The Orioles got swept by the Seattle Mariners. Their 4-2 loss on Thursday is their 57th to-date, and the Os have secured themselves a nice cozy spot at the very bottom of the well that is the AL East. Buck and the crew are laying at the bottom, looking up. But the well is so deep that they don’t even see a ring of light at the top, and there is no Lassie to alert rescuers of their plight.
A Disappointing Season
To say that the Orioles’ 2018 campaign has been disappointing is an understatement. I had high hopes for Baltimore this season. Not to win the pennant, but to fight for a playoff spot; to be in the mix. At this point in the season, it is safe to say that they might be the most disappointing team in the league.
And news abounds on Adam Jones potentially leaving. Manny Machado is on the trading block as well. Zach Britton could go, but his stock is plummeting, so how much can we get? Then, to keep in mind with all of this is that there is a silver lining. From here, especially if the Os have a Marlins-like fire-sale, the only place to go is up.
So What Can We Do?
For starters, Chris Davis needs to pull out of his slump. The Orioles organization is so heavily invested in him that they can’t just throw him out. How does this happen? The squad was projected to have one of the most powerful hitting seasons in history, yet we’ve only managed 94 ding-dongs. Is it Scott Coolbaugh’s fault? Do we fire him? I mean, it isn’t just Chris Davis who isn’t producing; it’s the entire team. We are at the bottom of the league in just about every offensive category that you don’t want to be bottom in.
Do we continue to pull our hair out at what seems to be poor management decisions? No, we turn lemons into lemonade and have a little fun … especially now that it is sweltering hot.
A Little Bit of Fun
When we check top sites like Heritage Sports, we see that the Os are +500,000 to win the AL. Ok, so that is 5000 to 1 and totally worth a 1 dollar bet that would pay you $5000 if the Orioles just happened to have the most glorious comeback in sports history.
And if the Orioles’ Slide continues, we can make a little bit of money at their expense. If we are going to be bummed out about our team, we might as well make a few bucks in the meantime. For example, the Angles are -140 to win the weekend series against the Orioles. Those are surprisingly good odds, considering the Orioles have not beaten an AL team in how long … over a month?
We can also make the Orioles games more interesting by picking Run Line spots to spice things up. Like, on Wednesday. The Orioles put forth a valiant 8-7 effort against the Mariners. If we had taken the Orioles on the Run Line, which is to keep the game within 1.5 runs, the Orioles would have been winners in our eyes on that day.
We’ll have plenty more to worry about during the trade deadline and the offseason, so for now, let’s just do whatever we can to make this bearable. And not let the Os’ woes get us down.
submitted by Juan Andrade
