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We know computers hate the Orioles, and national broadcasters hate the Orioles, but do the folks who make power polls/rankings hate the Orioles?
SI.com: The 30 (15th; Last Week: N/A)
Jonah Keri thinks the O’s are solidly middle of the pack. In fact, it’s hard to get anymore middle of the pack than 15th in a 30-team league, isn’t it?
USA Today Power Rankings (12th; LW: N/A)
The Nation’s Newspaper likes the O’s a little better than SI, but not much. “Can they continue to scrape by with shoestring starting pitching?”
Bleacher Report Power Rankings (16th; LW: N/A)
Slideshow Central doesn’t have a slideshow this year for rankings - they’re all on the same page! “Expect the O's to once again be in the mix for a wild-card spot, but a step back from last year's 89 wins looks like a real possibility.”
MLB.com (8th; LW: N/A)
MLB.com uses analysts for 75% of their polls’ composition, and fan votes for the other 25%. There’s no fan vote yet, and also, they don’t seem to have updated since last season yet. But hooray, they think the Orioles are eighth!
CBS Sports (11th; LW: N./A)
Matt Snyder is stealing my stuff. “In truly shocking fashion, some of the computers don't like the Orioles this year. I'm done doubting them, at least in the regular season. There's power, a great back-end of the bullpen and the power of Buck.”
Power Rankings Guru (14th; LW: N/A)
PRG is an aggregate of several national power rankings/polls, and they have the O’s at 14th.
reddit’s Power Poll (16th; LW: N/A)
The community editors over at reddit have the O’s slightly worse than middle of the pack. “After last season ended just about as painfully as possible, the 2017 season begins with roughly the same regular lineup, except swapping out Matt Wieters for Welington Castillo and adding RF Seth Smith to the mix. The outlook should remain roughly the same: hit a ton of homers, have mediocre starting pitching, and a dynamite bullpen.”
OddsShark.com (19th; LW: N/A)
Ranks are based on rolling past 20 games overall. And they don’t like the orioles. Seriously, read the explainer at the bottom of their page. Vicious anti-O’s bias there. Vicious.
The Baltimore Sun's MLB Power Rankings (N/A; LW: N/A)
The Sun’s Jon Meoli hasn’t issued his first rankings yet. Stay tuned!
ESPN.com Power Poll (13th; LW: N/A)
The World-Wide Leader takes a look at the schedule for their Worst Case Scenario: “The O's have a tough stretch to end the season, last playing a team with a projected record under .500 on Aug. 23. The Orioles' projected September/October winning percentage (.492) is their worst monthly record of the season.”
Any egregious slights or wild overestimation of this team? Any polls you’d like to see included? Add your thought down below and hit me up on Twitter @Bill_Duck21804 where you will find way, way too much discussion of politics and MMA for any baseball fan’s liking.