Phillies Teaching Us A Lesson

[osfan83]

The Phillies won 4 more games than us over a 162 game season. 4 games! That's a couple of bad calls, a bad bounce, a bad weather game or two away from the same record. 

The lesson? Don't worry about being just a WC team. Build a team to get into the playoffs 7 out of every 10 years, then take a shot in these short series. The Yankees, Dodgers, Mets, are all better than the Phillies. But a hot streak might win them the title.

[Can_of_corn]

Who didn't already know this?

[Pickles]

5 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

Who didn't already know this?

I hear a lot of talk about making "big moves" to compete in "this division."  And how we're "really far away."  And need "massive talent upgrades."

[Tony-OH]

The Phillies had a +62 run difference while the Orioles had a -14 so they are still a bit ahead of us.

The point though is the truth, and it's why the team should be set up to have long term sustainment of winning to get into the playoffs. 

This team doesn't need to win the Division every year to be a World Series contender and from next year on, the Orioles should be a playoff contender. 

[osfan83]

8 minutes ago, Pickles said:

I hear a lot of talk about making "big moves" to compete in "this division."  And how we're "really far away."  And need "massive talent upgrades."

Yep, I've even heard "going in as a weak WC is useless, rather get a better draft pick than an early first round exit"

[Pickles]

3 minutes ago, osfan83 said:

Yep, I've even heard "going in as a weak WC is useless, rather get a better draft pick than an early first round exit"

I haven't heard that one, but I'm not surprised.

[Sports Guy]

Yea, we already knew this.  Quite often the team that gets hot is the most dangerous.

Health matters too.

Lots of luck involved in winning in the playoffs in all sports.

[Aristotelian]

Several Wild Card teams are not going to the World Series. 

[Pickles]

6 minutes ago, Aristotelian said:

Several Wild Card teams are not going to the World Series. 

So are several division winners.

[sportsfan8703]

The Phillies went 16-3 against the last place Nationals. We went 9-10 against last place BOS. Very simple difference. 
 

The unbalanced schedule will help us. 

[Frobby]

35 minutes ago, osfan83 said:

The lesson? Don't worry about being just a WC team. Build a team to get into the playoffs 7 out of every 10 years, then take a shot in these short series.

You pretty much can’t build a team that makes the playoffs 7 times in 10 years without winning at least a couple of division titles.  In fact, here’s all the teams that made the playoffs at least half the time in the last decade:

Dodgers: made the playoffs all 10 years, 9 division titles.

Houston: made the playoffs 7 times, 5 division titles.

Cardinals: made the playoffs 7 times, 5 division titles.

Yankees: made the playoffs 7 times, 2 division titles.

Braves: made the playoffs 6 times, 6 division titles.  

Guardians: made the playoffs 6 times, 4 division titles.  

Red Sox: made the playoffs 5 times, 4 division titles.

Rays: made the playoffs 5 times, 2 division titles.   

So sure, an 87-win team can get lucky in the playoffs sometimes, but if you want to be in the playoffs at least half the time in the next decade, you’d better be aiming higher than that.   



 

[Jim'sKid26]

The team we should be "learning from" is the Astros. The concept of sustained success is what should be the goal. Now the cheating stuff...not so much.

[Frobby]

3 minutes ago, Jim'sKid26 said:

The team we should be "learning from" is the Astros. The concept of sustained success is what should be the goal.

Hmmm, maybe we should hire a few smart people from their front office…

[sportsfan8703]

We also traded away Lopez and Mancini. And sure… people can point out their numbers, but point out the players that had to take on larger roles like Khreibel, or players that we had to play because we had no better options like Mountcastle and Hays. 
 

Which points out… that we should be shooting for the division title next year and not just a WC. But that’s where FA bucks come in, or mortgaging the farm. 

[tabletop]

Phillies payroll is one of the highest in baseball. They have way more talent than the Orioles did on their roster. As a previous poster said the team the O's should be taking lessons from is the Astros. Which I am pretty sure they are.

Edited October 24, 2022 by tabletop