Personal Note: 2025 Baseball Season Begins

Tomorrow marks the beginning of the 2025 baseball season, and as you know I am a big baseball fan.  As you also should know, I am a huge Baltimore Orioles fan.  I have been an Orioles fan since I was eight years old in 1970.  That was their greatest year where they ran away with it all and won the World Series in five games.  How could I not be a fan for life at that point?

 

From 1970 to today is 54 seasons!  Gosh, where has life gone?  I have been intimate with the Orioles for all these years.  Through thick and thin I have been a devoted fan, and there were some very many thin years where suffering is putting it mildly.  However, they have built a great young team the last few years, and have made the playoffs the last two.  They are about to take the next step to possibly the World Series, but unfortunately they have been plagued with quite a few pitching injuries.  On the positive side, other teams have also succumbed to a number of pitching injuries.  (The long list of pitching injuries across the majors the last few years is very mysterious and disconcerting to say the least.)  Can the Orioles get back into the playoffs and take a World Series?  Here are my predictions for the season.

 

Maybe this is a good time for my prediction for the season. If you have been reading my comments, and if you remember, I had laid down a mark of 90 wins as a prediction. The offense is solid. I think this is an even better offense than last year where we averaged over 5 runs per game. I think the offense matches last year and possibly does better. The defense is just as solid. Infield defense is solid with the question mark of Holliday at second. Hopefully he's grown and I'll trust those who claim he's a potential superstar. I'll really believe it when I see it but I tend to believe it. The infield overall is above average. The outfield defense with the addition of O'Neill and Lauriano is even better than last year. This outfield could be defensively elite all around. And I think there is plenty of depth both in the outfield and infield. Catching between the two is at least average if not a shade above. I have no issues with our defense at any position.

 

All the question marks are in the pitching. With Grayson injured, this starting staff is pretty average. Without Grayson, there is no top of the rotation starter. Sugano is a complete unknown, and he looked great until he was crushed his last start. Morton is good but he's 41 and he was never an ace. Eflin is our best starter and while he had a great second half last year (that's what everyone remembers) he's never been a true ace and he's due for regression. The second half of last season is not his career norm. Povich is a rookie, one doesn't know how good Grayson will be when he comes back, nor how long he will last given his injury prone career. I think it was very smart to pick up Kyle Gibson, and that may prove what gets us into the playoffs. And this staff is old. Will it be crafty old or tired old? Your guess is as good as mine. All I know is that, given the ages, the clubhouse refrigerator is going to be stocked with prune juice.

 

The bullpen is an even bigger concern. Bautista will not be Bautista out of the starting gate. It will take time for him to recover. Kittridge's injury hurts. Cano handles lefties but is questionable against righties, and he lets an inordinate amount of inherited runners score. Cionel is inconsistent, so is Soto. His ERA over the last two years is around 4.50. He looks great at times and then gets hit. And what can we say about Seranthony. He just had what I call a California wildfire spring. He was torched worse this spring than the California forest fires. He came out of spring training with a 19.50 ERA! He had a 4.45 ERA last year, and slightly better than that the previous year. He gives up too many home runs. He will have to prove to me he is reliable. Akin is the only bright spot in the bullpen. I have total trust in Akin and I expect a great year.

 

So does the great offense and defense overcome the questionable pitching? We're lucky that the other teams in the division have their own question marks. I'm going to say we get to 90 wins and make the playoffs, but if the pitching collapses, look for a .500 season. If the pitching does better than I have projected, then we can beat 90 wins. I hope that is the case.

Go O’s!!!!

Matthew Monday: Our Trip to Scranton, PA

Concerning our big decision on which baseball park to visit next (for those that may not recall or know, we are on a lifetime father/son mission to attend all the major league ball parks together), we decided on Pittsburg.  But, Matthew wondered, if we could also go to a AAA team ball park, since we had never been to a Triple A stadium.  We have been to several Single A stadiums, and of course we have been to Major League stadiums, but never a AAA or a AA.  Of course I said sure.  I had not either.  So I suggested that on the way to Pittsburg we could go through Scranton Pennsylvania and see the Yankee’s AAA team, the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders.  That’s quite a mouthful.  Scranton is the main city in the Northeast Pennsylvania area, but the stadium is closer to a suburb called Wilkes-Barre.  I should mention that Scranton is the birth place of President Joe Biden, but that had nothing to do with the decision.

Posts on Pittsburg and the Pirates game will be forthcoming.

So what was there to do in Scranton to kill the day before the game?  There was the Nay Aug Park nearby that had some hiking trails.  So we decided to go there.  The park turned out to be a complex of sorts which has a waterfall as its main hiking attraction.  So we decided we would hike to the waterfall, which was about a mile or so away.  It’s not a very large park and quite manageable.

The park also had a couple of museums within the complex, but one caught our attention since it was near where we had parked the car.  It was a coal mining museum at the mouth of a closed mining tunnel.  Here are some pictures.

 

The trek into that opening was not very deep but being underground is weird.  Here are a couple of pictures.

The Scranton mines were famous for having Anthrocite Coal, which contains among the most concentrated energy of the various coal types.  According to Wikipedia, Anthrocite “has the highest carbon content, the fewest impurities, and the highest energy density of all types of coal and is the highest ranking of coals.”  We got a lecture on this from the guide that was there.  Apparently Anthrocite Coal was very important to the industrial development of the United States, and it could only be found in the Scranton area

The hike to the waterfall was mostly on a downward slope to the waterfall, but of course we had to go back up to come back.  This was a beautiful summer day on August 1^st.  Here are some pictures of the hike, Matthew leading the way.

    

 

And then finally a full picture of the Nay Auk Gorge and waterfall.

 It was well worth the hike!

The game that night was between the RailRiders (which is a reference to trollies which were popular in Northeastern PA at one time) and the Louisville Bats, the Triple A team of the Cincinnati Reds.  The Triple A stadium did not look too much bigger than a Single A.  It was perhaps a shade larger but it did not have any upper decks like Major League parks have.  Here are a couple of pictures of the stadium.

I should also mention the price of the tickets were quite economical.  I think they were $17 per ticket, which is much cheaper than our Single A team on Staten Island.  If you’re in the Scranton area, do go to a game.

It was some sort of Hispanic culture theme the night of that game.  It was a wild, high scoring game where the Bats beat the RailRiders 10-8.  It was very enjoyable. 

Matthew Monday: Adley Rutschman Bobblehead Day

This and a series of Matthew Monday posts will document the baseball games Matthew and I attended this year.  I already mentioned our Father’s Day game at the Staten Island FerryHawks, which is an Independent Minor League game.  Today I’ll mention our game down in Baltimore on July 28^th between my beloved Baltimore Orioles and the San Diego Padres.  We even got to see former Orioles Manny Machado who had come up as an Orioles and who was traded—traded because he was going to be a free agent and Orioles weren’t going to pay him that huge salary he wanted—in 2017.  He got a warm reception.

Here are some pictures from the game.  We were sitting in left field, not far from the foul pole and just a couple of rows behind the left field wall.

I always love a picture of the Warehouse, that great brick building that was built in Babe Ruth’s day and is situated right behind the right field stands.

And here’s a couple of pictures of father and son both wearing Orioles tee shirts. 

 

For the record, Matthew is not, to his father’s dissatisfaction, an Orioles fan.

The game was great.  We got to see the Orioles win 8-6 with a big six run inning.  Now it was Adley Rutschman Bobblehead Day, and we each got an Adley Bobblehead doll.  Now Adley is a switch hitter, so they had two sets of bobblehead dolls, one batting right handed, the other left handed.  We had hoped that between the two of us, we would come away with one of each kind.  Unfortunately we did.  We both got a right handed batting Adley.  Now, where we were sitting, there was a man who had a whole bunch of boxes with Adley Bobblehead dolls.  At least six, if not more.  And I have no idea how and where he got them, and I was afraid to ask.  He asked if we wanted to trade one for the left handed batting Adely and we did!  So we got an Adley Bobblehead batting from each side of the plate.

Here’s a picture of both Adley dolls.

The black jersey is Adley left handed and the Orange is right handed.  We'll add these to our collection on baseball bobblehead dolls/

A fun time was had!  You can get the detailed box score of this game here.  

Matthew Monday: Father’s Day 2024

Yesterday was Father’s Day and like every year Matthew and I go on a “Father’s Day Adventure.”  As those who may follow my blog should know, this “adventure” is something Matthew and I have done since we adopted him.  The first that I noted this Father’s Day Adventure on the blog was Father’s Day in 2014, which was the first Father’s Day I had the blog.  I explained it all then and described the previous ones.  If you are really interested in reading all the adventures through the years, you can click the “Father’s Day” tag at the bottom of the page. 

This year we had wanted to drive up to Kingston, NY, an Old Dutch town that was attacked and burned by the British during the Revolutionary War.  There are a number of historical sites to see (including the oldest existing intersection in the US!) and has a panoramic view of the Hudson River.  Alas, we didn’t get there.  By the time we got out of Mass, it was almost midday, and it’s about two hours drive one way.  That would have put us on the road for four hours, and Matthew had to get home to study for two finals the next day. 

We changed our minds when we got home from Church and quickly pivoted to plan B, that is, we went to a minor league baseball game.  I know, not much of an adventure, but it couldn’t be helped.  We quickly got tickets to the Staten Island FerryHawks game.  The FerryHawks took over the stadium when the Yankees killed their Staten Island single A team that was situated here. It’s an Independent League team comprised of teams not tied to any major league affiliates.  They probably play at the same level as single A or maybe a little bit better. Independent League teams get players who are not signed by major league teams with the hope of catching a scout’s eye and getting signed. 

There were two ex-major leaguers (at least two, I didn’t recognize anyone else) playing on the FerryHawks.

One was Alejandro de Aza. I remembered him.  He played a couple of years with the Orioles. He’s 40 years old now and still playing. I guess for the love of the game. I can’t see him being picked up by anyone at that age. He did get a couple of hits that day.

The other ex was Pablo Sandoval. He was actually a star third baseman for the San Francisco Giants when he was in his early twenties.  If I remember correctly injuries and a weight problem drove his career into the ground.  He last played in the majors in 2021.  He’s now 37 and I guess hopes to get picked up. He got at least one hit that I remember. I think he was DH. He was not at third.

FerryHawks beat the York Revolution 6-4.

I can’t say it was a big adventure but it was a lot of fun.  I took a few pictures. 

The ballpark overlooks the NYC harbor, and beyond the left field fence, you can see the Manhattan skyline.

Over the right field fence you have a more unobstructed view of the harbor, and here you can see the orange Staten Island ferry going out. 

Finally a picture of Matthew.

I love spending time with my son and nothing better than spending time with him at a baseball game.

Happy Father’s Day!

Matthew Monday: Fenway Park

The week before school started and leading up to Matthew’s birthday, he and I went to Boston and attended a game at Fenway Park, home field of the Boston Red Sox.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fenway_Park  This was our father/son baseball bucket list to attend games in every single major league ballpark.  This was the fifth major league park we have now checked off.  The other are the parks of the Orioles (Baltimore, MD), the Yankees (New York City), the Mets Queens, NY), and the Nationals (Washington D.C.). 

The Boston Red Sox were playing the Houston Astros, and it was a bit of a wild game as Fenway Park games can be.  The Astros won 7-4.

Here are a few pictures.  First the famous Green Monster, the left field wall which is not deep but very high.

 

Almost as famous as the Green Monster is the Petksy Pole, the right field foul pole named for Johhny Petsky who had a knack for hitting homers just inside the pole.  This pole gives another odd feature to Fenway’s dimensions.  The pole is extremely shallow, juts in and then opens into a wide cavernous right field. 

 

Matthew and I sat in right field bleachers.  It was a pretty good view.  Some pictures of me and Matthew.  With the Green Monster behind us

 

And with the Pesky Pole behind us.

 

We had a great time.  We spent a few days in Boston.  I’ll share some pictures of that in subsequent Matthew Mondays.

Matthew Monday: The 40th Anniversary of the 1983 World Series Champions

On August 5^th, Matthew and I traveled down to Baltimore to an Orioles game.  I specifically wanted to go on this day for two reasons. 

First, it was famed Orioles player and inductee of the Baseball Hall of Fame, Eddie Murray’s bobble head doll night.  I wanted one!  After Brooks Robinson, Eddie Murray is my all-time favorite Orioles.  I remember him as a rookie in 1977, when he won American League Rookie of the Year award, and he went on to have an incredible career.  He was the backbone of the team from that 1977 season to their World Series win in 1983 to his ultimately being traded in 1988.  Steady Eddie, quiet Eddie Murray, he was humble, hardworking and unassuming.  Besides his great baseball statistics, it was his quiet strength that always appealed to me the most.

The second reason for going to that particular game was because it was a commemoration for the 40^th anniversary of the Orioles last World Series win in 1983.  That was the last of a great series of years for the Orioles that spanned my youth.  I became an Orioles fan as an seven year old in 1970.  In 1983 I was 21 during the baseball season, and it was the most glorious of Orioles seasons.  After 1983, the team fell apart, management was horrible, and except for a couple of notable years where they made the playoffs, the Orioles were mostly not a competitive team.  (Until this year, but that is for the future to work out still.)  With the culmination of the World Series win in 1983, baseball for me would never quite be the same. 

So on August 5^th, with every living player who was announced at the anniversary, tears would quell in my eyes until they actually streamed down.  I loved those players.  They were like family. 

Here’s a news clip from CBS News, Baltimore.

 

In that 1983 World Series, in the final game, Eddie hit two homers, and here are clips of them.

 

Here are some pictures I took from the 40^th anniversary ceremony.  I’ve got pictures of everyone, but I’ll spare you to just a couple.  Eddie Murray being introduced.

Rick Dempsey, the team’s catcher, the MVP of that World Series, and team clown here leading the fans in the Orioles chant from that year, a bodily representation of each letter of O-R-I-O-L-E-S.  I think he is spelling “R” here.

And here is the entire team.

A picture of Matthew and me with the beautiful Camden Yards ballpark in the background.

And finally a picture of the Eddie Murray bobble head doll.

Personal Essay: 2023 Baltimore Orioles Season

Today—this afternoon, actually—begins the 2023 baseball season, and the Orioles will play their first game at Boston against the Red Sox.  There is much excitement in Orioles fans this year, and I’m no different!  Last year I mentioned how they had a miraculous season, their first winning season in six years, and three of those years with some of the worst winning percentage in the history of the game.  All those losing seasons gave us some great draft picks, and new General Manager, Mike Elias, really knows how to draft.  So last year we went 83-79 and just missed the playoffs.  This year we expect to make the playoffs, even though the predictions from the “experts” has us with a losing record again. 

But hope springs eternal in the human breast, especially in the breast of baseball fans!

Here’s what I’m predicting for the 2023 season.

I am predicting 90 wins, and that is going with the optimistic end of my range. The key in my thinking is the starting pitching. There is enough offense there (though that Franchy Cordero bat from spring training performance could really help) to contend, and the defense is superb. I think the position players are solid. The bullpen is good to excellent. I don’t know if they will repeat from last year’s performance, but definitely I think above average.

The starting pitching is the unknown. Gibson and Irvin, if they have expected years, are around .500 percentage pitchers who can give you innings. You don’t know what you’re going to get from Kremer, Bradish, and Wells. To make the playoffs I think two have to average to a .500 percentage while one has to leap to a TOR performance. We need one of these guys to break out. I think one will. We have backup in the event of injuries or complete failure to the staff: Grayson, Hall, and John Means will all at some point give the team a shot in the arm. If this happens, we can get 90 wins and make the playoffs.

Now if Gibson and Irvin don’t pitch to expectations, if the young starters don’t leap forward or regress - these are all within their probabilities - or if a lot of injuries to the staff occur, then it could get ugly. My pessimistic range was 70 wins.

The reality will be in between, and I want to be optimistic. But I think it all depends on the starting pitching.

Side note: I used to think it was Bradish who would be the breakout starting pitcher, but I’ve switched over to Tyler Wells. He knows how to pitch. Hope they all breakout.

Here’s the opening day roster.

Starting Position Players

C – Adley Rutschman

1B – Ryan Mountcastle

2B – Adam Frazier

SS – Jorge Mateo

3B – Gunnar Henderson

LF – Austin Hays

CF – Cedric Mullins

RF – Kyle Stowers

DH – Anthony Santander

 

On the Bench

C – James McCann

IF – Ramon Urías

OF – Ryan McKenna

UF – Terrin Vavra

 

Starting Pitchers

Kyle Gibbson

Dean Kremer

Cole Irvin

Kyle Bradish

Tyler Wells

Bullpen

Keegan Akin

Bryan Baker

Mike Baumann

Félix Bautista

Danny Coulombe

Joey Krehbiel

Cionel Pérez

Austin Voth

 

Mychal Givens and Dillon Tate, both relief pitchers, will start the season on the Injured Reserve list.  It will be interesting to see who actually gets cut from the bullpen when they come back.

Which players will have great years?  Anthony Santander, Ryan Mountcastle, Adley Rutschman, and Gunnar Henderson.  Gunnar is a rookie, but he’s been labeled as the best prospect in baseball, and it is anticipated he will be Rookie of the Year.  Santander, Mountcastle, and Rutschman could all be potential league Most Valuable Players.

Am I a hopeful fanatic?  You betcha!

Personal Essay: To a Superb 2022 Season for the Baltimore Orioles

If you haven’t noticed, my blogging had been reduced the last few months.  It was baseball season!  I just don’t have the free time to do both in a constructive manner.  This year I had resolved to keep up with the blog at all costs but my favorite team made this season so enjoyable that the resolution went down the drain.  For those that may remember, I happen to be a Baltimore Orioles fan.  A very long suffering Baltimore Orioles fan.  Sure they had their glory years from 1966 to 1983 when I was a kid and got hooked on the team, but since then it’s been way more losing seasons than winning.  And the last three of four years they lost over 100 games each year, having the worst record in all of baseball all three of those years.  The only exception was 2020, which was Covid shortened.  But they would have lost 100 games then too.

So it’s been tough.  But this year they became the first team in history to have a winning record after losing over 100 games the previous season.  In fact they nearly made the playoffs, just falling short by three games.  They started that first month just like the previous years, pathetically losing, but after April they started to have winning month after winning month.  They didn’t have any star pitchers.  Their ace (John Means) was actually injured from April on and out for the season.  They really didn’t have any superstar hitters either.  A couple of their young prospects (Adley Rutschman especially) were promoted to the majors and that turned it around.  They won with really good defense and an exceptional bullpen and a lot of hustle.  The starting pitchers would hold the opposition in the early innings; the defense would pull out plays to save the game; the bullpen would shut the opposition down in the late innings; and the team would amazingly pull out quite a number of late inning victories.  What a joy!

You can get a summary of the Orioles' 2022 season here.

They ended the season with a record of 83-79.  But they also played in the toughest division in baseball, the American League East.  Sometimes referred to as the American League Beast.  Three of the five teams made the playoffs.  If the Orioles played in any other division I think they would have made the playoffs.  Was it a disappointment they didn’t?  Sure, but there were too many thrills that in the end it didn’t matter.  There were too many thrills.  What a thoroughly enjoyable season. Last year I complained the development was taking too long. This year they caught up. There was no stepping stone from 100 losses to .500, but so be it. This is where the development plan should be. In fairness, I think Covid did set everything back about a year. In the end, this became one of the most memorable of seasons. To go from a 100+ loss team to above .500 is great. Yes, I know there is always criticism, but nothing is perfect, except in heaven. Overall from the very top to the lowest ball boy, this team needs to be commended. Thank you 2022 Orioles.  Next year we’ll make the playoffs!

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Some random thoughts on next year and the off season.

As to the off season acquisitions, I'm not sure this team needs that much. We're going to have Gunnar Henderson and Adley for a full year and more mature. Hopefully Ryan Mountcastle shakes the sophomore blues and hits his potential. Jordan Westburg at second base should be a plus. Austin Hays gets better and platoons with Kyle Stowers, who will be more mature. Grayson Rodriguez comes up and John Means returns. Tyler Wells, Kyle Bradish, and Dean Kremer improve. This looks like a very solid team.

I guess you could use a big bat at DH behind Mountcastle. A Trey Mancini type but the Trey of several years ago who hit 35 homers. Otherwise I don't think there is a lot to change.

We could use a backup first baseman.  If Westburg could play first base, that would solve a lot of problems. I wonder why Terrin Vavra hasn't tried backing up first base. That would put it over the top for him.

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Thinking this over for next year, most teams will field 13 pitchers and 13 fielders. So other than the starting nine hitters, there are four backups.

Here's an assumption for the starting nine: Gunnar (3B), Jorge Mateo (SS), Ramon Urias (2B), Mountcastle (1B), Hays (LF), Cedric Mullins (CF), Stowers (RF), Anthony Santander (DH), Adley ©.

You need a backup catcher, Robinson Charinos or whoever they pick up.

A fifth outfielder, Ryan McKenna.

A back up infielder who can play first base.

A utility player, perhaps Vavra.

Out of the starting nine, I would think Urias may be the weakest argument for starting but he might be a better choice for utility player over Vavra. Maybe. I think the rest of the eight are definite unless they get traded.

McKenna is probably not guaranteed. We have a few outfielders waiting in AAA.

Rougned Odor is probably not picked up, especially if Westburg is ready for the majors. But, and I may be in a very small minority on this, if it comes down to picking two between Vavra, Odor, and Urias, I would pick Odor and Urias.  Remember Odor drove in over 50 RBIs. It's not how high you hit but what you do with the hits you get.  Plus Odor was the heart and soul of the team this year.

I have to say, the bullpen is really solid.  I hope they all come back, but you can never have too much pitching.  Hopefully we can pick up another top relief pitcher.

We'll see where General Manager Michael Elias goes. I can see Elias trading one of our outfielders, but remember no one is going to want your weakest outfielder. If they are going to trade value, they will want value back.

Here are some of the great highlights of a remarkable year.

Now can you blame me for being glued to the Orioles the past few months?

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It will be an interesting off-season, but I really can’t wait until next seasons starts!