Underrated: 2016

[Palmoripken]

Just now, Can_of_corn said:

OK, gotcha, I admit I was a bit confused.

The most important take away from those 90's Blue Jays teams is that Cito sucks.

Yeah my bad, sorry for the confusion. I definitely now know about Cito sucking and the whole 1993 ASG stuff but when the Jays were winning those pennants, I was yeah in kindergarten and first grade and I didn't know about the heartbreak of Why Not in 1989 and the aforementioned ASG happening. In the early 90's, I was getting most of my baseball 101 from my Dad who was and still is a Yankees hater first so the Yankees to me are always number one. But yeah Cito sucks. I'd love to find one of those old shirts for sale somewhere even though few people outside of Maryland would get it.

[DrungoHazewood]

4 hours ago, Can_of_corn said:

OK, gotcha, I admit I was a bit confused.

The most important take away from those 90's Blue Jays teams is that Cito sucks.

I still have a shirt that says that in two languages.  And I wore it to SkyDome.

[DrungoHazewood]

4 hours ago, Palmoripken said:

I'd love to find one of those old shirts for sale somewhere even though few people outside of Maryland would get it.

The internet makes all the shirts.

[Can_of_corn]

4 minutes ago, DrungoHazewood said:

I still have a shirt that says that in two languages.  And I wore it to SkyDome.

Trying to score free beer from the fans?

[DrungoHazewood]

7 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

Trying to score free beer from the fans?

Wasn't thinking along those lines, but Rex Hudler saw the shirt during BP, kind of winced and laughed, and threw me a ball.  To this day that's the only time I've gotten a ball at a game.

[Orioles0615]

Not only did I have no hope in that Wild Card game, I thought we were going to get blown out. They surprised me by going to extra innings and even having a lead at the beginning

[weams]

5 hours ago, Frobby said:

Seems like whenever I see nostalgic posts about the 2012-16 era, there’s all this good feeling about 2012 and 2014, but with 2016 all anybody ever brings up is Buck not using Zach Britton in the playoff game.    But to me, 2016 was a really fun year that’s now very underrated.   

- We were coming off an 81-81 campaign in which we had to win our final six games just to reach .500, and those wins came against teams that had clinched playoff spots and didn’t really care.   

- We had lost Wei-Yin Chen in the offseason, and replaced him with Yovanni Gallardo, a move that was questioned by many.

- We seemingly had signed Dexter Fowler to a very favorable deal, only to have the Cubs woo him away at the last minute.  

So, the mood that spring was pretty mixed.    I wouldn’t say expectations were very high, despite having extended Davis and O’Day, traded for Trumbo and brought over the mysterious Hyun Soo Kim from Korea.     But here’s what happened:

- The team started off red hot, winning its first 7 games.    Every time the team would sink towards .500 in the first half, the Birds would rip off another winning streak.    In the first 77 games, the O’s had three 7-game win streaks and another stretch where they won 8 of 9.

- The team was bipolar in July, suffering losing streaks of 5, 4 and 5 games sandwiching winning streaks of 4 and 5.   

- It looked like the team was fading away in August.    It fell from a season high 18 games over .500 on July 25 to only 11 over by August 31.

- But the team pulled it together in September, going 17-12 and finishing 7-2 and closing the year with series wins against Toronto and New York.    It took until the final day to guarantee our spot in the Wild Card game and to learn whether we would play at home or on the road.    

Some of the individual highlights:

- Zach Britton was unhittable, and went 47 for 47 in save opportunities.   We needed every one to secure our playoff spot.  

- Mark Trumbo led the league with 47 dingers.

- Matt Wieters, who ticked off a lot of fans by accepting his QO, had a bunch of very crucial, high leverage hits, including a game winning single on Opening Day, two homers in the regular season finale, and several other key hits in between.  

JJ Hardy got hurt on May 1, and Manny filled in very ably at SS for 43 games.    Hardy returned and played very well the rest of the year, his last productive season as an Oriole.   Manny was a stud all year no matter where he played, and had a great year at the plate.

- Hyun Soo Kim was an on-base machine all year, and had a really critical pinch-homer in the 9th inning of Game 158 that turned a 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 lead that Britton held onto in the bottom of the 9th.   That homer arguably saved our season.  

- Dylan Bundy was forced into the roster and pitched very credibly despite his minimal MiL experience.    He had a jaw dropping relief appearance where he struck out 7 in 2.1 innings and topped out at 98.5.    He was inserted into the rotation eventually and highlights included a 7 inning one hit shutout.

- Trey Mancini got a late  September call-up and hit a homer in his debut with his mom watching, and two more in the next three games with his family in the stands.  

- Chris Tillman had an outstanding year but got hurt down the stretch. Improbably, Ubaldo Jimenez, who had been banished to the bullpen, was reinserted into the rotation and   the team went 5-2 in his 7 starts, posting a 2.45 ERA and finishing with a masterful 6.2 inning one-hit shutout in critical game 159 against the Blue Jays.

- Kevin Gausman was masterful over the last two months, posting a 2.83 ERA in his final 12 starts.   He won the playoff-clinching season finale, allowing only 2 runs in 7.2 IP.   

For me, it was a thrilling, roller coaster season with many team and individual highlights I’ll always remember.   

I loved the run. All of it. It's like a Garth Brooks song. 

[DrungoHazewood]

Just now, andrewochs615 said:

Not only did I have no hope in that Wild Card game, I thought we were going to get blown out. They surprised me by going to extra innings and even having a lead at the beginning

That's not how baseball works.  The 2018 Orioles had 21 wins against 90-win teams.

[Palmoripken]

29 minutes ago, DrungoHazewood said:

The internet makes all the shirts.

I might just get one. It will definitely get some conversations going when I’m at the Yard this summer.

[weams]

15 minutes ago, andrewochs615 said:

Not only did I have no hope in that Wild Card game, I thought we were going to get blown out. They surprised me by going to extra innings and even having a lead at the beginning

We should have won it. That Blue Jay team was nothing. 

[OFFNY]

o

 

I believe that the 2013 team was mildly underrated, also.

They had a solid season at 85-77 overall, and I believe that that team was vital because it showed that the 2012 Orioles were not a fluke/one-hit-wonder that was going away anytime soon ........ it proved that we had a bonafide contender on our hands.

 

 

 

o

[Frobby]

1 hour ago, weams said:

We should have won it. That Blue Jay team was nothing. 

They outscored their opponents by 93 runs.    We outscored ours by 29 runs.    They were the better team.    Their starting pitching was vastly better.   

[now]

8 minutes ago, Frobby said:

They outscored their opponents by 93 runs.    We outscored ours by 29 runs.    They were the better team.    Their starting pitching was vastly better.   

Which brings us back to 1989...

[scOtt]

7 hours ago, Can_of_corn said:

OK, gotcha, I admit I was a bit confused.

The most important take away from those 90's Blue Jays teams is that Cito sucks.

Mike Mussina warming on his own in the bullpen in the All-Star Game. In OUR house!

 

And Cito still sux!

[scOtt]

3 hours ago, andrewochs615 said:

Not only did I have no hope in that Wild Card game, I thought we were going to get blown out. They surprised me by going to extra innings and even having a lead at the beginning

I wanted the HF advantage so bad for the Wild Card game. I had a bad bad feeling about going up there to play.