5 wins and 19 losses; What the Future Holds for the Orioles
Nikc Cafardo
A wise man once said "When the Orioles win, they win. They just don't win". Once again finding themselves at #20 in the Power Rankings and after clinching the #1 seed for September Sadness, the Orioles are well known for being bad. Their 5-19 record over 2 seasons is an even worse ratio than the real life Orioles, who are tanking. The Orioles continuous struggles over more than a calendar year make people question if there is actually significant skill to fakebaseball.
Through all the blowout losses on the season, and through the times their General Manager was completely unreachable, no moment captured the Orioles more than their Session 17 loss to the Tigers. Not only did it start off with their typically reliable starter ghosting, but they followed it up with 3 auto-Ks, including an ejection of Nikolas Romero who "wasn't paying attention". Nonetheless, Charlie Yeagar and Ludd Van Shark were able to lead them to a 6-1 lead heading into the top of the 6th, and then it imploded. Not only did the Tigers come back from down 5 in their final at-bats, but they put up one of the highest scoring innings in MLR history. Yeagar was getting hit so bad, and because the Orioles' 2 other pitchers were nowhere to be found, GM Meerkat Timmons had to pitch. Eventually, the inning ended with 9 runs being scored, and the Orioles lost to fall to 4-13.
The players were boo'd off the field, by the few fans that remained. For a team that had never won consecutive games through 2 seasons, it looked like there was a glimmer of hope for 2 seconds. Under new-GM Meerkat Timmons, a change could finally happen. But in 1 inning, all of it ended, and the Orioles were back to the basement of the league. Their 43 runs scored is the worst in the MLR, and their -21 run differential is as well. There is no way to look at Season 2 optimistically for Baltimore.
One of the great things about the MLR, however, is that things can change quickly. There isn't much stopping the Orioles from making the jump from worst to first in Season 3. Once Timmons finally has free reign to make transactions, maybe more people will take notice. There are some talented players on the roster, they just need to focus together to bring it to the standings. That doesn't mean that they can just sit still, however. Timmons told me that "If you want to succeed in MLR, there's some things that can be done to help with performance and we did none of them" in reference to their lack of attention during games. Although they have some known names in the discord, for example Dipper, Yeagar, Smith, and Falke, they still rank 3rd in the MLR in auto-Ks.
As for what Baltimore can do to make more use of Timmons' scouting ability isn't completely clear. Although they could go all in for a star, just finding depth should be the main thing on their mind. They already have a short roster of 15, and several of those players are largely inactive. It's clear that offense has been their biggest weakness as well. I couldn't get any tips on what the orioles' offseason plan was, other than relocation.
When speaking to Timmons, he made note of the good times they had in the clubhouse while in Baltimore. He'll always remember talking about off topic issues with friends on the team, but ultimately a lack of focus on the game plan will lead to them leaving Baltimore. With the lack of profits from selling tickets, the Orioles will have to find a cheaper stadium to play in, nobody knows quite where yet. Maybe a change in scenery and more offseason transactions can catapult the Orioles into contention for the 1st time. Maybe the lack of focus hinders them once again. Despite being a team out of the spotlight for so long, the Orioles have an interesting offseason ahead of them.