Monthly Archives: September 2012

The Orioles stink at everything, especially losing

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Some interesting statistics and rankings of the 2012 Baltimore Orioles:
22nd: Their rank in team Batting Average (.245)

23rd: Their rank in team OBP (.310)

17th: Their rank in team OPS (.719)

18th: Their rank in runs scored (569)

17th: Their rank in team ERA (4.01)

9th most: Their rank in hits allowed (1196)

Tied for seventh most: Their rank in Home Runs allowed (152)

20th best: Their rank in WHIP [Walks and Hits per innings pitched] (1.31)

Tied for second most: Their rank in team errors (97)

2nd: Their rank in the American League East

1: Games back of the New York Yankees

It’s Labor Day, and Baseball remains the most peaceful work environment in sports

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What the heck is going on? No, I’m not talking about how the Orioles continue to defy the laws of the universe (again), I’m talking about how, on this Labor Day, Major League Baseball remains the most stable place in sports when it comes to the relations between players and management. Yes, baseball, the sport that had one strike force the season to become a split-season and the World Series get cancelled, and which at one point in the early 2000s seemed to be headed towards another strike, is the best example of labor harmony.

Meanwhile, the NBA lost a significant portion of it’s season last year, the NFL narrowly avoided a work stoppage with it’s players and now is using scab referees due to a dispute with the usual refs, and the NHL is headed down the road to another work stoppage, which could very well annihilate another whole season.

Remember when the NHL was a major sport on ESPN and everything, and not just something that was only popular in about 6 American markets and could only be found on NBC properties? That little transition from being part of the Big Four to being on the outside looking in on the Big Three happened when they lost an entire season to the 2004-2005 lockout. Who knows what might happen if they again end up with a lost season? The Europeans could just say “Screw this, I’m going home” and depart to teams in Eastern Europe and Scandinavia, never to return. What little interest in hockey that there exists in the the United States outside of the Northeast and Upper Midwest will disintegrate even more than before. But, by all accounts, the NHL and the NHLPA seem destined to run straight into the abyss again.

So why is baseball avoiding those problems? Partially it’s because MLB is making so much money that it doesn’t really matter, and the revenue sharing has allowed even the worst teams to spin a hefty profit. The same is not true for the NBA and NHL, and the fact it was more-or-less true in the NFL was one of the main reasons why there was only one preseason game that was lost.

However, the bigger reason is, in my opinion, basically the realization by both the owners and the MLBPA that to have a work stoppage, especially a work stoppage that cancels the playoffs, is a case of mutually assured destruction. Even if one side were to “win”, they’d end up far worse off than they had been before. The 1994 strike was proof of that: fans abandoned baseball until Cal Ripken, the home run chase and the late-90s Yankees dynasty brought it back. However, had the 2002 labor dispute ended in a work stoppage, there was no guarantee that any heroes would come over the hill to save the day. It just wasn’t worth the risk, so they came to terms, and have done so every CBA since.

That lesson, alas, has not yet come to the NHL.

The races that will define September

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It’s September, and while Green Day once asked that they be woken up when it ends, baseball fans would be wise to stay awake, because, once again, September looks like it will be a crazy month for baseball. Here are some (but not all) of the big races to look for:

The Chase for the AL East

The AL East will feature many games between the division’s teams this month, but the ones that will really count will be the ones between the Yankees, Orioles and Rays. Including games that have already been played or are being played as I type this, the Yankees and Orioles will face each other six times, the Orioles and Rays will face each other three times, and the Yankees and Rays will face each other six times. The Orioles and Yankees have so far split their first two games of their series (including the last day of August). The Yankees appear to be in control here, especially if they win today’s game against the Orioles, who are still somehow only three games back despite the fact that the run-differential suggests they should probably be closer to three games from being mathematically eliminated than three games out of first.

The race in the AL East will be interwoven with….

The AL Wild Card

The following teams have a chance at the AL Wild Card spots: The three division leaders, the Athletics, the Orioles, the Rays, the Tigers and the Angels. I can honestly say that I have no idea who will win this, other than that it will likely come down to not who had the best season, but who has the best September- a team needs to get hot to win this, and then remain hot during the one-game wild card game. An interesting twist: due to the fact that the Wild Cards will probably have to use their best pitchers to get a spot to begin with, it could get very interesting as to who they will be able to start if they make the play-in game.

Oh, and don’t even get me started on the possibility that there is a tie for the second-place wild card. If that happens, it will be madness, the baseball equivalent of the opening weekend of the NCAA Tournament. Any team that could survive the ensuing gauntlet would probably become target practice for whatever division leader they then face. Unless, of course, the wild card survivor had gained so much momentum that they slice through the entire playoffs like a buzzsaw.

AL Central

The Tigers are going to win this, right? Right? I mean, they have Verlander. And Prince Fielder. And… wait, the White Sox are still in first? I’m telling you, the Robin Ventura hiring looks more genius by the day, and in any other year (such a year where Buck Showalter isn’t bringing the Orioles to a month away from the playoffs), he’d be shoo-in for manager of the year.

 

NL Wild Card

Like the AL Wild Card, but slightly less crazy, I cannot even fathom a guess as to who will get those two spots.