Sunday Bird Droppings: One last chance for Nick Markakis’s Braves

Hello, friends.

There are now 165 days remaining until Orioles Opening Day 2021, or at least, that’s when it’s on the schedule. Pitchers and catchers will be reporting to Sarasota in less than four months from now.

The 2020 season isn’t quite over yet, as you know. The World Series awaits on Tuesday night, but before we get there, the National League has to figure out who its representative will be. The Braves and the Dodgers have gone the distance, despite the Braves holding a 3-1 lead in the series through four games. They could have moved on with wins on either Friday or Saturday and they did not.

Now, Game 7 awaits. The Braves will be the road team in the neutral site, because the Dodgers were the higher seed. If they had an advantage early in this series, it is gone. Nick Markakis and Darren O’Day can get into the World Series if the Braves win. If not, broadcasters will still be talking about Markakis as the active MLB leader in games played without appearing in a World Series.

The NLCS finale is set to get under way at 8:15pm tonight on Fox. If you have been unable to watch the other channels the games have been coming on, basic old Fox should be there for you.

Around the blogO’sphere

Draft selections impressing in fall instructional camp (School of Roch)
Director of player development Matt Blood had nice things to say about the five 2020 draftees he’s gotten to see in Sarasota so far. Heston Kjerstad, you may recall, is not there due to a non-sports medical issue.

The great Orioles offseason quiz (Baltimore Baseball)
This is a thorough quiz.

Orioles early offseason a troubling sign for club’s roster decisions as finances loom large (Baltimore Sun)
Jon Meoli raises the dark possibility that the Orioles might even deem Jose Iglesias’s $3.5 million 2021 option to be too expensive. That would be disappointing.

O’s face some tough calls on 40-man adds before Rule 5 (Steve Melewski)
Melewski’s early prediction is that Michael Baumann, Yusniel Diaz, Zac Lowther, and Alexander Wells will be added to the 40-man roster, with other recent, Rule 5 eligible acquisitions like Rylan Bannon and Zach Pop (Machado trade) and Isaac Mattson (Bundy trade) left exposed.

Birthdays and Orioles anniversaries

There are a few former Orioles who were born on this day. They are: 2007-08 pitcher Garrett Olson, 1992-98/2000-01 reliever Alan Mills, 1995 reliever Terry Clark, and 1977 one-game infinite ERA man Ed Farmer.

Is today your bithday? Happy birthday to you! Your birthday buddies for today include: FAO Schwarz founder Frederick August Otto Schwarz (1836), longtime Canadian prime minister Pierre Trudeau (1919), rock legend Chuck Berry (1926), composer Howard Shore (1946), tennis star Martina Navratilova (1956), and skier Lindsey Vonn (1984).

On this day in history...

In 1748, warring powers in the War of the Austrian Succession signed the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, ending the eight-year struggle. The war demonstrated Prussia’s rising influence and might.

In 1851, Moby-Dick by Herman Melville was first published in London, although its initial title was simply The Whale.

In 1898, Spain ceded Puerto Rico to the United States of America.

In 1945, Soviet spy Klaus Fuchs passed information to the USSR about America’s plutonium bomb at Los Alamos.

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And that’s the way it is in Birdland on October 18. Have a safe Sunday.