AL East Winner Vs WC

[banks703]

38 minutes ago, Big Al said:

Should do away with divisions altogether and have a balanced schedule. Then have top three teams advance to the postseason with #1 getting a first round bye. I realize this will never happen because $$$ trumps the quality of the product. 

I've always liked this idea but instead of it being the top 3, I'd go with the top six records in each league. They could even expand to 7 teams and give the top team a bye, or go to 8 teams and give the top two teams a bye.

There is greater parity in MLB now than there has been in probably 30 years. The balanced schedule has helped teams like the O's but hurt teams like the Yankees (always a good thing). The Rays and now the O's have greatly disrupted the model that MLB created to keep the darlings of their league relevant. There is no quick fix to the Yankees. We may see them struggle for a couple of years before they make up the ground on all of the other teams in the division, unless they deviate from their current model and become the biggest spender in the game again but there's been nothing to suggest that Hal will do that. Again, a great thing for us as O's fans.

[Frobby]

41 minutes ago, Just Regular said:

Or even not letting Cole Irvin face Christian Walker third time through the order in a 2-1 game!

That wasn’t the issue.  Throwing a hanging offspeed pitch right in the center of the plate was the issue.  

[Just Regular]

5 minutes ago, Frobby said:

That wasn’t the issue.  Throwing a hanging offspeed pitch right in the center of the plate was the issue.  

That's 1 pitch outcome.    It feels like a process slip or inaccuracy.

Cole Irvin is about the weakest BAL pitcher on a per-pitch basis.     The third time math is agnostic whether the pitcher is scuffling in the 4th inning, having a mediocre Cole Irvin game, or has been nails like Blake Snell, who was hooked to his dismay after facing precisely 18 batters in game 6 of the 2021 World Series.

That said, we don't know the real fuel gauges on the better pitcher's gas tanks, and like most of us I have pretty good confidence the Org is doing stuff that makes sense.    I do know we had an off day the day before, and it was the 6th inning of a 2-1 game in September.    Having caught up on the DVR now, the Tommy Pham double the pitch before also a danger sign.     Pham and Walker seemed pretty eager to get those hacks in.

Diving down the rabbit hole one last inch, I wonder if last night may have been different if the pitching staff flubbing White Sox getaway day hadn't ended up needing to burn Jacob Webb 30 pitches in low leverage.

Here's to Bradish doing the Momentum is the next day's starting pitcher thing.