628 replies to this topic

[Slidemaster]

I haven't read through this whole thread, but the Caps had numerous first round flame outs with their core group before finally breaking through. Different sport obviously but I'm starting to get those same vibes/feelings from this team. Love that we have a winning team again, but it's starting to get to the point where the regular season is becoming irrelevant to my feelings about the team.

Good god man, be careful who you say that around!

[BSLRoseKatz]

I haven't read through this whole thread, but the Caps had numerous first round flame outs with their core  group before finally breaking through.  Different sport obviously but I'm starting to get those same vibes/feelings from this team.   Love that we have a winning team again, but it's starting to get to the point where the regular season is becoming irrelevant to my feelings about the team.  

 

The Braves got blown out at home in NLDS G5 in 2019, blew a 3-1 lead in the NLCS in 2020 (you're free to argue how much or how little 2020 results should count) and then won the WS in 2021 as a more recent example for baseball

[NewMarketSean]

"Regular season is irrelevant!"

 

Posts in every regular season game thread, especially if they lose. Especially.

 

Like football and the NBA, baseball has made the regular season less important. Texas and Arizona showed us why last year and who knows you could have two WC teams in the world series again this year. So the regular season absolutely matters in that you have to play well enough to win the division or clinch a wild card. But baseball has gone from the two best teams playing in the WS to the four best teams making the playoffs down to a NFL style wild card system that makes regular season less important.

[JoyinMudville]

A GIDP with the bases loaded and none out would have at least scored a second run.

 

Situational hitting.

 

There was a key moment in the first inning. KC had a runner on the 2nd, the batter made an out BUT he hit the ball to the right side of the infield which allowed the runner to advance to third.

 

Granted, that's easier said than done but more often than not it seemed like Oriole hitters were unable to execute that kind of baseball.

[JoyinMudville]

Full blown existential crisis again.

 

No, that's just a hangover

[JoyinMudville]

The Braves got blown out at home in NLDS G5 in 2019, blew a 3-1 lead in the NLCS in 2020 (you're free to argue how much or how little 2020 results should count) and then won the WS in 2021 as a more recent example for baseball

 

I mean, the O's won the World Series in 66 then fell short in 67, 68, and 69 before 70

 

I also remember the heartbreak of the 79 loss in the "We are Family" series and then we won it all in 83.

 

Look at that 83 team. On paper they don't look that great beyond Cal, Eddie, and Singleton... Rich Dauer? Tom Cruz? The people  who want to burn Adley Rutchsman's body in effigy should take a look Dempsey's stats (I get it, it was a different era but still)

[Nigel Tufnel]

Posnanski:


OK, look, we’ll have some time over the next week to talk a lot about the Royals. They’re about to play the New York Yankees in the postseason for the first time since sweeping them in the 1980 ALCS, and that’s really exciting.

Today, though, I have to ask: What the heck has happened to the Baltimore Orioles?

I cannot remember a deader playoff team than the Orioles in this series. It’s utterly baffling to me. Coming in, it was so clear that the Royals couldn’t score runs. At all. The Orioles, meanwhile, finished second in the league in runs scored, and they have super-exciting young hitters throughout their lineup, and they were at home, and this just seemed like such a good matchup for them. Yes, as mentioned, you can’t predict a three-game series. But this seemed like the Orioles’ best shot.

And their lineup just didn’t show up. The Royals, as predicted, couldn’t score runs. They managed three the whole series. That was enough. And look, Kansas City has good starting pitching—they started Cole Ragans and Seth Lugo, who will probably finish second and third in the Cy Young voting. But they came in with a gettable bullpen that didn’t strike out anybody and finished with the second-highest ERA among postseason teams (only the Orioles’ bullpen ERA was higher).

And that Royals bullpen not only threw 8⅔ scoreless innings over the two games, but they allowed only two hits. The Orioles’ young stars barely even seemed to be there. Gunnar Henderson—who looked like the league MVP for much of the season, went 0-for-7 with four strikeouts. Anthony Santander, who finished second to Aaron Judge in home runs with 44, went 1-for-8 with a single. Adley Rutschman, who is the very heart of this team, also went 1-for-8 with a ground-ball single.

Everything about Wednesday’s game from a Baltimore standpoint just felt depressing. The game wasn’t all that close to a sellout. The Royals scored right away, and the Orioles’ players came out with no energy at all. Baltimore manager Brandon Hyde just kept changing pitchers as if he was searching for the one who could give up a run. Cedric Mullins did give the fans a thrill with a leadoff homer in the fifth off Lugo, and then the Orioles loaded the bases with nobody out. There was a bit of buzz, finally. Then:

Santander hit an infield pop-up against Lugo.

Colton Cowser, facing reliever Angel Zerpa, struck out on a fastball that was so far inside it actually hit him.

Rutschman hit a hard ground ball that Witt gloved and fired to first.

And that was the end of the buzz. Baltimore went down quickly and quietly after that, and I just don’t get this team at all. The Orioles sure seemed to me to be baseball’s next superteam. They have all of this young talent coming together at the same time. They have new ownership made up of actual Orioles fans, including Cal Ripken Jr. They have this glorious baseball history. I dunno. Maybe it comes together next year. Of course, wait ’til next year is the loser’s lament, isn’t it?

[Mackus]

Sounds like Posnanski hasn't watched much baseball since June.

[BaltBird 24]

Yeah, they were pretty much a dead in the water team from July on. We kept waiting for a switch to flip that never came. They were able to tread water for most of the season until bottoming out in mid September. They had a decent final week against two teams who had packed it in for the playoffs or for the season.

No one who watched this team consistently over the final two months had high hopes of a deep post season run. They weren't good enough.

[Pedro Cerrano]

Sounds like Posnanski hasn't watched much baseball since June.

At least not the Os. This was a lazy piece. All he had to do was 10 seconds of research to realize we’ve stunk for months.

[ivanbalt]

Sounds like Posnanski hasn't watched much baseball since June.

That's what happens when a lazy writer simply looks at total stats from a very long season.  Tigers probably don't look very good if you look at the entire season.

[NewMarketSean]

He isn't wrong but yeah his piece lacks the context of the last 3 months.

[You Play to Win the Game]

My 2024 October Fanatic shirt gets here today. Yay.

 

I'm still freaking heart broken over this one. And that's on me. We've all known this team was shot for a while now. I let the last week of the season and the celebration in NY reel me back in.

 

I still can't get over all the empty seats on Wednesday night. Tampa Bay Rays 2.0. No championships, apathetic/limited fan support - just a lot of flirting and heavy petting. Beats losing 90+ a year, but I want a damn ring.

[NewMarketSean]

I don't know why people are so hung up on the empty seats. It was crappy weather. The game was 4:30 PM. The O's had lost on Tuesday.

 

But yeah maybe some people let the late season collapse sway them and WC attendance seems to be down across the league. But there are too many playoff games now and they charge a premium for them. $66 for tickets that are usually $20. Increased parking prices too. I'm surprised the concessions weren't jacked up too but don't let me give them any ideas.

[mweb08]

I don't know why people are so hung up on the empty seats. It was crappy weather. The game was 4:30 PM. The O's had lost on Tuesday.

But yeah maybe some people let the late season collapse sway them and WC attendance seems to be down across the league. But there are too many playoff games now and they charge a premium for them. $66 for tickets that are usually $20. Increased parking prices too. I'm surprised the concessions weren't jacked up too but don't let me give them any ideas.

The weather wasn't crappy.

[TwentyThirtyFive]

My 2024 October Fanatic shirt gets here today. Yay.

I'm still freaking heart broken over this one. And that's on me. We've all known this team was shot for a while now. I let the last week of the season and the celebration in NY reel me back in.

I still can't get over all the empty seats on Wednesday night. Tampa Bay Rays 2.0. No championships, apathetic/limited fan support - just a lot of flirting and heavy petting. Beats losing 90+ a year, but I want a damn ring.

Sad. Multiple things make me sad. One being no Os baseball this weekend. 6 months for it to end like that is brutal

[BSLMikeLowe]

My 2024 October Fanatic shirt gets here today. Yay.

Oof. I hope they accept returns. If not, maybe they give you the option to donate it. You know, like the World Champions gear they make in advance, and the team that loses has all their stuff sent to some remote village in New Guinea. Then years in the future you’re watching some news clip or documentary and see some guy wearing it and say “hey, I bet that was MY shirt!”

 

[TwentyThirtyFive]

Still baffled beyond belief at the Cowser K. If Im not an Os fan thats the funniest s**t Ive seen on the field in a long time

[NewMarketSean]

The weather wasn't crappy.

Yea it was it was crappy all week

[NewMarketSean]

Still baffled beyond belief at the Cowser K. If Im not an Os fan thats the funniest s**t Ive seen on the field in a long time

That is why I said it was as bad or worse than Cust crawling toward home. Just an inconceivable way to fail at a critical time.

Baltimore teams sure do know how to fail epically. That’s for sure.