Category: Sports

Minor league baseball salaries have increased

I saw the Orioles win on Opening Day 3/28/24

The Orioles crushed the Angels 11-3. Starting pitcher Corbin Burnes was great and the offense was outstanding, too.

It was cold and crowded. There were lots of young people which is encouraging since pundits say baseball is largely followed by us old folks. I am very optimistic about the season.

The pictures are:

1 The crowd outside Pickle’s Pub an hour and a half before the game

2 The view from my seat

3 The enormous line for the men’s room

4 The crowd outside Pickle’s after I left in the 6th inning

Will the players the Orioles sent down to Norfolk get much of a chance in the majors in 2024?

I don’t think so (other than Holliday). I hope I’m wrong because Mayo, Stowers, Kjerstad and Norby are ready for major league playing time.

I looked at last year’s stats on the great Baseball Reference. The Orioles will carry 13 position players;. Last year, the player with the 14th most plate appearances (McKenna) only had 139. That’s not many.

I predict Orioles will win 98 games in 2024

I will post more later but I wanted to get this in before Opening Day (which I am going to tomorrow). I think the Orioles will go 98-64 and win the AL East again.

The Orioles had a great record in one-run games which could be hard to repeat, especially with Bautista out. However, the roster is full of players who could do better and they should get a boost at some point from Holliday. I think O’Hearn will have a tough time repeating but I am expecting a big improvement from Westburg. Burnes was a great addition.

Here are some professional takes:

Sporting News: 83 wins, second in the AL East

They predict the Orioles to finish with 86 wins and second place in the AL East

ESPN predicts the Orioles will win the AL East. They also picked them to be AL champions but lose in the World Series.

The betting sites all seem to have the Orioles around 89.5-90.5 wins. They’re either second behind the Yankees or co-favorites in the AL East.