Baltimore Orioles: October 31 Orange and Black

So, the Red Sox are the World Series Champions for 2013. I’ll pause for a moment of silence.

OK.

July 16, 2012; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Baltimore Orioles hat and glove sit in the dugout against the Minnesota Twins at Target Field. Credit: Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports

So, do Orioles fans grieve today, pound their corporate AL East chests today, blow it off with some light-hearted banter, pretend it didn’t happen, or put it in the rearview mirror as quickly as possible? Or maybe a combination of several of the above?

Our friend Roch Kubatko has chosen to grieve with some humor attached. I truly did LOL when he posted today, “If one kid shows up at my door for Halloween tonight wearing a beard and a Red Sox cap, he’s getting a treat from the crappy bag of candy. No mini Snickers or Kit Kat or Hershey bar or Reese’s. Enjoy your Dum Dum.”

The fact that the ugliest team in the history of baseball did indeed win cannot successfully be denied or ignored, though we may indeed attempt to put it into the rearview mirror as quickly as possible. And it has to be acknowledged that those guys individually and corporately put together a great season. Can they repeat it? I don’t think so … not at the same level at least; but that is the stuff to write about in February and March.

As an Orioles guy, I can be pleased for one person: Koji Uehara. My friends and longtime readers of both this and a previous blog know that I’ve long been an admirer of his talents. How can you not like a late-innings pitcher who throws strikes and gets guys out with a stellar WHIP statistic? Koji would have liked to be an Oriole again, and his value (with cash) brought Chris Davis and Tommy Hunter to the team … so, all’s well that ends well.

But what about the AL East angle? Looking back over the past 20 World Series (from ’93 to ’13, discounting the strike year of ’94), the AL East has won 9 of those championships. Compare that to 4 for the NL East, 3 for the NL West, 2 for the NL Central, and 1 each for the AL Central and West.  Teams from the American League East have represented the AL in 12 of the past 20 Series, so their winning percentage when making it to the Fall Classic is .750 – impressive!

It is simply a quantifiable and verifiable truth that the AL East is the best division in baseball, year in and year out. There is more than a fraction of truth and a measure of at least vain satisfaction in this fact, even when watching the Red Sox hoist the trophy.

But ultimately, Orioles fans need to take the good from the past two seasons, continue to watch the attempts by Dan Duquette to improve where needed, and look forward with honest and reasonable hope to a continuously better future.

Besides, it’s October 31^st!  And what are the colors of today? Yep – orange and black. Like every day, it’s a great day to be an Orioles fan!