“That ball is hit in the air to deep left field. Hays going back at the wall! It’s Gone! It’s a Grand Slam!”
I thought the 2019 Ravens suffered the most shocking playoff loss in recent Baltimore Sports memory. Turns out that they’ve got some company. (And just like that January night this will be hard to recover from) In no way did I think the Orioles wouldn’t win a game in the playoffs this year after the season they’ve had. Look at what they’ve done. Winning 100 games for the first time since 1980, overcoming a record start by the Tampa Bay Rays to capture the AL East, making generations of Yankees fans miserable in late July, the ghosts of Brooks Robinson shining down on them (We really thought this would be another 2012 Art Modell remembrance), an offense full of talent and depth across the board, plus a pitching staff that was on fire in September even without Felix Bautista. There was no way that this would happen especially with how much excitement was in the air. We were all fooled. Behold one of the greatest postseason embarrassments in franchise history. Getting swept by the Texas Rangers in the ALDS as the #1 seed. (By the way, that’s the first time they’ve ever been swept in a series in the Adley Rutschman Era) A TEAM THAT CHOKED A 6.5 GAME LEAD IN AUGUST WITH ONE OF THE WORST BULLPENS IN BASEBALL! AND NOT ONLY THAT THEY GOT TACTICALLY SPANKED BY THEM! I get the O’s had little playoff experience, BUT THIS! DID ANYONE BOTHER TO SHOW UP WHEN IT TRULY MATTERED! Couldn’t tell from how rusty they were after a week off. What did you expect, Texas and their potent hitting lineup to whiff at everything, now we just need to throw pitches slightly out of the strike zone to make their hitters chase, that’ll certainly do the trick. (The Rangers drew the most walks in baseball this year) Oh my goodness, a team that has more playoff experience and a Hall of Fame manager on their side is the one dominating. HOW ABSOLUTELY SHOCKING! Don’t give excuses about how the playoff seeding was misjudged and how Texas’ lineup was unstoppable. The Orioles did this to themselves. Did you see how inconsistent they were against weaker opponents since August? A team that had the 2nd lowest ERA in baseball over the last 6 weeks of the season completely self-destructed! This team thought they could beat the big guns in the AL. Really? Where was that in this series? This is the same thing that happened to them during the Showalter years. Getting exposed at the worst possible time and turned into three true outcome players. Make that 8 straight playoff losses. That is now the longest active streak in baseball. Texas, you earned this victory. You got revenge for the 2012 Wild Card Game and put this organization right back in its place. Where’s my ax, because I need it badly? PAUSE.
Do you want to know what Mike Elias’ biggest regret was this year? The fact that he didn’t go after middle relief at the trade deadline. This was their biggest Achilles heel all season, and it proved to be their biggest downfall in the playoffs. I know Dillon Tate, and Mychal Givens were injured, and Tyler Wells just came back from the injured list, but seriously. You needed another arm. Jack Flaherty and Fujinami were good acquisitions at the time but one of them has a dead arm, and the other hasn’t regained his old form. Not to mention why are you giving Jacob Webb and Bryan Baker roster spots, they’ve been liabilities all season. And with how depleted the pen was, there was no surprise Texas took full advantage of it. But hey at least DL Hall, and Cionel Perez look like studs. Although I want to believe that he’s about to be mind controlled by the Angelos and become the next Dan Duquette by making boneheaded trades. That’s probably what it truly is. When is the next Scott Feldman Trade happening? PAUSE.
Brandon Hyde needs to have his head examined by team doctors after how much idiotic overmanaging he pulled in this series. What baffles me is that he’s learned nothing from some of the mistakes he’s made this year. (Like pulling starters when they’ve been in control. However that wasn’t the case this series) Game 1 I understand his thinking because Bradish was at 90 pitches and the Rangers had clearly figured him out. But Game 2 was ridiculous. Here’s the situation, Grayson Rodriguez couldn’t get out of the 2nd inning because he wouldn’t stop putting guys on base. (They walked a season high 11 batters. THROW A FIRST PITCH STRIKE DARN IT!) You have Flaherty, and Wells ready to go out of the pen. Who do you go to? BRYAN BAKER! Am I supposed to be shocked that he walked the bases loaded to open the inning? And then Hyde chucked Jacob Webb out there to give up a Grand Slam to Mitch Garver not even 24 hours after he got rocked by Josh Jung. (Pulling Danny Coulombe after one batter was a disaster waiting to happen wasn’t it) Turns out that leaving Jorge Lopez off the playoff roster was a big mistake after all even if he struggled in his last few appearances. Starting Dean Kremer over Kyle Gibson in an elimination game when his mind was focused overseas, that’ll definitely work out won’t it? Don’t give me crap about John Means, he would have gotten lit up by Texas as well. You somehow made John Harbaugh look humble in disguise when it comes to analytics and in game managing. Do you know how hard that is to do? Have fun dealing with John Angelos breathing down your neck in the offseason Brandon. If you don’t get along with him, you’ll end up like Davey Johnson and Jon Miller did after 1997. PAUSE.
I’m not wasting any time on the Angelos Family. They probably won’t fix this pitching staff over the winter, and they’ll hope that a bunch of cheap fixes will solve all of those issues. (You’re not Tampa Bay when it comes to starting pitching development! How do you not know this?) PAUSE.
What the hell happened to this offense? Didn’t Rutschman say that they weren’t scared of anyone? Where was that all series? Do you want to know who their best hitter in this series was? Jorge Mateo. You’re not winning a game let alone a series with that in mind. Don’t bring up Game 2, Texas wasn’t even trying during the final 3 innings, and weren’t throwing pitches in the mid 90s. Twice they had two on and no one out in the 7th and 8th innings of Game 1 and didn’t score because they forgot to call a sacrifice bunt. (In the playoffs, you need to do that in order to win) I know the narrative is to say that Jackson Holliday will save them next year, but let’s not pretend that he needs time to develop. Not to mention they were horrible on the bases as well especially in late game situations. (Gunnar why are you stealing in a 9th inning situation to begin with) An issue that this team has had since Earl Weaver left after 1982. PAUSE.
(Königgrätzer Marsch playing) Do you know what bothers me the most about this devastating loss? This may have been their shot to make a run at a World Series appearance. In the AL East there is no guarantee that you’ll be back here again unless your name is the Yankees or Red Sox plus Tampa and Toronto aren’t going away either. (And they won’t be down for long) I know as an O’s fan the narrative is that this is the learning experience year, but a loss like this is hard to recover from. Just ask the Ravens about how that worked out for them. In 2019 they went 14-2 and benefitted off Big Ben suffering Tommy John, the Browns being a mess with Freddie Kitchens, and the Bengals tanking for Joe Burrow. Once they lost to the Titans, they lost that mental edge in physicality, the coaching staff got exposed they weren’t the same because the division got stronger especially Cincinnati and the narrative right now is that they haven’t recovered from that loss. (Harbaugh is still there because they fire head coaches) That is my biggest fear with the Orioles right now. This series against Texas is going to lay plenty of their flaws bare, especially involving their pitching staff. And the Orioles are historically bad when it comes to developing starting pitching. It’ll probably be more of the same next year considering that the Angelos rarely spend. And worse, they don’t have a true closer because Bautista is out for all of next season. “But the future is brighter than ever!” Yeah we said this back in 2014 after their ALCS run and look how it turned out. (Jeter retired, Joe Maddon left for the Cubs, the Jays hadn’t traded for Josh Donaldson, and the Red Sox hadn’t traded for Chris Sale yet) Wonderful, now this team has the longest active playoff losing streak and it’s their own damn fault. Baltimore is on the verge of becoming the new age Atlanta. Blown leads, chokes as the #1 seed, wasted talent, bad in-game managing, a fanbase with conspiracies when they lose, and being mocked at by other cities. I wouldn’t be shocked if the fans rioted just like they did after the 2019 Divisional Round shocker. They’re totally going to do it, just you watch. This is the 6th time I’ve lost with the #1 seed since the 2019 NBA Eastern Conference Finals. (In Milwaukee that is known as “The Drake Series”) Running With The Devil who ruins my team’s dreams never gets old doesn’t it! Please save me Penn State! PLEASE!!!
“Leclerc… (CROWD: YAAAAAAAAAA!) WINS THE SERIES FOR TEXAS!!! AND THIS JOYRIDE… ENDS… IN… A… 2019 RAVENS… LIKE… ENDING!”
Bragging Rights Sports 