TT: This is who the Orioles are right now (23-27 in last 50 games)

[EdwinRip]

Houston is the only team in the AL that has been hot recently.  The orioles, Yankees, guardians, etc have all been playing similarly.  Can the orioles get hot? Will the astros stay hot?  No team in baseball is on pace for above 95 wins.  While the orioles have not been inspiring anyone with their play, they have company.

[bpilktree67]

12 hours ago, Baseball fandom said:

The problem is something has gone wrong with the hitting too. Henderson, Adly, Mountcastke, Mullins,  etc just hasn't been performing as well as we had hope the last couple of months.  I read somewhere that the Orioles lead MLB with the most games with 3 runs or less scored. That's a problem. 

That is definitely false.  I haven’t looked at 3 runs but we have the fewest number of games scoring 2 runs or less in the league so no way we have most games scoring 3 or less in league.  I would bet we are probably the best in league there or close to top.  

[gtman55]

Last year when we watched this team we got to a point where we expected them to win or come from behind. Now every game we're on edge wondering if the offense will or won't show up and if our sieve of a bullpen will actually keep us in the game.

At this point, it's one game at a time and hope for the best. The schedule is tough. Injuries have depleted the team. Hyde has made more head scratching than usual. And yet we're holding our own because mediocrity is everywhere this year.

The rest of the year expect a lot of nail biters and games that will make you scream (and not in a good way). Hopefully we can finish strong.

[glenn__davis]

55 minutes ago, dtk9119 said:

All of the hanging hopes on this team because "the Rangers got hot last year in the playoffs" was a once in a lifetime thing. So I completely disregard that.

That's not true at all. There have been many mediocre teams, particularly in recent memory as more teams are added, that just got hot at the right time.  That's what the baseball playoffs are all about.  Who happens to be playing well in October?

[Royle]

5 minutes ago, glenn__davis said:

That's not true at all. There have been many mediocre teams, particularly in recent memory as more teams are added, that just got hot at the right time.  That's what the baseball playoffs are all about.  Who happens to be playing well in October?

Arizona finished 16-17 last year on their way to 84 wins.  Then they ran off 3 straight postseason series wins going 7-3 before running into the Rangers in the WS.

The year before the Phillies went 7-13 after September 15 and finished with 87 wins.  They went 9-2 in winning their 3 postseason series and got to the WS.

The 2014 Giants plodded along at 13-12 after September 1st,  finished with 88 wins, and then had a postseason record of 12-5 when they won it all.

The 2006 Cardinals finished 83-78, after a 25-36 run at the end of the year.  Then they won the NLDS, NLCS, and WS, going  11-5 in the postseason.

[Yardball85]

On 8/18/2024 at 12:48 PM, LookitsPuck said:

This team most likely will miss the playoffs. Elias didn’t make the right moves at the deadline going for quantity and not quality to patch a massive problem that the O’s have.

Like the OP said, Elias had a mixed bag at the deadline. But Eflin and Dominguez (to a lesser extent) definitely qualify as quality. 

[interloper]

On 8/18/2024 at 12:48 PM, LookitsPuck said:

This team most likely will miss the playoffs. Elias didn’t make the right moves at the deadline going for quantity and not quality to patch a massive problem that the O’s have.

That's a fairly laughable take coming from someone who should know better. "Likely miss the playoffs"? There's almost no chance they DON'T make the playoffs. They would have to utterly collapse and play well, well under .500 ball. 

Edited August 19 by interloper

[sportsfan8703]

15 minutes ago, interloper said:

That's a fairly laughable take coming from someone who should know better. "Likely miss the playoffs"? There's almost no chance they DON'T make the playoffs. They would have to utterly collapse and play well, well under .500 ball. 

Even 15-22 puts us at 88-74.  We aight.  Just gotta get back to hitting.  

[bpilktree67]

2 hours ago, dtk9119 said:

All of the hanging hopes on this team because "the Rangers got hot last year in the playoffs" was a once in a lifetime thing. So I completely disregard that.

Getting guys back healthy is key, but even a healthy Westburg (assuming he is fully healthy and playoff ready), will not solve the "unclutchiness".

Like someone said above, I think Columbe is the key. Even with the "unclutchiness" of the offense, a stable BP where everyone knows their roles is a much bigger factor heading into the playoffs.

I would feel a lot better about this team if the trends start to change back to April/May over the next 37 games even before the injured players get back. The next 10 games vs NYM, HOU, and LAD will tell a lot about this team and if those trends start to reverse.

Once in a lifetime when the exact same thing happened to the Diamondbacks last year as well.  They were even bigger long shots than the Rangers to get to the World Series.  They were under .500 in mid August last year and were just 84-78 on the season and had lost 4 in a row heading into the playoffs.

[bpilktree67]

1 hour ago, gtman55 said:

Last year when we watched this team we got to a point where we expected them to win or come from behind. Now every game we're on edge wondering if the offense will or won't show up and if our sieve of a bullpen will actually keep us in the game.

At this point, it's one game at a time and hope for the best. The schedule is tough. Injuries have depleted the team. Hyde has made more head scratching than usual. And yet we're holding our own because mediocrity is everywhere this year.

The rest of the year expect a lot of nail biters and games that will make you scream (and not in a good way). Hopefully we can finish strong.

Who is we.  I don’t worry much about the offense we have scored 5+ runs in half the games.  They score 3+ runs in about 75% of the games which is the 2nd highest percentage in baseball.  They will get there runs most games.  

[e16bball]

1 hour ago, Yardball85 said:

Like the OP said, Elias had a mixed bag at the deadline. But Eflin and Dominguez (to a lesser extent) definitely qualify as quality. 

I think the bigger problem with the critique you were responding to is that they really did need “quantity.”

I’m generally a huge believer in the notion of “quality over quantity.” But with the way this pitching staff has been decimated with injuries — and guys falling off at the most inopportune time — the answer here unfortunately was not just to go get one or two top guys and really raise the ceiling of the team. They needed multiple starters and multiple relievers to patch the holes that have been ripped in this roster by all the injuries. 

And we know that because of exactly the point you raised: both Eflin and Dominguez have been 100% pure “quality” since they got here, but it hasn’t been enough. Eflin has gone 4-0 with a 2.13 ERA and Dominguez has a 1.74 ERA through 10 appearances — you could have traded for Skubal and Tanner Scott, and you would not have gotten any markedly better performance than that. In fact, both of our guys have been better than those guys since the deadline.

But we’re still only 12-11 since the Hays trade started our deadline dealing, in large part because our pitching staff boasts a collective 4.90 ERA in that time frame, despite the efforts of those two. The guys not named Eflin and Dominguez have combined for a 5.52 ERA. Shooting for “quality over quantity” was never going to fix that.

 

It sucks that we’re here. It’s devastating that 7 of the top 13ish pitchers in the organization are currently out with injuries, and it hurts even more that two others are basically unusable at the moment due to ineffectiveness (Kimbrel/Irvin). But this is a problem that couldn’t have been solved by just bringing in a Skubal/Crochet or a high-end closer — they needed to seek “quantity.”

[big_sparxx]

We can all speculate on coulda woulda shoulda stuff. We can all do whataboutisms until the cows come home.

At the end of the day last year was an anomaly and this year, the ship has righted itself.

Are we a good team. Yes.

Can we win with this team? No.

Do we have more questions than answers? Yes.

Is Brandon Hyde's job on the line?

[SteveA]

9 minutes ago, big_sparxx said:

We can all speculate on coulda woulda shoulda stuff. We can all do whataboutisms until the cows come home.

At the end of the day last year was an anomaly and this year, the ship has righted itself.

Are we a good team. Yes.

Can we win with this team? No.

Do we have more questions than answers? Yes.

Is Brandon Hyde's job on the line?

So you say "No" to can we win with this team.

So that would imply you don't think this team is championship caliber.

Yet Hyde has managed them to the best record in the American League, despite not being championship caliber [in your opinion].

So why even ask if his job is on the line?????

[survivedc]

10 minutes ago, big_sparxx said:

We can all speculate on coulda woulda shoulda stuff. We can all do whataboutisms until the cows come home.

At the end of the day last year was an anomaly and this year, the ship has righted itself.

Are we a good team. Yes.

Can we win with this team? No.

Do we have more questions than answers? Yes.

Is Brandon Hyde's job on the line?

How do you know we can’t win with this team? Also, I really disagree with the more questions than answers bit. We’ve learned that: Gunnar is a legit star, Cowser is a major leaguer, Westburg is a starter with all star upside, we have 2 top level starters for next year and 2 more capable filler guys, the minor leaguers have continued to develop. 
What long term questions have evolved out of this season?

[Too Tall]

16 minutes ago, big_sparxx said:

We can all speculate on coulda woulda shoulda stuff. We can all do whataboutisms until the cows come home.

At the end of the day last year was an anomaly and this year, the ship has righted itself.

Are we a good team. Yes.

Can we win with this team? No.

Do we have more questions than answers? Yes.

Is Brandon Hyde's job on the line?

NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Finished that for you.