Observations at the end of the regular season....

[Sanity Check]

1. If the Orioles had signed Jack Flaherty, Seth Lugo and Chris Sale to bolster our pitching staff last off-season, this place would have gone ballistic, and not in a good way.

2.  The Orioles ended the regular season last year flat as a pancake, and it carried into the offseason.  This year, while under the pressure of trying to keep up with the Yankees, the team struggled mightily to find consistent offense and any overall consistency.  Once that pressure waned with us knowing our destiny, guys seemed to loosen up, and we saw the offense come back.  I thought that might happen.  However, my question is, after laying an egg in the playoffs last year and recent struggles despite the last two series, does the pressure of the postseason put us back in the funk we saw throughout most of August and September?

3.  I've seen a consistent theme in this forum over the past week or two which is this:  "All we have to do is get hot at the right time, like Texas did last year."  While I agree that's true, and want us to be that team this year, isn't that statement kind of an admission that without getting hot, we're not good enough on our own merits to persevere in the tournament?  And before I get crucified for saying that, I'll point to what everyone has witnessed in recent months:  Bad/inconsistent bullpen, inconsistent offense, questions about our starting pitching, defensive lapses and being prone to not showing up offensively.  And please, let's not act like some, or all of these, don't exist.  

That all being said, Go O's!!!!!  Let's get hot!!

[BRobinsonfan]

1 hour ago, Sanity Check said:

1. If the Orioles had signed Jack Flaherty, Seth Lugo and Chris Sale to bolster our pitching staff last off-season, this place would have gone ballistic, and not in a good way.

2.  The Orioles ended the regular season last year flat as a pancake, and it carried into the offseason.  This year, while under the pressure of trying to keep up with the Yankees, the team struggled mightily to find consistent offense and any overall consistency.  Once that pressure waned with us knowing our destiny, guys seemed to loosen up, and we saw the offense come back.  I thought that might happen.  However, my question is, after laying an egg in the playoffs last year and recent struggles despite the last two series, does the pressure of the postseason put us back in the funk we saw throughout most of August and September?

3.  I've seen a consistent theme in this forum over the past week or two which is this:  "All we have to do is get hot at the right time, like Texas did last year."  While I agree that's true, and want us to be that team this year, isn't that statement kind of an admission that without getting hot, we're not good enough on our own merits to persevere in the tournament?  And before I get crucified for saying that, I'll point to what everyone has witnessed in recent months:  Bad/inconsistent bullpen, inconsistent offense, questions about our starting pitching, defensive lapses and being prone to not showing up offensively.  And please, let's not act like some, or all of these, don't exist.  

That all being said, Go O's!!!!!  Let's get hot!!

I think the "offense coming back" had more to do with the offense coming back (from injuries) and less to do about them "knowing their destiny and loosening up."  

[Frobby]

1 hour ago, Sanity Check said:

isn't that statement kind of an admission that without getting hot, we're not good enough on our own merits to persevere in the tournament? 

I don’t think so, any more than usual.  I think the team that wins is usually a team that is playing above its average level at the time.  There was no super team in baseball this year - they all had their ups and downs.   So we’ll see who picks the right time to play well.  

[Sports Guy]

#1 is true and it’s also why you don’t have to keep Burnes.

[Aristotelian]

1. It's not too hard to cherry pick guys who had success in hindsight. The problem is picking those guys in advance. Not sure what your point is here. Yes, it would suck losing to a pitcher like Lugo but maybe Danny Coulombe gets some big outs or Ramon Urias is the series MVP. 

2. Last year we choked. Hope it's different this year. Also let's not forget the opponent matters. Sometimes you run into a buzzsaw, it happens. 

3. We have all the pieces necessary to win a championship but there are 11 other teams and it's hard to win the WS. Yes, we have weaknesses. If I had to guess, we will beat KC but fall short of the championship. Whatever happens, go O's. 

 

[dystopia]

Lugo is pretty underrated honestly. 

[Spy Fox]

Other than having to get through the WC round, I think this roster is situated equally or better than last year's to make a run. Yes they won 10 fewer games but when you look at talent going into October, this year's team is just as capable. 

Reflecting on this season, I think the two greatest differences from last year are 1) the in-season injuries, 2) not having Bautista. With many of our injured guys back, Eflin filling in for one of the injured SP spots, and Bautista missing last year's postseason anyways, those two things aren't differences in October. 

So, I think the "maybe we can go on a run like Texas" emphasis comes from watching the team struggle for two months. Not because they are only good enough if they get get hot. I think on top to bottom talent it is still them and the Yankees as the two best teams in the AL. NYY, Cleveland, and Houston will not be happy if Baltimore shows up on their schedule and will be relieved if KC gets through. 

[HowAboutThat]

Exactly what does “getting hot” mean?

It means that everyone, at the same time, is playing to their best qualities and avoiding bonehead mistakes.

the last week we saw that, and the Os had their best week in a while.

So maybe the Os are getting hot.

[Sanity Check]

1 hour ago, Aristotelian said:

1. It's not too hard to cherry pick guys who had success in hindsight. The problem is picking those guys in advance. Not sure what your point is here.

 

My point was, in retrospect, all three would have been very solid pickups, but Elias would have been vilified had he made those moves at the time.  It's what many people do here....and by "ballistic", I was referring to the typical overreactions that we see here regularly.

Suarez wasn't a sexy pickup, and it was deemed a dumpster dive by some, and let's face it, as McCann said in the postgame interview yesterday, he's a huge reason that we ended up where we did.

[Sanity Check]

1 hour ago, HowAboutThat said:

Exactly what does “getting hot” mean?

It means that everyone, at the same time, is playing to their best qualities and avoiding bonehead mistakes.

the last week we saw that, and the Os had their best week in a while.

So maybe the Os are getting hot.

We did see the O's pick up steam over the last week, and yes, some guys came back.  What I am wondering is - and we will know in a week or so - did they pick up steam because there was less pressure about making the playoffs, once that was determined/clinched, or have we truly turned a corner?  I think it's a fair question.  I hope it's the latter, but  I fear it's the former.

[spleen1015]

I feel like this 'so-called' pressure is another OH made up psychological problem that folks like to create when things aren't going as expected.

They just sucked for a few months.