Camden Chat pre-season contest results

Another pre-season contest is in the books (apologies on the delay in getting this posted, by the way). It’s always one of my favorite parts of the Camden Chat baseball season, and this year was no different. A lot of the questions turn out predictably with a high rate of correct answers, but there are always surprises.

Like, who would have guessed that the first minor leaguer to be called up would be Stefan Crichton? Or that Jonathan Schoop, on a team filled with so-called heavy hitters, would lead the team in RBI? Only one person each got those questions correct, by the way.

Let’s get on to the results, because I know you all are interested in knowing who gets the glory this year. Of the 243 people who entered the contest, three folks tied at the top with 15 correct answers. They are Big Daddy O!, Can’t skate, and Swilhelmross. Congrats to you three!

You can find your results on our finalized spreadsheet. It’s sorted by score, so you’re well served to CTRL+F your name.

My favorite question every year is who will get more questions right, me or Mark? As usual, I kicked his butt by a score of 11-8.

Here are the answers to the 25 questions asked:

Which will be higher?

1. Starts by Dylan Bundy or walks by Jonathan Schoop? Schoop - 35, Bundy - 28
2. Saves by Zach Britton or HR by team leader? Machado - 33 HR, Britton - 15 Saves
3. Games with >40K in attendance or <15K in attendance? <15 - 14, >40 - 7 (ouch)
4. Strikeouts by Kevin Gausman or Mark Trumbo? Gausman - 179, Trumbo - 149
5. Orioles wins or Blue Jays wins? Blue Jays - 76, Orioles - 75
6. Starts by Mike Wright or Tyler Wilson? Wilson - 1, Wright - 0
7. Caught stealing % by Wellington Castillo or Matt Wieters? Castillo - 49, Wieters - 25
8. Hyun Soo Kim PA vs lefties or Caleb Joseph RBI? Joseph - 29 RBI, Kim - 16 PA
9. ERA by Wade Miley or Ubaldo Jimenez? Ubaldo - 6.81, Miley - 5.61
10. Questions right in this contest, Mark or Stacey? Stacey - 11, Mark - 8

Not-So-Fun Facts:

• I was going to label this section Fun Facts, but thanks to the performance by the Orioles they really aren’t very fun.
• In a year when MLB hit more home runs than ever before, Machado’s team-leading 33 is the lowest total to lead the Orioles since 2010 when Luke Scott hit 27. Chris Davis also hit a team-best 33 in 2012.
• That attendance question is pretty depressing. You can chalk it up to the level of play down the stretch for the Orioles. In 2016 the Oriole had six games total with fewer than 15,000 in attendance and none in August and September. This season the Orioles had six of their <15K games from August 29th through the end of the season.
• So much for never running on Matt Wieters.
• The most correctly answered question in this section was #4, I’m guessing because people had a lot of hope for Gausman this year. The least was the attendance question with only 29% guessing correctly.

Over/Under

1. Orioles wins - 84 1/2. Under (75)
2. Innings pitched by Dylan Bundy - 150 1/2. Over (169.2)
3. Orioles selected to the All-Star Game - 3.5. Under (1)
4. Starts made by Chris Tillman - 19.5. Under (19)
5. Chris Davis home runs - 40.4. Under (26)

So, this was not a very fun list of results. I’m the first to admit that the numbers set on the All-Star question and the Chris Davis HR question were a stretch, but the fact that they were so far under is pretty disheartening. Even so, only 25% of you thought that Davis would hit under 40 home runs. Ah, the optimism of spring.

Who will be the first ...

1. Oriole to hit a home run? Mark Trumbo (on Opening Day!)
2. Oriole to pitch a complete game? Dylan Bundy (August 29th)
3. Minor leaguer called up? Stefan Crichton (May 17th)
4. Team the Orioles sweep? Blue Jays (Opening Series)
5. Team that sweeps the Orioles? Nationals (May 10th)

There is definitely some drama about that sweep (or, if you prefer, “sweep”) by the Nationals. In the original contest form I stated, “Two-game series count. A series that was supposed to be three games and one game got rained out counts. A series that was supposed to be two games and one game gets rained out counts. The four-game home-and-home series against the Nationals counts as two two-game series.”

You gotta have rules! And the unthinkable happened, the two-game away series with the Nats had a rain out (on a day that it didn’t actually rain) with the Nats winning the only game played.

I hated marking that as the first sweep, but I was the one who made the rule. It was a rule that prompted blog boss Mark to say to me, “You are a monster who created monstrous rules. History will remember you unkindly.”

I still maintain that the back-to-back two-game series counts as two separate series as they are in two different places, but I will likely revise my rules regarding one-game sweeps for next year.

Other facts:

• Considering that many expected Bundy to be on an innings limit, it’s surprising that he not only pitched the first (and only) complete game for the Orioles, but that he didn’t do it until the end of August. Only 16 people picked him as the answer, the resounding favorite pick was Gausman.
• Congrats to hrdavis on your astute pick. You were the only person to pick Crichton as the first minor-league call up.

Which Oriole will...

1. Lead the Orioles in innings pitched? Kevin Gausman - 186.2
2. Have the highest OBP as a batter (min 350 PA)? Seth Smith - .340
3. Lead the team in ERA as a starter (min 10 starts)? Dylan Bundy - 4.24
4. Have the most appearances out of the bullpen? Mychal Givens - 69
5. Lead the team in RBI? Jonathan Schoop - 105

Fun Facts:

• 95% of you picked Gausman to pitch the most innings, by far the most correctly answered question in the contest.
• Before I looked I thought Schoop was a shoe-in for highest OBP, but Smith and his 373 PA beat him by .002. Nearly half of you answered this question with Hyun Soo Kim, who had a .382 OBP in 2016 and who was expected to get more playing time this year.
• The RBI question is the second in the contest that only one person answered correctly. Schoop’s 105 RBI was sixth-best in the American League. Well done RunningJag for picking Schoop.

And that’s a wrap on the 2017 pre-season contest. We’ll see you all again next year!