32 replies to this topic

[bmore_ken]

I'll have what you're having Stoner! Happy Friday!

Me too bro. That must be some good stuff.

[Ravens2006]

No need to specify which decade...

[glenn__davis]

I feel pretty confident that they'll have multiples teams capable of making the WS this decade.  But the baseball playoffs are a crapshoot.

[BSLSteveBirrer]

I feel pretty confident that they'll have multiples teams capable of making the WS this decade.  But the baseball playoffs are a crapshoot.

Baseball is the one sport where the game is just so different than it is during the regular season. Stupid. Get rid of all the days off and make it look like the regular season.

[weird-O]

Stoner being Stoner. A bit too far, but its not unrealistic.

Ask the Tampa, Milwaukee and Cleveland fans how they feel about the O's likelihood of making multiple WS visits in the next 8 seasons.  

[ivanbalt]

Being in the bottom 5-10 in payroll is pretty much a guarantee you won't win a World Series.

[PrimeTime]

It’ll be another 40 if John doesn’t sell the team. Such a doomed franchise. So jealous of all the fans before us who got to see our beloved team at the top of the sport.

 

I always enjoyed talking to my old man about the glory days. I know it's been said many times but from 1965-1983, the Birds were the winningest franchise in North American professional sports. Simply incredible.

 

Imagine if there was a wild card in those days. From 1968 to 1982, we finished second 7 times. In 1977, we won 97 games and finished 2nd. In 1980, we won 100 games in another 2nd place finish. 

[PrimeTime]

Being in the bottom 5-10 in payroll is pretty much a guarantee you won't win a World Series.

 

The only way you overcome this is if your homegrown talent just all pops. Speaking specifically on this years team, the "veteran" core of Mullins, Mountcastle, Santander, Hays and Urias are all pretty solid, everyday type players and Mullins and Santander have All Star talent. With the arrival of Rutschman and Henderson and both of them having borderline MVP level talent, I think we're going to be a good offensive club. 

 

The ultimate question is what will the pitching be? Do Kramer and Bradish (once healthy) solidify themselves as consistent SPs? What does John Means look like this summer and where does he fit in? Does Grayson stick and establish himself as a top of the rotation starter? If so, what happens with the rotation? Wells to the pen seems like the logical move. If that happens, along with Givens and Tate getting healthy, the bullpen becomes very formidable. 

 

This is a long winded way of saying that with a young team, you really have to catch lightning in a bottle, so to speak. 

[ivanbalt]

The only way you overcome this is if your homegrown talent just all pops. Speaking specifically on this years team, the "veteran" core of Mullins, Mountcastle, Santander, Hays and Urias are all pretty solid, everyday type players and Mullins and Santander have All Star talent. With the arrival of Rutschman and Henderson and both of them having borderline MVP level talent, I think we're going to be a good offensive club. 

 

The ultimate question is what will the pitching be? Do Kramer and Bradish (once healthy) solidify themselves as consistent SPs? What does John Means look like this summer and where does he fit in? Does Grayson stick and establish himself as a top of the rotation starter? If so, what happens with the rotation? Wells to the pen seems like the logical move. If that happens, along with Givens and Tate getting healthy, the bullpen becomes very formidable. 

 

This is a long winded way of saying that with a young team, you really have to catch lightning in a bottle, so to speak. 

I don't disagree and I see a lot of potential.  But there's no way they can get over the hump without supplementing the homegrown talent with some proven players.  Plus they're going to need to retain young players which costs money unless they're going full blown Tampa Bay.  But the Orioles don't have a Cy Young factory like the Rays do so it would likely fail.

[mdrunning]

Still remember being there for Game 1 of the '83 WS.

 

While the Colts were still several months from sneaking out of town, if you told me then that Baltimore would celebrate two Super Bowls over the next 40 years without so much as a single WS appearance, I'd have said you needed your head examined.

I had a chance to go to Game 7 of the 1979 Series against Pittsburgh. Friend of mine had an extra ticket, but my parents wouldn't let me go since it was a school night. Turns out they probably did me a favor. 

[mdrunning]

I was in the LF stands about halfway up.

Cool story. I was only five years old in 1970, so I don't remember much about that Oriole team, but if I recall correctly, Game 5 of that Series didn't even sell out. I think I read where the attendance that day was somewhere around 45,000 or so, which was below capacity for Memorial Stadium. I believe there was also a rain delay which held up the start time.

 

Back then, the Orioles typically didn't even draw a million fans for the season. In fact, their slogan for the 1974 season was "A million or more in '74." Today that would seem laughable. The Colts were still the premier draw in Baltimore at that time. It really didn't start to change until the Series year of 1979 which also coincided with Bob Irsay turning the Colt franchise into manure.

 

BTW my first playoff game was Game 1 of the 1973 ALCS against Oakland. Jim Palmer was the winning pitcher that day, but the Orioles ultimately lost to the A's in five.

[BSLChrisStoner]

Baltimore Magazine: 40 Years Ago... 

https://www.baltimor...yklEArAfTkt5wNM

[Mike B]

I was in the Vet for the Clinching Game 5.  Four of us bought tickets Game 5.  I remember the classy Philly fans giving us hell when we went into the stadium, and remember telling my buddies, we needed to be cool because Philadelphia fans are assholes.  That lasted (for me) until Eddie Murray hit one off his name on the scoreboard.  We all went nuts, and I remember thinking they were not getting McGregor that day.  Then Dempsey hit one and then Eddie followed up with a near identical shot as the first one.  At that point, we were counting it down.

The drive home was a blast and again the Philly fans showed their true class by pointing out we were #1.  I am not sure they were using the right finger though.  

1983 was a fun year.