The Greatest Sho(walter) On Earth

Each year, I choose a particular team who is, honestly, God awful. The team has to have consistently bad or sub-par seasons with little to no stars. The past few years I have been following the Royals, Nationals, and Pirates, hoping to see fantasy player surprises, game upsets, and playoff pushes. Last year, the Padres went a run with really good pitches and no-name position players.

This year, the Baltimore Orioles are my team to watch. I've always been interested in the Orioles. From the orange and black unis, to legends like Cal Ripken Jr. and Frank Robinson. The last time the Orioles were a threat, they had the power of Javy Lopez, Rafael Palmeiro, in his prime Miguel Tejada, and Mike Mooooosina in the early 2000's. They since have had sub-par seasons, riddled with injuries, bad pitching, and bad free-agent signings (remember when the Orioles signed Sammy Sosa for 5 minutes?).

But this season, I am excited. I look at the lineup, and, on paper, it looks powerful. The infield is good for 80-90 home runs. Derrek Lee, Brian Roberts, JJ hardy, and Mark Reynolds. Power hitters, yes. Injury prone, yes. The outfield is solid with power from Luke Scott and Nick Markakis, with the athletic Adam Jones roaming center. All this offense anchored by up-and-coming young buck Matt Weiters. On paper, this team looks to put up as many runs at the Tigers were projected to back in the day (1000 for the season?!). AND, they signed Vlad Guerrero to DH. Vlad's critics were silenced when he KILLED in Texas. The Orioles' pitching is young, but Brian Matusz is going to be really good and the Orioles bolstered their bullpen with Kevin Gregg. The hiring of BuckSho was a underrated one. Showalter should be able to right many wrongs inside the organization. He turned around the D-backs in the late 90's and did not have enough time to dig Texas out of its hole in the early 2000's. I believe with some better pitchers and youth, he can turn a bottom dweller to a respectable club in a few seasons.

So many home runs, so many runs scored. It's hard to believe that the Orioles will be last in the AL East. BUT, they are in the same division as the Yanks, Sawx, Rays, and the Toronto Lumberjacks. I see Baltimore still ending in last place in the East season, but look for their games won to improve, as well as their HR totals, run totals, and bases stolen. Last season's 66-96 should turn into a record between 75-87 and 80-82. As with the Rams under Mike Martz, the Orioles will be fun to watch, but not the perennial contender they could be with better pitching. All Hail the Greatest Sho on Earth!