
Poor Baltimore Orioles. For the second year in a row they watched their excellent regular season go up in smoke by being swept in the wild card series. Last year, of course, by Texas, this year by Kansas City.
They amassed 192 victories over two years in the regular season, and it didn’t matter. They amassed zero wins in the postseason. It’s tough to win any series, let alone a playoff series, though, when you average half-a-run per game.
The Orioles 2024 regular season echoed the Rangers. They got off to a great start, amassed a nice lead, then hung on to their playoff life because the team stopped hitting. The Rangers somehow figured it out in the postseason. The Orioles didn’t.
The real test for them, and for teams like Texas, is what do they do next. Texas chose not to invest in offense and it ended up biting them in the rear end. But it just points, out loud and clear, how difficult it is to win it all in baseball. You go through a long regular season, filled with highs and lows and periods of domination and periods where it looks like you cannot figure it out. Then, you hit the postseason and have to be ready to win.
But, shed no tears for the Baltimore Orioles. They have a deep, young team and will be good for as long as their new owner wants them to be.
Just like the Rangers. in 2025, Texas will be as good as their owner wants them to be.
*****
TODAY’S GAMES:
6:08, New York Mets 1 @ Milwaukee 1, ESPN