Tom Verducci: How the Orioles Became the Most Unlikely Playoff Contender in MLB History

[Moose Milligan]

Did you all actually read this?  

 

Quote

5. Sign cheap veterans who are leaders.

Staff leader Jordan Lyles ($6 million, on his seventh team), second baseman Rougned Odor ($700,000, on his third team, with the Rangers, his first team, picking up most of the $12.3 million due to him) and catcher Robinson Chirinos ($900,00, sixth team) are “glue guys” who are valued beyond their stats.

“What Chirinos and Odor have brought to our team ... coming to the park with good energy, that has been huge,” Hyde says. “I feel like our younger guys have really fed off that. We’re pretty young and talented, and to have some older players, guys who have been through it a little bit, have that energy and have that feeling we can win every night when we come to the ballpark and enjoy doing it, I think that’s been infectious. That’s been huge for us, honestly. It’s a really, really loose, fun dugout.”

Verducci can't POSSIBLY believe something this silly, can he?  Can he?!?!?

[Frobby]

8 hours ago, OsFanSinceThe80s said:

And barring a complete collapse the last month of the season how can Brandon Hyde not be AL Manager of the Year?

Maybe he did a lousy job last year?  

[eddie83]

17 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

Did you all actually read this?  

 

Verducci can't POSSIBLY believe something this silly, can he?  Can he?!?!?

100 loss teams can have good chemistry. That said this is a team with no history of success. I’m not trying to overstate it but it can matter. How much is the question? 

[deward]

57 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

Did you all actually read this?  

 

Verducci can't POSSIBLY believe something this silly, can he?  Can he?!?!?

I mean, he believes that a change in field dimensions would somehow only benefit the home team, so...

[Tony-OH]

9 hours ago, OsFanSinceThe80s said:

How the Orioles Became the Most Unlikely Playoff Contender in MLB History

No team has ever had a turnaround quite like Baltimore this season. What’s the secret? Hint: It’s much more than just “Oriole Magic.”

Good article by Tom Verducci in the current Sports Illustrated on the Orioles unlikely playoff contender team and how they got here. One interesting tidbit on the '6'5" & 190 lbs' Felix Bautista and his real weight today since his bio hasn't been updated. 

What a really good article. I love reading Verducci and I'm sure @DrungoHazewood needed some alone time after he read the stories about the Spiders and Perfectos!

Seriously though, he hit the nail on the head for the most part. Personally, the improved pitching, both starting and reliving, along with the defense have been the keys. The good news is the Orioles should have the minor league players to trade in order to get a #1 or #2 starter this offseason. If they can do that along with upgrading one more starter, this team has a real chance to be a contender next year.

 

[RZNJ]

Now, what is the history of teams who made such huge jumps from one year to the next.  What happened in year 3?    I suspect that most of those teams regressed but I'm curious.  And, yes, I'm too lazy to look it up myself.

[Frobby]

I loved this part near the end:

“But if this unprecedented season has taught us anything, it is to remind us why we love baseball. We don’t love baseball because we know the percentages. We love it because of those times when a player or team defies them. We live not for the known but for the surprises. We live not for algorithms but for explanations as goofy as ‘Oriole Magic.’”

That sums up my love of baseball perfectly.  

[Frobby]

8 minutes ago, RZNJ said:

Now, what is the history of teams who made such huge jumps from one year to the next.  What happened in year 3?    I suspect that most of those teams regressed but I'm curious.  And, yes, I'm too lazy to look it up myself.

It is true and I’m pretty sure Drungo posted about it at some length once.  

It may be the case that no team that lost 110 games has ever finished over .500 the next year, but this may not even be the most improved team in Orioles’ history, considering that the 1989 O’s improved by 35 wins.   This team will need to match or exceed that to make the playoffs, I expect.  
 

[DrungoHazewood]

1 hour ago, RZNJ said:

Now, what is the history of teams who made such huge jumps from one year to the next.  What happened in year 3?    I suspect that most of those teams regressed but I'm curious.  And, yes, I'm too lazy to look it up myself.

40 years ago Bill James coined a phrase called the plexigalss principle, which was that teams tend towards .500.  If a team drops by 15 games one year the tendency is for them to rebound the next. If a team leaps forward, odds are fairly strong that they'll fall back in previous years.  He even had a checklist to help determine the trajectory of a team.  Some of it is probably dated (I remember a bullet about AAA team's record, which could probably be replaced with how many top prospects a team has). But might be interesting to pull out.

[Hallas]

4 hours ago, Moose Milligan said:

Baseball only starts after 1910.

my response to this was going to be "Drungo is in shambles"

 

Sadly he already gave his rebuttal.

[Moose Milligan]

1 minute ago, Hallas said:

my response to this was going to be "Drungo is in shambles"

 

Sadly he already gave his rebuttal.

Drungo knows I like giving him a hard time from time to time and plays along.  He's a good sport and one of my favorite people on here.

[Three Run Homer]

36 minutes ago, DrungoHazewood said:

40 years ago Bill James coined a phrase called the plexigalss principle, which was that teams tend towards .500.  If a team drops by 15 games one year the tendency is for them to rebound the next. If a team leaps forward, odds are fairly strong that they'll fall back in previous years.  He even had a checklist to help determine the trajectory of a team.  Some of it is probably dated (I remember a bullet about AAA team's record, which could probably be replaced with how many top prospects a team has). But might be interesting to pull out.

The O's might be less likely to regress than most teams, just because they will likely loosen the purse strings this offseason and because they have a boatload of young talent waiting in the wings.  But still, the plexiglass principle is one reason why would have liked the O's to hang on to Jorge Lopez--they have a chance to make the playoffs this year, and there is no guarantee that will be true next year.  

[Sports Guy]

The Orioles will see regression if they sit on their hands and only upgrade from within.

That said, I don’t expect that to happen so I could see them being an exception to the rule.

[Moose Milligan]

14 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

The Orioles will see regression if they sit on their hands and only upgrade from within.

That said, I don’t expect that to happen so I could see them being an exception to the rule.

C'mon, SG.  C'moooooooooooooon, SG!

Don't you know better by now?  I think you're saying that you don't expect them to sit on their hands while you know full well that they could EASILY sit on their hands and only upgrade from within, thus giving you a bunch of material to rage about this offseason and into next season.  

You can never be wrong if you're always right.  Right? 

 

[Sports Guy]

9 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

C'mon, SG.  C'moooooooooooooon, SG!

Don't you know better by now?  I think you're saying that you don't expect them to sit on their hands while you know full well that they could EASILY sit on their hands and only upgrade from within, thus giving you a bunch of material to rage about this offseason and into next season.  

You can never be wrong if you're always right.  Right? 

 

No I don’t expect them to do that.  I don’t know that they go get the guys they truly need but I don’t think they believe this team (plus or minus) plus the young kids is enough.