Dead Birds
Fangraphs gives Orioles 0.0-percent chance of making the playoffs. ZERO. POINT. ZERO.
The Baltimore Orioles were one of the pleasant surprises of the 2020 COVID-shortened baseball season, most notably early in the year. The O's went 12-8 over their first 20 games, a stunning start given their Over/Under wins projection pre-season was set at 21.5, the second lowest only to the Detroit Tigers.
Baltimore eclipsed that projection with ease, having won its 22nd game with 11 games remaining in the season. It was around that point that the Orioles finally looked like the Orioles they were predicted to be, finishing the year on a scintillating 3-8 tear.
Unfortunately for O's fans, their beloved birds are expected to be back in the basement in 2021. And this time, it's a full, 162-game season, one that will play more into the hands of the best teams like it normally does. It won't be a sprint to the finish like 2020, meaning their will be some more seriously dark days in Baltimore. How dark, you ask? Fangraphs, the popular MLB stats and analytics blog, released its playoff projections for every major league team on Tuesday. According to FG, the Orioles have a 0.0 chance of making the postseason. You read that correctly, folks. ZERO. POINT. ZERO:
Yes, the O's roster is downright abhorrent, and there's a good chance they have a sub 55-win season for the third time in the last four years. But my goodness, ZERO chance? This is pro sports, which are impossible to predict and where everybody gets paid and any given Sunday and all that jazz. Hell, even the Colorado Rockies, who literally gave the St. Louis Cardinals $50 million to take their franchise player off their hands, were thrown a bone by Fangraphs with a 0.1-percent chance to make it. Obviously, playing in the same division as the New York Yankees plays a small role here, but it's still wild to see 0.0-percent next to a pro team's logo. Stranger things have happened*
*except the Orioles making the playoffs this season. Fangraphs is probably 100.0-percent correct on that one.