Tuesday night Orioles game thread: vs. Red Sox, 7:05

The Orioles are not a good baseball team in 2017. Even saying this repeatedly, and believing it often, there’s still those times where I find myself veering into the bargaining phase of grief.

If only they can win this series, maybe they can get back on track. That’s what I spent most of the summer thinking. As the calendar moved on and the number of games shrunk, it became, if only the Orioles can just pick up a sweep and go on a winning streak.

They actually did get their winning streak... and then immediately started to stink. That’s because they’re not good! Over 162 games, you are what you have done. The Orioles have the worst starting rotation by ERA in all of MLB. Their offense sputters for stretches at a time - though of course it wasn’t the offense that was the problem last night.

The latest bargaining is attempting to convince myself that if the Orioles can just go 8-3 over their last 11 games, then they will still end up with a .500 record for the season and therefore will not be losers. Of course it’s theoretically possible that might happen, because baseball is weird and you never really know.

But also, it’s not possible, because the Orioles aren’t good enough. They’ve spent all year showing us. Things won’t be suddenly any different from September 19 onward.