Deserted

    Without a doubt, the Baltimore Orioles have the highest ceiling of any team in baseball this year. Where else is there to go but up when quite literally the entirety of the sports journalism world declares that the Birds are toast. It's not hard to see the logic that they are working with; 1.) it's an incredibly short season, 2.) the Orioles only won 54 games last year, and as the graphic above illustrates, the Birds will be spending this upcoming campaign playing almost exclusively playoff contenders. 46 of 60 games against opponents with varying degrees of postseason expectations. The fucking Yankees are World Series contenders, and the Rays appear to be armed to the teeth. The NL East is all knotted together, with four clubs due to slug it out. Now, there is reason to believe that Boston will fall off in a major way as they appear to be taking the year off. You could also make compelling cases for the Nationals, Mets and Phillies to all underachieve. The NL Central might be even more competitive, and there are only two wild card spots. 

So, what does this mean for the Orioles? "Honestly, not much," the sad man said out loud while he ruminated on big picture stuff. Expecting Baltimore to run the table and go undefeated is mostly unreasonable, but so is thinking that this team is just going to get crushed every night. The concern mostly is that the Birds will finish the season with a single digit in the wins column. Even that seems like a bit much. Alex Cobb is going to win eight or nine games all on his own, man. Ryan Mountcastle has walkoff homer energy, pencil him in for one this season. Cedric Mullins could be a game-changer. Hanser Alberto could end the season with the batting title. (On the flip side, Chris Davis will strikeout a lot, you can count on that.)

This short season, like oh so many other things in these times, is really strange. Baseball is a sport that prides itself on its stats, but these small sample sizes are going to disrupt all that (which is cool, in a way if you're into that sort of thing.) A strong start could make all the difference in the world. Today is the day for the limitless and unknown. Season starts tomorrow.