The A's and the Cardinals both 21 - 19

[OldRed]

Two surprising teams.

[ecleme22]

Not sure how surprising the Cards are.numerous CTers thought they were an over-.500 team.

[swatski]

Schedule got a little less difficult lately for Cards. Not totally convinced of turnaround yet.

[An Old Friend]

Two surprising teams.

Didn't the A's spend the second most money this offseason behind the Yankees?

The Cardinals shouldn't be a surprise. Their goal has been to be competitive.

[scoutyjones2]

Orioles, bottom 4

[Futuregm2]

Two surprising teams.

Not really, I thought both would be over .500

[Talkin' Baseball]

Two surprising teams.

Not really, I thought both would be over .500

Really? That's impressive.

[Futuregm2]

Two surprising teams.

Not really, I thought both would be over .500

Really? That's impressive.

Yea, A’s have an underrated lineup and adding a pitcher like Severino was big. Plus they have a great closer in Miller. A good recipe for at least an above .500 team.

For the Cardinals, they have a solid lineup if Noot can stay mostly healthy. It would be even better if Walker/Gorman turned anywhere close to what we thought they would be. Scott has been like Winn was last year, which after he looked in ST could be a plausible step. The rotation is solid, but not great. But Libby taking his step was huge (which I thought Libby would be a breakout pitcher this year, his peripherals have improved every year and being only 25 is a good breakout age).

[Carp4Cy]

Orioles, bottom 4

This. Calls into question how likely the success of a youth movement can be even if you get hold of several top prospects.

Also the Nats haven’t been competitive since letting go of Scherzer, Soto, Turner and never really replacing Harper.

[An Old Friend]

Orioles, bottom 4

This. Calls into question how likely the success of a youth movement can be even if you get hold of several top prospects.

Also the Nats haven’t been competitive since letting go of Scherzer, Soto, Turner and never really replacing Harper.

Wood / Gore / Abrams are a pretty solid return on Soto.

Orioles developed bats and no pitching, then didn’t spend on pitching to fortify the roster.

[Talkin' Baseball]

Orioles, bottom 4

This. Calls into question how likely the success of a youth movement can be even if you get hold of several top prospects.

Also the Nats haven’t been competitive since letting go of Scherzer, Soto, Turner and never really replacing Harper.

Wood / Gore / Abrams are a pretty solid return on Soto.

Orioles developed bats and no pitching, then didn’t spend on pitching to fortify the roster.

This. The Orioles did excellently, as far as they went. They didn't finish the job. Their window isn't closed yet, but what a waste of a prime opportunity.

[Carp4Cy]

Orioles, bottom 4

This. Calls into question how likely the success of a youth movement can be even if you get hold of several top prospects.

Also the Nats haven’t been competitive since letting go of Scherzer, Soto, Turner and never really replacing Harper.

Wood / Gore / Abrams are a pretty solid return on Soto.

Orioles developed bats and no pitching, then didn’t spend on pitching to fortify the roster.

Wood/Gore/Abrams are good on paper - they haven't won actually anything since 2019 and seem to be getting worse. It can create a death spiral where you lose the fan base by losing so many games then can't afford to spend on FA to suppliment the talent you did develop, because no amount of draft picks and trades for prospects can create a dynasty without some FA or veteran star talent to anchor it.

[Futuregm2]

Orioles, bottom 4

This. Calls into question how likely the success of a youth movement can be even if you get hold of several top prospects.

Also the Nats haven’t been competitive since letting go of Scherzer, Soto, Turner and never really replacing Harper.

Wood / Gore / Abrams are a pretty solid return on Soto.

Orioles developed bats and no pitching, then didn’t spend on pitching to fortify the roster.

Wood/Gore/Abrams are good on paper - they haven't won actually anything since 2019 and seem to be getting worse. It can create a death spiral where you lose the fan base by losing so many games then can't afford to spend on FA to suppliment the talent you did develop, because no amount of draft picks and trades for prospects can create a dynasty without some FA or veteran star talent to anchor it.

You have a weird description of getting worse.

They peaked bad in 2022.

They went winning%

2019: .574
2020: .433
2021: .401
2022: .340
2023: .438
2024: .438
2025: TBD

They were at 17-21 before this series.

The return they got for Soto has been great. Crews has appeared overmatched at the big league level so far, but we’ll see in the long run. He’s still only a rookie.

Obviously a good team will supplement the young talent with veteran talent. Nats still have time to do that. And they added a guy like Lowe to help with that this past offseason.

[Carp4Cy]

Orioles, bottom 4

This. Calls into question how likely the success of a youth movement can be even if you get hold of several top prospects.

Also the Nats haven’t been competitive since letting go of Scherzer, Soto, Turner and never really replacing Harper.

Wood / Gore / Abrams are a pretty solid return on Soto.

Orioles developed bats and no pitching, then didn’t spend on pitching to fortify the roster.

Wood/Gore/Abrams are good on paper - they haven't won actually anything since 2019 and seem to be getting worse. It can create a death spiral where you lose the fan base by losing so many games then can't afford to spend on FA to suppliment the talent you did develop, because no amount of draft picks and trades for prospects can create a dynasty without some FA or veteran star talent to anchor it.

You have a weird description of getting worse.

They peaked bad in 2022.

They went winning%

2019: .574
2020: .433
2021: .401
2022: .340
2023: .438
2024: .438
2025: TBD

They were at 17-21 before this series.

The return they got for Soto has been great. Crews has appeared overmatched at the big league level so far, but we’ll see in the long run. He’s still only a rookie.

Obviously a good team will supplement the young talent with veteran talent. Nats still have time to do that. And they added a guy like Lowe to help with that this past offseason.

All those players - Scherzer, Soto, Turner, also Harper - have won in other cities since leaving. Meanwhile the Nats have a few potentially great players but not nearly enough to win with - hence the death spiral.

My goal for the Cardinals is Not to acquire the next Mike Trout level prospect at a cost of 5-10 straight losing seasons

[An Old Friend]

Orioles, bottom 4

This. Calls into question how likely the success of a youth movement can be even if you get hold of several top prospects.

Also the Nats haven’t been competitive since letting go of Scherzer, Soto, Turner and never really replacing Harper.

Wood / Gore / Abrams are a pretty solid return on Soto.

Orioles developed bats and no pitching, then didn’t spend on pitching to fortify the roster.

Wood/Gore/Abrams are good on paper - they haven't won actually anything since 2019 and seem to be getting worse. It can create a death spiral where you lose the fan base by losing so many games then can't afford to spend on FA to suppliment the talent you did develop, because no amount of draft picks and trades for prospects can create a dynasty without some FA or veteran star talent to anchor it.

You have a weird description of getting worse.

They peaked bad in 2022.

They went winning%

2019: .574
2020: .433
2021: .401
2022: .340
2023: .438
2024: .438
2025: TBD

They were at 17-21 before this series.

The return they got for Soto has been great. Crews has appeared overmatched at the big league level so far, but we’ll see in the long run. He’s still only a rookie.

Obviously a good team will supplement the young talent with veteran talent. Nats still have time to do that. And they added a guy like Lowe to help with that this past offseason.

All those players - Scherzer, Soto, Turner, also Harper - have won in other cities since leaving. Meanwhile the Nats have a few potentially great players but not nearly enough to win with - hence the death spiral.

My goal for the Cardinals is Not to acquire the next Mike Trout level prospect at a cost of 5-10 straight losing seasons

You’re implying that you think Washington’s owner won’t spend?

[Carp4Cy]

Orioles, bottom 4

This. Calls into question how likely the success of a youth movement can be even if you get hold of several top prospects.

Also the Nats haven’t been competitive since letting go of Scherzer, Soto, Turner and never really replacing Harper.

Wood / Gore / Abrams are a pretty solid return on Soto.

Orioles developed bats and no pitching, then didn’t spend on pitching to fortify the roster.

Wood/Gore/Abrams are good on paper - they haven't won actually anything since 2019 and seem to be getting worse. It can create a death spiral where you lose the fan base by losing so many games then can't afford to spend on FA to suppliment the talent you did develop, because no amount of draft picks and trades for prospects can create a dynasty without some FA or veteran star talent to anchor it.

You have a weird description of getting worse.

They peaked bad in 2022.

They went winning%

2019: .574
2020: .433
2021: .401
2022: .340
2023: .438
2024: .438
2025: TBD

They were at 17-21 before this series.

The return they got for Soto has been great. Crews has appeared overmatched at the big league level so far, but we’ll see in the long run. He’s still only a rookie.

Obviously a good team will supplement the young talent with veteran talent. Nats still have time to do that. And they added a guy like Lowe to help with that this past offseason.

All those players - Scherzer, Soto, Turner, also Harper - have won in other cities since leaving. Meanwhile the Nats have a few potentially great players but not nearly enough to win with - hence the death spiral.

My goal for the Cardinals is Not to acquire the next Mike Trout level prospect at a cost of 5-10 straight losing seasons

You’re implying that you think Washington’s owner won’t spend?

Not me. Letting multiple Hall of Famer’s go elsewhere implies that.