The O’s - Rangers ALDS

[Can_of_corn]

5 minutes ago, Frobby said:

It would be incredibly disappointing to be swept in the ALDS after going 1.75 years without having ever been swept in a series.  

On the bright side that won't impact the regular season streak!

[Aristotelian]

16 minutes ago, Frobby said:

It would be incredibly disappointing to be swept in the ALDS after going 1.75 years without having ever been swept in a series.  

Yes it would, but they came darn close to beating us three in a row the last time we played them. I don't think it will happen, but I don't know that it won't happen. Prepared for any outcome! 

[Frobby]

16 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

The Rangers pose a lot of problems for the Os. Those of us who wanted the Rangers may end up regretting that.

After the benefit of doing more research on them, Tampa was the team you wanted to play.

With the benefit of hindsight, Tampa was a badly wounded team by playoff time.  No Wander Franco (126 OPS+), no Luke Raley (126), no Brandon Lowe (113).  The Raley and Lowe injuries happened in the last 10 days of the season.  I give the Rays  credit for playing through that down the stretch, but eventually, it really diluted their lineup.  That’s without getting into all the starting pitchers they lost earlier in the year.   

[Aristotelian]

21 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

The Rangers pose a lot of problems for the Os. Those of us who wanted the Rangers may end up regretting that.

After the benefit of doing more research on them, Tampa was the team you wanted to play.

If Tampa had beaten Texas 2-0 I guarantee we'd be dreading Tampa and anyone wanting Tampa would be regretting it. 

[AdamK]

8 minutes ago, Aristotelian said:

If Tampa had beaten Texas 2-0 I guarantee we'd be dreading Tampa and anyone wanting Tampa would be regretting it. 

Agree. 

 

Both teams are formidable. So are our Os.

[Sports Guy]

10 minutes ago, Frobby said:

With the benefit of hindsight, Tampa was a badly wounded team by playoff time.  No Wander Franco (126 OPS+), no Luke Raley (126), no Brandon Lowe (113).  The Raley and Lowe injuries happened in the last 10 days of the season.  I give the Rays  credit for playing through that down the stretch, but eventually, it really diluted their lineup.  That’s without getting into all the starting pitchers they lost earlier in the year.   

Well we knew they were hurt. They had just lost Lowe and had so many pitching injuries.

But their team has been decimated with injuries the last few years.

[Number5]

Texas would rather they had not blown their lead in the West and be playing Minnesota with the home field advantage, I'm sure.  My guess is their fans aren't happy that they're playing the Orioles.

[Sports Guy]

11 minutes ago, Aristotelian said:

If Tampa had beaten Texas 2-0 I guarantee we'd be dreading Tampa and anyone wanting Tampa would be regretting it. 

Maybe if you do the research on the Rangers, they are pretty clearly the team you didn’t want.

I didn’t do that before the playoffs, so I wanted to play them more than Tampa.

[Aristotelian]

Just now, Sports Guy said:

Well we knew they were hurt. They had just lost Lowe and had so many pitching injuries.

But their team has been decimated with injuries the last few years.

And they have been winning without Lowe and Franco at times all year.

[Frobby]

13 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

Well we knew they were hurt. They had just lost Lowe and had so many pitching injuries.

But their team has been decimated with injuries the last few years.

Under the literal definition of “decimated,” that’s an understatement.  

I started doing an accounting of the AL East injuries last night.   I haven’t finished yet, but Tampa had 24 players go on the IL at some point this year, including 5 pitchers with TJ surgery (2 carrying over from last year, and 3 new ones during this season).  The O’s had 14 players go on the IL.  I’ll write up the details in another thread later.  
 

Edited October 6, 2023 by Frobby

[Sports Guy]

7 minutes ago, Frobby said:

Under the literal definition of “decimated,” that’s an understatement.  

I started doing an accounting of the AL East injuries last night.   I haven’t finished yet, but Tampa had 24 players go on the IL at some point this year, including 5 pitchers with TJ surgery (2 carrying over from last year, and 3 new ones during this season).  The O’s had 14 players go on the IL.  I’ll write up the details in another thread later.  
 

And then look at last year too.

And it’s not just the injuries, it’s the level of player that’s being hurt.

Now, with all the arm injuries they have had, it does make you wonder if their pitching program is an issue with something they are doing. But some of it is just plain bad luck.

[Can_of_corn]

17 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

And then look at last year too.

And it’s not just the injuries, it’s the level of player that’s being hurt.

Now, with all the arm injuries they have had, it does make you wonder if their pitching program is an issue with something they are doing. But some of it is just plain bad luck.

Didn't they have a stretch pre-pandemic in which their pitching stayed ridiculously healthy for an extended period of time?

I think it's just the whims of fate.

[baltfan]

1 hour ago, Aristotelian said:

Yes it would, but they came darn close to beating us three in a row the last time we played them. I don't think it will happen, but I don't know that it won't happen. Prepared for any outcome! 

They mauled the old Grayson and beat Kremer.  The old Grayson isn’t starting and Kremer would likely come out of the bullpen.  
 

also the relievers they scored against were Voth, Baker, and Cano.  Cano is the only one that is still here though he was great when they got their run off of him, so that might mean something. 

[Sports Guy]

11 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

Didn't they have a stretch pre-pandemic in which their pitching stayed ridiculously healthy for an extended period of time?

I think it's just the whims of fate.

I’m not sure about that. They had a lot of major injuries pre pandemic too. That could also have been the normal amount of injuries too though.

[Frobby]

26 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

Didn't they have a stretch pre-pandemic in which their pitching stayed ridiculously healthy for an extended period of time?

I think it's just the whims of fate.

I tracked this stuff for the AL East tesms for a decade back in 2010-19.   Tampa had fantastic success from 2010-13, losing only 337 season games for starting pitchers over those four years combined.  But they came back to the pack as the decade progressed, finishing the decade with 1,544 season games lost over the 10 year period, about average for the AL East (meaning they were worse than average over the final 6 years of the decade).   The Orioles were by far the healthiest, losing only 954 season games during the decade.

Edited October 6, 2023 by Frobby