Waiting and Hoping

I’ve sat down a number of times this week, intent on writing a reflection on a game, the season, or… something. And every time, I come away emotionally exhausted, and hit “delete.”

I have no idea what’s going on with the Birds right now. The playoff scenarios are confusing enough. Trying to determine which team will show up to play game 162 is even harder to figure. This team has been excellent and awful in 2016.

I was fully prepared for the Orioles to have a patented Dark Ages September Swoon after the four-game sweep at the hands of the Red Sox that ended their quest for a division title.

Then I was hoping that Hyun Soo Kim’s home run was the turning point we could look back to as the pivotal moment of this season.

With the O’s sitting in the first Wild Card spot on Saturday, I certainly wasn’t prepared for the possibility that today’s seventh inning would be the turning point we might look back to in the offseason. Wade Miley returning to start the seventh inning, while his team – with a fully loaded bullpen – enjoyed a 3-1 lead is a head-scratcher at best.

Incidentally, I need to share this little tidbit from the Associated Press recap of the game:

STUBBORN MULE?

Showalter talked about how his wife had bought a pair of miniature donkeys.

“She says now she has three jackasses,” he cracked.

Raise your hand if this seemed an apropos description, regarding his management of the bullpen on Saturday.

Anyway, the point is we don’t know which team we’ll get in Sunday’s finale: Dr. Jekyll or Mr. Hyde. And this is a point that interests me greatly. If the 2016 Orioles are playoff bound (and please let that be so), we don’t know this club like we knew the 2012 and 2014 playoff teams.

In 2012, it was all “Buckle Up” for come-from-behind one-run games, and we were glad we came. There was magic in the rag tag bunch of misfits that played over their head, and took the Yankees to the brink in the ALDS.

In 2014, we wouldn’t stop, as the team covered its decent-at-best rotation with a bashing offense and stingy bullpen. It was a team of old favorites propped up by lovable mercenaries like Pearce, Cruz, and Young making meaningful contributions. Sadly, it was probably our best chance at a World Championship.

But 2016 – who knows? We have both booed and cheered players like Hyun Soo Kim and Ubaldo Jimenez, as the season has progressed. We’ve watched Chris Davis have a pretty good season, but not been able to fully convince ourselves that he’s truly worth all that money he’s making. We’ve marveled at Manny Machado’s overall brilliance, while quietly griping about his jogs down the first base line. Orioles fans haven’t bought into their team enough to fill the stadium during the key home series that helped decide the playoff push. But that’s not me just beating the attendance drum again. It’s a reminder that our impressions of this season are yet unwritten. The Orioles get an “incomplete.” Will we remember this season as one like 1982 that came down to the wire – a good club that just didn’t have enough to finish? Or will we remember it as a frustrating club that finally came through when it counted?

We’ll see. But as we wait, let’s not be too hard on our 2016 club. Sure there have been crushing defeats. But it is October, and we’re hopeful that our team will clinch themselves a playoff spot tomorrow. There are worse positions to be in – think back to 1998-2011. We may not be elated, we may not be confident. But are we not entertained?