We have a plus 25 run differential?

[birdcrazy]

There has been a lot of back and forth about the hitting being better than last year, and the starters being the issue.

I was interested to see the Orioles are only one of only 6 teams in the AL to have a positive run differential. 4 of the other 5 are playoff teams.

Most people consider run differential a measure of how good a team is. I feel like they made the playoffs in 2012 with a plus 7 run differential.

I know as baseball fans we love numbers and statistics. But with this team, I am thinking it is missing "it". When I say "it", I mean it's mojo, or the ability to really win when it needs to. I remember in 2012, it seemed like the team would win every close game. Now it seems we lose every close game. Makes me wonder how much losing Markakis and Cruz hurt the club house. Jones seems like a great guy, but I also think some people can see him as an ass...which is not great as a leader. They said even losing people like Young and Snider have hurt the clubhouse this year.

What I am saying is do you think a teams "it", or ability to pull out a close win can be rooted in a few key players?

[Chavez Ravine]

Having the outfield (besides Jones) flame out hurt. Having like six Davis home runs brought back hurt. Having an endless number of infield nubbers go for hits hurt. But in the end, I think it was the inability of our starting pitchers to get us through the 6th inning in a position to realistically win on a consistent basis that hurt the most.

I don't discount at all the cumulative effects of mojo. The last few weeks you could see that this team was utterly spent and demoralized....even if they were only one long hot streak away from getting back into things.

[25 Nuggets]

Can't put it much differently than that Chavez.

There is a distinct possibility -- given the Young/Snider comment -- that all the back and forth and moving around has hurt the team's chemistry. Not just those two but Lough, Parmalee, Reimold, you name it. Up and down, left and right. You could add the treatment of Gausman and several other pitchers. But then, similar things happened last year... it's Duquette's style apparently, or maybe Showalter's... and the team did very well. It's not like I see any indication the team dislikes Parra.

[DrungoHazewood]

The Orioles haven't performed that well this year, that's why they're not going to the playoffs. But it certainly didn't help that they have had bad luck, too. Most of the time a team with a +25 run differential will be at least several games over .500 at the end of the year. Maybe it's karma - we're paying back the gods for 2012.

[TINSTAAPP]

The Orioles had three games this season when they scored 18+ runs or more. If they hadn't piled up so many runs in garbage time and scored let's say 15 fewer runs in those games, their run differential would be +10. That's still some bad luck but not as distorted as it is now.

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[weams]

There has been a lot of back and forth about the hitting being better than last year, and the starters being the issue.

I was interested to see the Orioles are only one of only 6 teams in the AL to have a positive run differential. 4 of the other 5 are playoff teams.

Most people consider run differential a measure of how good a team is. I feel like they made the playoffs in 2012 with a plus 7 run differential.

I know as baseball fans we love numbers and statistics. But with this team, I am thinking it is missing "it". When I say "it", I mean it's mojo, or the ability to really win when it needs to. I remember in 2012, it seemed like the team would win every close game. Now it seems we lose every close game. Makes me wonder how much losing Markakis and Cruz hurt the club house. Jones seems like a great guy, but I also think some people can see him as an ass...which is not great as a leader. They said even losing people like Young and Snider have hurt the clubhouse this year.

What I am saying is do you think a teams "it", or ability to pull out a close win can be rooted in a few key players?

I'd say it was bad luck myself.

[weams]

. That's still some bad luck but not as distorted as it is now.

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They were also no-hit. It evens out. All teams have their big games and their stinkers. Why don't you do the math without their top three games and their worst five?

[weams]

It's all about wins and losses in the real world.

[DrungoHazewood]

The Orioles had three games this season when they scored 18+ runs or more. If they hadn't piled up so many runs in garbage time and scored let's say 15 fewer runs in those games, their run differential would be +10. That's still some bad luck but not as distorted as it is now.

It's all how you conceive your alternate universes. It's possible that when your Scooby gang from Sliders zaps into that new reality those three 18+ run games become nine 6+ run games that they win most or all of.

That does lead to an interesting question... when we eventually figure out how to travel to alternate universes, and are able to do so with such precision that anything is truly possible, do you pick your existence to be one where the Orioles win 110 games and the Series every year? Or one where they only win sometimes, or rarely? Or do you just forget about baseball altogether because you're living in a universe where you have all the money and are in a polygamist marriage with Claire Forlani, Alyssa Milano, and Diane Kruger?

[TINSTAAPP]

They were also no-hit. It evens out. All teams have their big games and their stinkers. Why don't you do the math without their top three games and their worst five?

Worst three losses

15-2 Minnesota

11-2 Toronto

10-2 Toronto

-30

Best three wins

19-3 Philadelphia

18-2 Oakland

18-7 Boston

+43

That's a 13 run difference. Take away those games and the Orioles would have a +12 run differential.

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[weams]

Worst three losses

15-2 Minnesota

11-2 Toronto

10-2 Toronto

-30

Best three wins

19-3 Philadelphia

18-2 Oakland

18-7 Boston

+43

That's a 13 run difference. Take away those games and the Orioles would have a +12 run differential.

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I said five. Five.

[Barnfather]

There is a distinct possibility -- given the Young/Snider comment -- that all the back and forth and moving around has hurt the team's chemistry. Not just those two but Lough, Parmalee, Reimold, you name it. Up and down, left and right. You could add the treatment of Gausman and several other pitchers. But then, similar things happened last year... it's Duquette's style apparently, or maybe Showalter's... and the team did very well. It's not like I see any indication the team dislikes Parra.

I think this is a massive thing.

When things are going well, the roster moves are seen as keeping things fresh and getting everyone game time.

When things are going badly, it looks like desperate tinkering.

Also, its the stature of the moves this year that probably upset things more than anything. At the start of the season, Snider was a key piece in the jigsaw and De Aza was seen as the most likely to get Markakis' spot. Delmon was the clutch hitting uber-pro who would keep his level of focus up so well when not in the side, he could slot right back in.

All gone mid-season.

Bud Norris had a torrid year and it's hard not to agree with his trade, but he was a massive personality to lose mid-season from the whole side (not just the pitchers).

Then you have the disruptive injuries to people who made a big difference last year like Steve Pearce, JJ Hardy etc

reliable hitters like Flaherty and Paredes have been in and out of the side.

None of this add's stability or drive to a side who were already smarting with the loss of Nick Markakis and Nelson Cruz.

Not saying it's the *only* reason, but I think psychologically it's a major part of it

[DrungoHazewood]

Worst three losses

15-2 Minnesota

11-2 Toronto

10-2 Toronto

-30

Best three wins

19-3 Philadelphia

18-2 Oakland

18-7 Boston

+43

That's a 13 run difference. Take away those games and the Orioles would have a +12 run differential.

So what you're saying is that if you take away their best and worst few games they have the run differential of a team that's just over .500, instead of a team that's maybe a couple games more over .500. I remember in 2012 people were doing all kinds of mental gymnastics to prove that the Orioles were far better or worse than their Pythag once you eliminated all the games that didn't help their previously-formed conclusions.

[sportsfan8703]

If you're looking at the standings for all of MLB it's easy to see. There is complete parity for the most part in the AL. The worst teams in the AL are teams like BOS, huge payroll/lots of talent/, DET, huge payroll/lots of talent, CWS,CLEV,OAK. None of the teams in the AL entered the season facing a terrible season. In the NL, however it's disgusting. Mil, Phil, ATL, Col all had no chance this year. Cinncy had a fire sale. The Marlins had unrealistic expectations. The NL is a joke.

The Mets went something like 14-2 against the Phillies. We went 5-1. Put us in the NL east this year and things would have been way different. The NL central is a joke.

[DrungoHazewood]

If you're looking at the standings for all of MLB it's easy to see. There is complete parity for the most part in the AL. The worst teams in the AL are teams like BOS, huge payroll/lots of talent/, DET, huge payroll/lots of talent, CWS,CLEV,OAK. None of the teams in the AL entered the season facing a terrible season. In the NL, however it's disgusting. Mil, Phil, ATL, Col all had no chance this year. Cinncy had a fire sale. The Marlins had unrealistic expectations. The NL is a joke.

The Mets went something like 14-2 against the Phillies. We went 5-1. Put us in the NL east this year and things would have been way different. The NL central is a joke.

The AL has gone 152-125 against the NL this year. That's .549 ball, meaning an 81-win team against all AL competition would be something like a 89 win team against NL competition. You could argue that the O's would be about .500, or maybe a tad better had they been playing an NL-centric schedule. Or the Phils would be playing roughly .333 ball in the AL.