On July 14, they boasted the game's best young catcher (Rutschman), the game's best young RF (Santander), the game's best prospect (Holliday) and the game's second-best SS (Henderson.) Add Mountcastle & Mullins, with Corbin Burnes as the ace, and everybody with an internet connection knew they were destined to run away with the AL East.
Nope. Doesn't add up. On that sunny afternoon before the all-star break, they were gifted the Yankee Perfect Storm - our absolute worst single game meltdown of 2024, if not for the last decade.
On the verge of mounting a 9th inning, three-run comeback, which would sweep the O's at home, break their spirits and send them to the HR derby in second place, the Yankees conjured up:
1) A total collapse by closer Clay Holmes.
2) A botched game-ending grounder by Anthony Volpe.
3) The infamous, perhaps immortal, Alex Verdugo faceplant.
Yeahp. Everybody knew what was coming: Another Yankee collapse - the order of business since 2009. We'd watch Baltimore dominate the AL, as Houston and Tampa had done in recent years. The O's were the new AL superpower, and the Yankees? Well, they were high-priced, underachieving roadkill.
Another one of those years.
Then something happened. Baltimore spent July and August floundering at a .500 pace, flopping against cupcakes and tomato cans, waiting for a hot streak that has never come. Now, here they are, on the verge of a wild card birth that will force them to face the Royals, Twins or Tigers - three dangerous young teams poised to bypass them, to replace them, as Texas did last October.
Of course, the O's can still catch us. Since the horror of 2004, no Yank fan shall ever again know comfort. But Baltimore remains inexplicably bad. Their shell-shocked fans blame injuries, but show me a MLB staff that hasn't been decimated by barking elbows and burnt out shoulders.
Last weekend, we knocked out Boston. Tonight, we could do Seattle. Longtime nemeses. Then comes the riddle of Baltimore. Can we exorcize the ghosts of July 14?