What would you have said......?

[Too Tall]

Great uplifting read. I sure can't understand this year and have quit trying. I watch a game and if we get aheqd early I fret cause we often blow it. But if we get behind early, I think - got em just where we want em. Like the thoroughbred that always held back til the final streach and came roaring back to win. This team is so easy to root for because Elias has also assembled a group of real good people that truely show they care for each other and love the game of baseball. How can you not like "our guys?"

 

[Malike]

6 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

If Ohtani is traded and goes to the NL and Bautista keeps doing what he’s doing, he should get serious MVP votes.

I think Britton should have gotten way more mvp consideration in 2016 than he did.

No doubt about Britton, that was just insane what he did.

[Sports Guy]

Pythag theorem record is only 10 games over 500.  

[Malike]

1 minute ago, Sports Guy said:

Pythag theorem record is only 10 games over 500.  

There are a lot of teams out-performing the pythag this year, it's nuts. Reds, Miami, and Milwaukee are all in the negative and well over .500. Odd times.

[Sports Guy]

1 minute ago, Malike said:

There are a lot of teams out-performing the pythag this year, it's nuts. Reds, Miami, and Milwaukee are all in the negative and well over .500. Odd times.

No surprise that 2 of those teams are in the NLC. What an awful division.

Ironically, only the Cubs have a positive run differential and they are under 500.

[Sports Guy]

This year is also special because the Yankees aren’t that good.

Maybe they make a run but I think they are in real trouble.

[emmett16]

I read a great quote the other day.  Paraphrasing but something along the lines of “baseball isn’t a game of failure, it’s a game of taking advantage of all the opportunities”.  The Os have continued to take advantage of all the opportunities that they’ve been  presented with and the sum if all parts is a winning environment with a lot of interchangeable parts.  

[DrungoHazewood]

57 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

I think there is little doubt Hyde will be in the running for the manager of the year if this keeps up. We obviously see every move and some of his moves are head scratching, but the results are what they are and the results are all that matters at this point.

After Buck didn't win in '12 and Hyde didn't win last year after most projections had the O's winning 60 I fully expect Bruce Bochy to win it this year.

[Malike]

1 minute ago, DrungoHazewood said:

After Buck didn't win in '12 and Hyde didn't win last year after most projections had the O's winning 60 I fully expect Bruce Bochy to win it this year.

Well deserving. The team payroll is low and they did little in the off-season to make that team better in Texas.

[DanS]

There is no crying in baseball, but there is a lot of luck.  It's a lot like life.  I often tell my wife it's a game of inches.  A fly ball snatched from over the top of the wall is a few inches short of a home run.  A pitch on or near the corner can create a 1 and 2 count or a 2 and 1 count.  The count affects the next pitch and possibly the game.

When Chuck and Brooks called the game and a ball was crushed and caught on the fly, Chuck would say that those things even out over the course of the year.  Brooks would say "I still don't believe that, Chuck".

As several posters said in this thread, many little plays can change a game.  Despite all the new advanced stats, baseball can be hard to quantify.

But back to the original post from @Tony-OH, I would have said "I'll have some of what you're smoking".  This team seems to defy logic. 

Enjoy the ride while it lasts.  Forty years ago, nobody would have believed that we would go this long without returning to the World Series.

 

[bluedog]

10 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

This year is also special because the Yankees aren’t that good.

Maybe they make a run but I think they are in real trouble.

9 out of 10 MLB Execs agree with you:

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/10083451

(who knows if its 9 out of 10, just made that up for the phrasing)

[DrungoHazewood]

59 minutes ago, Malike said:

He better be a legit Cy Young candidate. He's got more strikeouts than some qualified starters. What an impressive season.

The last reliever to win the Cy Young was Eric Gagne in 2003.  The last reliever to win the MVP was Eck in 1992. The fewest innings for a Cy Young winner in a full season is 80. Bautista is on pace for 79.

Last year the Mets' Edwin Diaz had a 1.31 ERA and struck out 118 in 62 innings and he got three Cy Young votes, finished 9th.  He got zero MVP votes. The year before he had 57 saves and a 1.96, got 4 Cy votes, five in the MVP (18th place). In '19 the Padres' Kirby Yates had a 1.19 ERA an struck out 101 in 60 innings and finished tied for 9th in the Cy Young, zero MVP votes.  The year Josh Hader allowed 66 baserunners in 81 innings and struck out 143 he got four Cy votes, zero MVP. In 2017 Craig Kimbrel had a 1.43 ERA and 126 Ks in 69 innings, finished 6th in the Cy, zero MVP votes.

If Bautista ends the season with an ERA around 1.00 and close to 18 K/9 he's going to finish 4th or 5th in the Cy Young and 8th-12th in the MVP.

Edited July 21, 2023 by DrungoHazewood

[banks703]

33 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

I think this is a huge key to this team's record IMHO. The offense this year has more consistent contributors vs streaky guys like Mountcastle. Henderson and Rutschman will draw walks even in their "bad streaks" and Hays and Santander seem to be less streaky this year. 

One of the reasons I was down on Mountcastle was his streakiness because when he's bad, he's an absolute zero at the plate. The hitters the Orioles are now adding are the kinds of guys that find ways to get on base or help the team vs just being complete zeros when they are not doing well. That has helped.

 

Absolutely. Gunnar is a star in the making, Adley has that star power, Felix has become a star but everyone else has been consistently not hurting the team, if not better than average. I think that's the cultural change that has meant the most to the success this year and will drive their success going forward. They don't need Ohtanis and Judges to be a good team if they don't have any guy, top to bottom, who is below average. I would argue that they do not have one single guy who doesn't offer enough in one area or another to make an overall positive contribution to them. Kyle Gibson would be first on my list to replace in the rotation if they look to upgrade there but to be fair, while his ERA and WHIP aren't awesome, he' s pitched the sixth most innings in the AL right now (13th most overall). The same goes for Kremer, who is pretty even statistically with Gibson. Frazier stinks on defense but the dude has been VERY clutch at the plate numerous times this year.

Every guy in their lineup has positive WAR right now. They're unspectacularly consistent and above average overall. I'd much rather have a team like that than what the Angels have, with two superstars who can't make up for the shortcomings of the rest of the roster. I wonder if adding an outsider superstar to the O's like an Ohtani would disrupt the cohesion and chemistry in the clubouse. On paper if you add Ohtani to the O's they are scary good but I wonder what impact that has on the overall roster. 

[Oriole1940]

31 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

Pythag theorem record is only 10 games over 500.  

But pythag theorem  does not measure the heart of players and thereby fails to correctly measure the heart of a team.  

[Aristotelian]

5 minutes ago, DrungoHazewood said:

 

If Bautista ends the season with an ERA around 1.00 and close to 18 K/9 he's going to finish 4th or 5th in the Cy Young and 8th-12th in the MVP.

For MVP he also has Ohtani to contend with. I would not be surprised of Ohtani is unanimous again, and I would be surprised if Bautista gets any more than the Baltimore vote. Cy Young is a real possibility and would be a major coup if he could get it.