Monday Bird Droppings: The World Series off day edition

Hello, friends.

There are now 150 days remaining until Orioles Opening Day 2020. Today will not have any baseball to divert us, as there’s an off day for the World Series before things close out with one or two more games in Houston. After their 7-1 victory last night, the Astros are on the verge of a second title in three seasons. They’ll have to wait until Tuesday to get their chance to hoist another trophy.

The Astros having made the World Series this year has been a chance for an Orioles fan to dream about what it might be like if that plan works out here now that Mike Elias, the former Astros assistant, is the Orioles GM. There has not been an Orioles World Series game in my lifetime. It seems like it would be a fun thing to see.

If only it were so easy as waiting for a few years. The Orioles are going to have to be fortunate even if the plan is flawless. A lot of good decisions will have to come together all at the right time, and there are going to be more teams at the tanking trough than the Astros had when they were building up.

There’s a big gap between the teams that are in the World Series and what the Orioles have right now. Not very many O’s players would have gotten much playing time on either of these teams. The multi-million dollar question is whether the guys on the farm right now, or who will soon arrive either from draft or trade or even international signing can take the O’s to that level eventually.

The story from this World Series so far has been the prominence of some big-name, high-salary starting pitchers. Gerrit Cole came up big for the Astros last night. Max Scherzer getting scratched from that game due to neck spasms had a big impact in a different way. Will he get healthy again before the series ends? Two more big-name, high-salary starting pitchers, Justin Verlander and Stephen Strasburg, will have a lot to say on Tuesday night about whether this thing goes to seven games.

On the subject of the World Series, here is a GIF of a man who was holding two beers and opted to drop neither one rather than try to stop a Yordan Alvarez home run from hitting him in the chest:

They should fire up the old “Real Men of Genius” commercials just to honor that guy. He apparently even still ended up with the ball.

Around the blogO’sphere

O’s played at a 99-win pace with quality starts this year (Steve Melewski)
There are some headlines you’re just only going to see at an Orioles-owned outlet.

Kremer among pitchers who have stood out in Arizona Fall League (Orioles.com)
MLB.com’s Mike Rosenbaum saw some improvement from Dean Kremer’s slider in Arizona this month. That sounds like good news.

On World Series stage, Houston’s Alex Bregman shows that Orioles picking second in draft might not be so bad (Baltimore Sun)
It helps to get a Bregman-caliber player #2 if the team picking #1 - in 2015, the Diamondbacks - does not in retrospect hit a home run with their selection.

Orioles trying to spin the rotation disadvantage (School of Roch)
You’ve probably noticed that both of the teams in the World Series this season have had great starting rotations. The Orioles... uh, well, they haven’t for several years now.

Birthdays and Orioles anniversaries

There are a few former Orioles with birthdays today. They are: 2018 infielder (and brother of Caleb) Corban Joseph, 2012-13 outfielder Nate McLouth, 1998-99 pitcher Juan Guzman, 1989-91 catcher Bob Melvin, and 1978-85 pitcher Sammy Stewart.

Is today your birthday? Happy birthday to you! Your birthday buddies for today include: philosopher Erasmus (1466), Revolutionary War soldier and Hamilton Act I character John Laurens (1754), author Evelyn Waugh (1903), polio vaccine pioneer Jonas Salk (1914), musician Charlie Daniels (1936), Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates (1955), and actress Julia Roberts (1967).

On this day in history...

In 1636, the Massachusetts Bay Colony voted to create a theological college. We know this institution today as Harvard University.

In 1726, Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels was first published.

In 1886, President Grover Cleveland dedicated the Statue of Liberty.

In 1919, Congress overrode the veto of President Woodrow Wilson to pass the Volstead Act. This act, which followed the passage of the 18th Amendment, established Prohibition against alcohol in the United States.

In 1962, after a day of frantic negotiation, Soviet premier Nikita Khruschev announced that the Soviet Union would remove nuclear missiles from Cuba, effectively ending the missile crisis. President John F. Kennedy also agreed to quietly remove American missiles from Turkey and Italy.

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And that’s the way it is in Birdland on October 28 - or at least, unless something happens later on this off day. Have a safe Monday.