Sunday Bird Droppings: Recovering from the playoff marathon

Hello, friends.

One thing I keep thinking about as I watch some of this year’s postseason games is how I would handle it if the Orioles were embroiled in this game or that game. Yesterday’s third game between the Astros and Mariners was a game that seems like it would have been nearly impossible to endure if I was actually invested in its outcome.

0-0 through 17 innings is almost unreal, and then add on top of that it was Seattle’s first home playoff game in 21 years... sheesh. Every moment was tense. And for those poor Mariners fans, it ended in heartbreak. Their magical story was not to be, or at least not for longer than one round of the postseason. It’s a sixth straight ALCS appearance for the Astros. That’s pretty boring.

I’m not ready for any of the postseason stress. But I’m looking forward to when it’s the Orioles playing in games of this sort. It beats watching from the outside. I’ll have to get used to it. I hope next year can be the start of that.

You get a sense of what the O’s need to improve if you’ve been watching the games. They need some better players. Maybe not too many, and maybe some of the players they’ve already got can be better than they have been. They don’t have many starting pitchers you would want to ride heavily in a short series, and they don’t have any Yordan Alvarez- or Aaron Judge-like bats who can singlehandedly make a difference. Don’t get me wrong, Adley Rutschman’s amazing, but he’s not “slugging over .600” amazing.

The season ended also for Atlanta yesterday. I’m not nearly so sad for them, being as they just won the World Series last year. The 21st century continues on without any team winning back-to-back titles. Time will tell whether we can get a fresh winner, though. Of the remaining teams, only the Guardians and Padres have not won titles within the last 15 years. So good luck to them.

The Guardians took a 2-1 edge in their series against the Yankees with a walkoff 6-5 victory last night. They have another home game at 7 tonight to see if they can finish off the Bronx Bombers. We will not be getting all-day baseball today. We might not even get all-night baseball. I did not stay up late enough to include a comment about the Dodgers-Padres result in this article, but I trust you are resourceful enough to find the score yourself.

Around the blogO’sphere

Orioles won’t be overlooked in 2023 (School of Roch)
I think the question of where national media expectations will be set for the 2023 Orioles probably depends more on who they add over the offseason.

Orioles accumulating catchers in the early days of the offseason (Baltimore Baseball)
Claiming two Reds catchers on waivers at once was pretty weird to me. Maybe they didn’t actually think they’d be awarded the claim on both guys so they just claimed both to make sure they got one.

With a knitted scarf, an Orioles fan tracked the 2022 season (The Baltimore Sun)
If you’ve been in the Orioles social media sphere over the last couple of days, you might have seen this one already. It’s cool.

O’s offense came up a bit short in the 2022 season (Steve Melewski)
For as many positives as there were on the team this season, it’s worth keeping sight of the fact that they finished up with a below-average offense. It was a below-average pitching staff too, but that’s a different article. Hopefully they can change one or both of these.

Birthdays and Orioles anniversaries

Today in 1983, the Orioles knocked off the Phillies, 5-0, in Game 5 of the World Series to complete a 4-1 win of the series. Eddie Murray hit a pair of homers in the final game, with Scott McGregor going the distance for the O’s. The O’s also played and won a World Series game in 1971, but lost World Series games on this day in 1969 and 1979.

There are a few former Orioles who were born today. They are: 2013-18 infielder Jonathan Schoop, 1977-78 reserve outfielder Mike Dimmel, and 1973-74 pitcher Don Hood. Today is Hood’s 73rd birthday, so an extra happy birthday to him.

Is today your birthday? Happy birthday to you as well! Your birthday buddies for today include: dictionary pioneer Noah Webster (1758), actress Angela Lansbury (1925), writer/director/producer David Zucker (1947), and bassist Flea (1962).

On this day in history...

In 690, Chinese empress Wu Zetian proclaimed herself the ruler after having spent the past 25 years ruling through first her husband and then her sons.

In 1384, Jadwiga was crowned King of Poland. It is a noteworthy event because Jadwiga was a ten-year-old girl.

In 1793, French queen Marie Antoinette was executed by guillotine.

In 1847, Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre was first published.

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And that’s the way it is in Birdland on October 16. Have a safe Sunday.