rank 23rd

Week 17 - Rank 23rd

Week 18 - Rank 20th

In other words, they're repeating the message "the Orioles are keeping this up, but they won't keep it up" for well over a month. I guess these ranking really are a slave to numbers without any desire to embrace other possibilities.

This is exactly what I am talking about.

Since Jul 18 (The beginning of the 5-game winning streak and the closest the Orioles were to being under .500, 2 games over) They have a run differential of +16 over a streak of 26 games. They have been playing very good ball over the last month plus of the season.

[DrungoHazewood]

In other words, they're repeating the message "the Orioles are keeping this up, but they won't keep it up" for well over a month. I guess these ranking really are a slave to numbers without any desire to embrace other possibilities.

Well... no. Not exactly. The O's are winning on the basis on any number of improbable things that are difficult to see being quite this good through the end of the season. From Pedro Strop's microscopic ERA despite pedestrian K/BB numbers, to Omar Quintanilla's .851 OPS, to a 19-year-old with three homers in 5 games, to a no-name bullpen that's accumulated ~10 WAR, to one of the top 20 extra-inning winning percentages since 1901, to their 2nd-best starter at the moment being a 28-year-old rookie who had a 5+ ERA in the minors last year. You don't even have to mention Pythagoreas to come to the conclusion that the O's record is pretty inexplicable.

[Fan4Life]

This is exactly what I am talking about.

Since Jul 18 (The beginning of the 5-game winning streak and the closest the Orioles were to being under .500, 2 games over) They have a run differential of +16 over a streak of 26 games. They have been playing very good ball over the last month plus of the season.

Yeah the Redsox series is trying to correct much of the run differentials for both teams.

[SilentJames]

I don't think anyone disagrees with any of that, but how many times do you write the phrase, "...won't keep it up..." and be proven wrong before you stop and start to consider that something else is happening here.

The 2012 Orioles have been a highly improbable team all year. Yet, they just keep winning.

I guess I wouldn't take such offense, for lack of a better word, to these blurbs if they at least acknowledged how well the team has been playing for the last month. This is not a team limping along and barely staying in the race. This is a team that has played well and essentially controls its own destiny. As much as a team can on august 16th.

Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk 2

[Guest rochester]

Well... no. Not exactly. The O's are winning on the basis on any number of improbable things that are difficult to see being quite this good through the end of the season. From Pedro Strop's microscopic ERA despite pedestrian K/BB numbers, to Omar Quintanilla's .851 OPS, to a 19-year-old with three homers in 5 games, to a no-name bullpen that's accumulated ~10 WAR, to one of the top 20 extra-inning winning percentages since 1901, to their 2nd-best starter at the moment being a 28-year-old rookie who had a 5+ ERA in the minors last year. You don't even have to mention Pythagoreas to come to the conclusion that the O's record is pretty inexplicable.

***raises hand*** "I got it, I got it Mister Kotter! It's not inexplicable, it's easy! We win, they lose! Right?"

There should be a statute of limitations on "the numbers show that they can not, will not and should not keep this up."

I thought the enjoyment from inexplicable is what we love about this game. Who knew that the Sawx could become the next Orioles, except with two times the payroll? They were doing well until September 2011 then everything came apart at the seams and has not been patched together.

[machadoschoop]

I've been lurking on this site for a long time, and catching up on the past 24 hours worth of posts has been incredible. I have open in two tabs this thread and Moose's "I would have laughed in your face" thread. And I have slipped into baseball fan ecstasy.

Through all of these years of losing, the real memory that has sustained my fandom is 1989 and I have seen similar sentiments expressed on here by those who I assume to be in their late twenties and early thirties. This is another one of those Don Quixote seasons, the story of which will be written by those like Tim Kurkjian and Joe Posnanski, not Keith Law and Dave Cameron.

For now, I choose to revel in every note of pythag-inspired doubt -- reminders that we root for a team that outperforms even the limits of others' imaginations. And when the ride is over, I am glad we will still have the Keith Laws and Dave Camerons of the world to remind everyone that we have to get much better this offseason.

[Can_of_corn]

New rankings are up and the O's....drop a spot to 21. The Red Sox, currently 7 full games behind the O's, moved up a spot to 8. The Rays fresh off of a sweep of the Angels are unchanged at 12. The Angels on the other hand, moved up 3 places.

I guess I have to commend them for sticking with this team WAR idea, instead of jumping ship on it.

[Orioles4Life21]

All of that is just flat out ridiculous.

[callahan09]

Red Sox at... 8? How can anyone take that seriously?

[ledzepp8]

All of that is just flat out ridiculous.

Red Sox at... 8? How can anyone take that seriously?

They can't. This is the same kind of BS that gives us a 2 loss SEC team in the BCS Championship game.

[DuffMan]

New rankings are up and the O's....drop a spot to 21. The Red Sox, currently 7 full games behind the O's, moved up a spot to 8. The Rays fresh off of a sweep of the Angels are unchanged at 12. The Angels on the other hand, moved up 3 places.

I guess I have to commend them for sticking with this team WAR idea, instead of jumping ship on it.

[isestrex]

New rankings are up and the O's....drop a spot to 21. The Red Sox, currently 7 full games behind the O's, moved up a spot to 8. The Rays fresh off of a sweep of the Angels are unchanged at 12. The Angels on the other hand, moved up 3 places.

I guess I have to commend them for sticking with this team WAR idea, instead of jumping ship on it.

Wow.

I'm betting the Sox will still be in the top ten around September 15th when they're 4 games under .500 and 8 games out of the playoffs.

[bdlj0887]

SI is surely trolling me.

[BohKnowsBmore]

SI is surely trolling me.

This pretty much. We should probably stop paying the troll toll and discussing their rankings. It only ends up getting them more page views...