
REVEALED: Is Pete Alonso the MISSING PIECE for Baltimore Orioles Playoff DREAMS This Season?
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“It's the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. The greatest game in baseball is back, whether you're a gamer or a baseball fan. Jump into franchise mode with your favorite team.”From the transcript
Baltimore Orioles aim to rebound in the AL East, fueled by the acquisitions of Pete Alonso and Taylor Ward. With a talented young core featuring Adley Rutschman, Gunnar Henderson, and Jackson Holliday, can this retooled roster power the Orioles back into playoff contention and match the Toronto Blue Jays’ turnaround from last season?
Connor Newcomb and Sully examine the Orioles’ offseason moves, the impact of new manager Craig Albernaz, and questions surrounding the starting rotation—including Trevor Rogers’ breakout potential and Shane Baz’s health. The episode highlights concerns about pitching depth, expectations for bounce-back years, and heated predictions on whether 85-87 wins can push Baltimore into a crowded postseason race. With the AL East primed for chaos, are the Orioles ready to make their World Series ambitions a reality?
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Locked On MLB - Daily Podcast On Major League Baseball — REVEALED: Is Pete Alonso the MISSING PIECE for Baltimore Orioles Playoff DREAMS This Season?. Machine-transcribed; use the interactive transcript above to jump the player to any line.
It's the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. I'm Aaron Judge, welcome to MLB The Show 26. The greatest game in baseball is back, whether you're a gamer or a baseball fan. This one is tough to put down. Jump into franchise mode with your favorite team. Build your roster, chase a pennant, and see if you have what it takes to win it all. It's the closest thing to being in the big leagues yourself. Use it MLB The.Show slash Lockdown and use Code Lockdown to unlock a pack for Diamond Dynasty. Internet connection required. Preorder now on PlayStation 5, Xbox and Nintendo Switch, rated E for everyone. MLB The Show 26, own the show. Hey everyone, this is Ross Jackson, one of the hosts of the Lockdown Podcast Network. Thank you for being here, because your support means everything. And if you're looking for another way to support the show that you love, while getting something awesome in return, check out the Every Day or Club.
You get ad free episodes of your favorite Lockdown show, access to a members-only group chat for fans of your team, and you can even jump into the national chats and talk about whatever's happening across the league. Tap the Every Day or Club link in the show notes to learn more. Last year, one set of birds nearly flew all the way to the World Series title, where there's another AL East Bird that has a, let's just say, pretty big ambition to finally get back to the World Series for the first time since Return of the Jedi came out. We're doing a Lockdown MLB crossover. You are a Lockdown MLB crossover, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network. All of our teams, every day. Hello, baseball fans, and welcome to Lockdown MLB, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network.
Where's your team every day? And we are now the number one sports podcasting network. I'm your host of the show. My name is Paul Francis, I'm a pleased, I'm imploring you. Just call me a Sully, where's my name? There it is. Say my name. And you can follow us at Lockdown MLB Pods on Twitter, or whatever it's called these days, and on Instagram. And you can follow me on my pal Sully, my Sully, baseball podcast on Instagram, set up so it's brought to you by MLB, the show, 26, visit MLB, the show.com slash Lockdown, use code Lockdown to unlock a pack in Diamond Dynasty, free order now, available on St. Patrick's Day on the PlayStation 5, the Xbox, the Nintendo Switch, and rated E for everyone. But as I mentioned before, this is a crossover episode. I am not flying solo. I can't do it all myself, ladies and gentlemen, coming in a man who's forgotten more about the Baltimore Orioles. The most of us have ever known, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, the host of Lockdown
Orioles Aids Conor Nukem, how you doing, man, it's been a while. I am doing well. We are just inching along, Sully. The WBC is nice because it's baseball that kind of matters and the dull gym to spring training. But two weeks away and you get to the point where it's just like, can we start the season now, please? It's the one it is. It's like a nice salad bar. You know, it's not spring training because some of the people are actually trying to win. It's not the regular season. And I know that because Yamamoto wouldn't be pitching on no days rest to win the WBC. But it's, you know, but every few years we do it, I fought it in the past. I said, it's not the World Cup. It's not the Olympics. Yeah. Yeah. It's not a lobster dinner. It's not a steak dinner. It's a nice basket of garlic bread. And do you know what? Garlic bread's not bad. I'm hungry. I haven't had dinner. Now we're all hungry. Now we're not. This episode is brought to you by garlic bread. So Connor Nukem, as I hinted at before, the, let's just, let's just make a comparison.
I know not the first one to make this comparison. The 2024 Toronto Blue Jays were incredibly disappointing. Had a lot of talented players who came up short. And then the next year, things clicked to the point where there were one toe being lifted from home plate, one ball stuck under the padding and left center field, one collision in a left center field, one decision to not steal second base with one of the slowest people on the planet Earth could hit to a potential double play from winning the World Series. Last year, the Orioles, who just a few years ago were a hundred win team with a manager of the year sunk to rock bottom. Could they make a similar switch? I think they have enough talented players on the team. A lot of people had down years. A lot of people, the horrible start they had last year, just torpedoed any real hope for them getting any sense of balance in the season.
And they wound up avoiding a 90 lost season as Tony Monsolino actually didn't do that bad a job, you know, they won more than he lost. But I think there's too much talent on this Orioles team. They had too much of a, let's just be kind and call it an interesting off season. And there's a lot of people on this team who could certainly have bounce back seasons. And while they are not the team that I would necessarily pick to win the American League, there is no super powerhouse in the American League. There is no hundred win team in the American League. There are no dodgers in the American. The closer you have of the blue jays and they're a very flawed team. So Baltimore has, and they're, again, they would have to improve from a team that avoided 90 losses. So I think Baltimore is a very good chance of being a wildcard team. And with some of the new acquisitions could, could have a good year. Now I want your take on this. Am I full of it or am I on to something? I mean, I have to think you're on to something, Sully, and they, they compared to Orioles
off season past. They have spent too much money this off season and have too much talent already on the roster for us to not think that they can make a blue jays run. It's actually an episode I did back in October. I believe the, it was just when the blue jays had gotten to the world series. The world series wasn't over yet. And of course, you're in that fun time as a podcast host where games are going on and none of them involve your team during the postseason. But I don't have that problem. That's true. That's true. But I did an episode about how, you know, it's not just that they're in the same division, but a lot of what the blue jays went through in 2024 is what the Orioles are going through in 2025. I have a team that had had so much talent. They had young hitting. They had some pitching at least and they just sunk for no apparent reason. And it was just that every player that had been good was bad. And that's what happened to the blue jays and then all those players got good again. And a lot of people like David Popkins, the new hitting coach they brought in who seemingly made every single hitter in that lineup better from year to year.
The Orioles have a new hitting coach too. So we will see if that same kind of move can do it for them. The Orioles made the big move in Peter Lanzo, but otherwise, you know, they're going to be relying on players like Adley Ruchman and Gunner Henderson and Jackson Holiday and Colton Couser to either bounce back or finally take the big step forward in 2026. The Peter Lanzos are there to make sure they don't completely fall in their face because you know, you'll have a veteran who's going to hit 35 homers and be in the lineup every single day. And that's something they didn't have last year. Then making a playoff run is going to rely on those younger guys pulling it back together. And maybe, you know, a more aggressive approach this offseason, a different coaching staff coming in a new manager and Craig Albernass. Maybe all of those things will give them a blue jays type run. It's going to be tough. The A.L. East has four teams trying in one team as the raise, which should just kind of never know what's going to happen in Tampa Bay, but they're not going to lose 100 games. The race, there's not going to lose 100 games. They're going to be competitive enough to win some games in that division as well.
And I think there's a good chance the Orioles are definitely trying to, it's funny. You look up at a division foe and they're trying to do basically exactly what the blue jays did last year. And by the way, there's two other things from about Tampa is they're not going to be playing in a minor league stadium this year, granted they're playing in the top. But there's also, you know, there's, there's, looks like there's going to be a shift in management and that could always lead to a new mentality there. All five teams have an argument to at least be a wildcard team and all five teams have an argument that things could go wrong. The other player want to bring up his Taylor Ward, who they acquired for Grayson Rodriguez. The Grayson Rodriguez was one of their top pitching process. If not, they are top pitching prospect, but obviously injuries have caught up with him. They don't have ward to a long term situation. But when you have a team, what I know this made, this is the sort of thing that, that some more of the Sabre metrics crowd will scoff at except I've heard enough ball players say
it over the years. I can't help but think there's something to it. When you have some veterans on the team that can take some of the pressure off of the young players, I mean, talk with Mike Trout talks about how Albert Poohol's helped them over the years. And secondly, with pitching staffs, you've seen situations like Charlie Lebrant joining the the Braves and Terry Pendleton joining the Braves and they went from first to last. And yes, it was Smolts and Glaven, but they had that veteran in the middle that took some pressure off them, having Alonzo and Ward in that lineup to take some of the pressure off of some of the players who may have been pressing. I mean, Rutchman, they were already they were already building a statue to Rutchman and Gunner Henderson and Jackson Holiday and people are bouncing their grandkids on their knees. Do you know where you were and what you were doing with Colton Couser made his first appearance? That same thing did happen with a lot of the players on Toronto and maybe, you know, take some of the take a little bit of the air out of the balloon can't help, can't help, but
help. I think the biggest thing that those guys will do besides just the phrase I like to use on locked on Orioles is having an adult in the room, not the not that Gunner Henderson's not an adult. He's 24 years old. But to have a 30 31 year old P. Alonzo who's been in the big leagues for six full seasons and has made playoff runs and has had big moments and has been at all star and that's really nice to have. And I think the number one thing is Alonzo and Ward have produced in their careers. And that's only going to help the Orioles to have those two big bats who hit a lot of homers in your lineup. The leadership is big. Ward Westberg came out and talked to the media about it was more direct than any young Orioles player has been over the past couple of years. It was either August of September or September of last year. And Westberg said pretty candidly look like this was after they had traded away their veterans at the deadline as well. He said, look, we feel like we need some veteran leaders in this room. And I think the Orioles management figured that the players like Westberg or Gunner Henderson kind of stepped up by now to become those leaders because they've been in the big leagues
for three years plus. But three years of service time is very different than eight, nine, ten years of service time in terms of being a leader in a clubhouse. And the Orioles didn't really have those guys with the eight, nine, ten years. And so to bring in Ward, bring in Alonzo, they can do that. But the other thing silly that's great is every single Oriole but Jackson holiday basically had a stint on the injured list last year. That was another issue. His team, Pete Alonzo has played 162 for back to back seasons. Taylor Ward has played 156 and 157 games the last two years. And today's game, you can't get much healthier or available than Taylor Ward and Pete Alonzo. And I think just that leadership by example of being out there every day is part of the leadership that's going to be hopefully huge for this team. Yeah. When we come back, there's a couple other, how do I say this, factors to bring about with the Orioles going into this year, including a new manager and questions in their rotation. But let's talk about the trivia question I had yesterday when we talked a little bit
about or two days ago when we talked about the Federal League and the American League. What three future Hall of Famers clinched World Series for their teams that went on to play for the Federal League, Hall of Famers on the mound, clinching the World Series would play for the Federal League as was talked about in the great book, The Outlaw League, The Battle of the Forge Modern Baseball, Sausage Chicago, got two of them correct, three Finger Brown and Chief Bender, he said, big Ed Walsh, oh, you were so close. It was a wrong Ed. It was Eddie Plank, Hall of Famer Eddie Plank for the Philadelphia A's. But yes, the Federal League did poach some superstars, just not the two, they were desperately trying to poach, which were Walter Johnson and Ty Cobb. And who knows what would have happened if they successfully did that. We come back, let's talk a little bit about, oh, I don't know. The pitching. Hey, this is Jeff Carr from Lockdown Reds, and you know, I've reached the point in my
life where my wife and I are looking toward the future. We've got the house, we've got the career, we even have an awesome dog, but now we need to secure that future. That's where ethos comes in for us. When I look at this insurance or that insurance and I try to pick one, I might as well be reading an entirely different language. Ethos clears up the noise and gets me set up with exactly what I need, because ethos makes getting life insurance fast and easy and it's 100% online. You can get a quote in seconds, apply in minutes and get same day coverage, protect your family with life insurance from ethos now by going to ethos.com slash Lockdown MLB. And as little as 10 minutes, you can get a free quote and up to $3 million in coverage at ethos.com slash Lockdown MLB. That's ETH OS.com slash Lockdown MLB ethos.com slash Lockdown MLB application times and rates may vary. MLB opening day, it's almost here and you can feel it.
The fresh starts being expectations and that first crack at the bat, whether it's a breakout rookie or division race that goes down to the wire. There's nothing like being in the ballpark for it, but the only problem is getting tickets can feel like a grind, long line, surprise fees, prices jumping at checkout. And that's where there's game time. The game time app gets fancy advantage with constant innovation. It's how you unlock amazing tickets and experiences in just a few taps. It's simple to use. The game time guarantee means you get 100% authentic tickets delivered on time at the best price. And here's the best part. These are included in the price you see. What you see is when you pay period. Now I used it for my tickets to go to the NLCS last year. That's right. I was there for the game where Otani threw six shot at innings and hit three home runs in one game. That's probably a good time to have them on your fantasy team. Well, let me tell you, I had the seat view. I could tell exactly where I was sitting.
I got the panoramic seat view. I used the zone deal because I know where I like to sit and dodge a stadium. And they let me pick the section and save even more when game time selected the seat. And you could follow your favorite team and get alerts when new deals drop. Two taps and it's done. No stress, no hidden fees, just great seats, admit it. That's what makes it so easy to decide last minute to hit a game. Take the guesswork out of buying tickets with game time. Download the game time app and create an account and use code locked on for 20 bucks off your first purchase. Terms apply that's game time. I need to trademark that song. I wrote it myself. Connor Newcomers here, we're talking locked on Orioles and also, by the way, I just want to say, okay, we're about to do about to start the season, as I mentioned before. Let me tell you, Connor, you probably already know this, but there is no better
time to check out the every day or club. Now, it's where you get ad free episodes of the show. You get access to the group chat on Discord. And if you sign up before the NCA term and tips off, you can get it every day or club. Bracket pool on Discord for a chance to win locked on merch should be a lot of fun. Right now, you can use the code match. That's M-A-R-C-H is, you'd say the Massachusetts, I'd say match to get your first month for free, you had to lock down MLB dot supercats dot com or locked on Orioles dot supercats dot com. I don't judge and check out the link in the show notes. Connor Newcombe, the biggest question that I have is they train away Grayson Rodriguez, who I believe pitched as many innings as I did last year in the major league level. And they got themselves a year out of Taylor Ward. Now that could be a great deal for the, I almost call it in the California Angels, do it. I very well might because they don't play in Los Angeles. And the A's don't play anywhere, according to that's why in system come the West Sacramento
ways. But it's a different thing. I'm unlocked on A's for the next few weeks, by the way. The pitching staff, I'm not sure 100% were to make out of the pitching staff. It would be great if they got a full season out of Trevor Rogers, who for the first half of the season was pitching like Mike Flannigan, circa 1979, but they didn't quite get that. Talk to me a little bit about the starting rotation in their bullpen because we know they'll be able to hit. Will they be able to keep the runs down? The one thing they didn't do this off season that many Orioles fans and I think people around the game would have loved to see the Orioles do is add a top of the rotation starter. That is the one thing. You could argue the free agent class probably didn't include the tippy top of the top guys. You know, I like Fromber Valdes, I like Ranger Suarez. I think Michael King's pretty good, but the, you know, Dylan sees the best guy, the Blake
Snells, who were available last year, the max freeds, I don't know if they're at that level. But there were four or five of those guys out there and they didn't get any of them. What they did. I thought, Faldes, I just want to tell you, I didn't mean interrupt here. I think it's crazy. They didn't sign Valdes. There were two teams that said we're going, other than Houston, they're like, ah, Valdes. One were the New York metropolitan's and the other were the Baltimore Orioles and he's trying to pinch wrong at the catcher. I didn't like that. Yeah. Get over it. He's a terrific pitcher. World Series tested. He's a battle horse. I don't care if he's a nice guy. David Wells was in a nice guy and he constantly won wherever he went. You know, sometimes you've got to forget that nice guy thing and I thought I would have, I would have gone to Fan Duel and bet everything. I mean, I bet one of my sons that he was going to sign with Baltimore because this is exactly what they needed in 2023 when there were 100 some out of wind team, but they didn't have the pitch staff to go down. They hoarded all their prospects as, okay, Valdes was just sitting there unsigned forever.
Yeah. And it was, it seemed by the end that Valdes was actually not even their number one guy. Now that doesn't matter when he's the last guy out there, which is how it worked. But they were the number one, every all the reporting we've gotten and things I've heard is that Ranger Suarez was their number one. And I think it was John Heyman who had that they made a five year 125 million dollar offer Suarez. He took five years 130 from the Red Sox. So it sounds like they were right in the bidding till the end and didn't get him. And the Orioles still have not signed a starting pitcher to a multi year deal under Michael Ius. And this felt like this was absolutely going to be the offseason. They did it, even though there wasn't the drop dead no doubt ace out there. There were some really, really good pitchers. They just didn't get it. So what they have instead is Trevor Rogers and Kyle Bradish will be one and two. It's kind of up in the air, which one will start opening day. Rogers was just under the radar phenomenal last year. He had a sub to ERA. Now, he only made about 20ish starts. He had a neat thing happen. 18 starts. Yeah, he had a neat thing happen early in the year, missed the first six weeks or so.
He had a little like tiny procedure on it came back was in triple A for a little bit. Because if you remember when the Orioles traded for Rogers mid season in 2024, he made four starts. He was horrendous. And they sent him to triple A. They said, were it a playoff race? And you're giving up six runs every time you go out there. So they sent him to triple A. He wasn't even going to make the roster to open last year. But by the time his knee got healthy in May, they needed him. And they called him up. And all of a sudden, he looked like the Trevor Rogers that I think either won or finished second and rookie of the year back with with Miami when he first came up, except even better somehow. Who knows if he can repeat that? Because he was at best in average starting pitcher and more like below average, the three years with Miami after that. This was 18 starts. Can you do 30 starts of a three ERA? That would be awesome. That'd be great. But who knows? It's it's it's both a known quantity because he looks so good and he looks just as good as this spring and also a complete unknown because it was very low pressure last year. Let's just say and also it was only 18 starts radish is their guy.
He was fourth in Sai Young voting in 2023. The last time he was fully healthy. He gets Tommy John. He looks awesome in the five six starts at the end of last year that he made when he came back. He's fully ready to go. If he's up to 2023 level, I mean, you have fourth in Sai Young, you have a guy who could be considered an ace. It's just you can't rely on him to do that the first year after Tommy John surgery. After that, they traded for Shane Boz. This is a guy who has kind of the same kind of upside as Grayson Rodriguez has just been a lot healthier recently, like he's pitched the last year and a half Rodriguez hasn't pitched the last year and a half. That's important. Boz made 31 starts last year. Grayson made zero. That's a big difference. And so they do that. And then at the back end, they have everyone's favorite veteran back end eating eater starters. Dean Kramer has just become that even though he's still in his 20s, he basically pitches like he's 36 and he's been around forever. Chris Bassett is actually 37. He was kind of a world series hero out of the bullpen for the blue jays. You know, he's going to give you 30 starts and be solid.
And then they resigned Zach Eflin, who was awesome two years ago. And then last year had major back surgery and was terrible when he was on the field because his back hurt. And so the hope is that if his back is okay now, he'll be good. Their rotation is definitely better than it was last year. It would hard to be worse in some places. Yeah. But they didn't, they made the floor so much better. The depth, the back half is just worlds better than Charlie Morton and Toma Yuki Sugano. The top half, while slightly better, has the big question. To me, Sully, it is a rotation that can get them to the postseason with their offense. I would think they probably have to have another higher upside arm to feel like this rotation could win the world series. Yeah. Well, bads is I think one of the most interesting pickups for them because he was an undeniably talented and sought after prospect with Tampa Bay. The first three years, I have his stats up here, 2021, 2022 and 2023.
He combined for nine starts. You know, that's an average of three starts a year, great, he didn't start any in 2023. The last year, he made 31 starts and qualified for a Neareta. He was about to win it with a high for ERA, but if he's back and healthy and he's okay, okay, it's better than bad and their back end of the rotation last year was bad. So you know, change that D to a Z and you've got bads and I'm intrigued because if he can click, if he's a late bloomer, then the then Baltimore got to me psychologically, I'm like saying they flopped Rodriguez with bass and picked up word for a year. That's kind of what it feels like to me and I think that's a that is a very high risk, but very high ceiling gamble that they're taking, hoping that they can get a full season
of a good bass, which would be just a tremendous pick up for them. Yeah, there were some Orioles fans who were upset and saying, why did we, you know, give away a grace from Rodriguez just to get Shane Boz, you know, it's like, aren't they kind of the same player and you gave up all these prospects and you gave up on your homegrown guy and in Rodriguez. And it's like, even if you think they're the same pitcher, I believe Shane Boz has made, I think it's 42 starts since Grayson Rodriguez has made his last one. Yeah. Pitching health is very important and Shane Boz is finally healthy and Grayson. He missed a whole season and a half and never got a single surgery. So what's going on there? Nobody really knows. I mean, I know he's pitching for the angels in spring and he hasn't been great so far. We'll kind of see. But the other thing with Boz Sully is that he finally had a full healthy season in 2025. And yes, the ERA was in the high fours. But as you mentioned, he was pitching to that minor league ballpark, which every fly ball became a home run. Yeah. This will be his first hopefully full healthy season in a real major league ballpark.
Now, that's a lot of qualifiers. But the ERAs are banking on him finally being healthy in a normal scenario. And that allowing him to reach that potential. When he was, I think at one point, maybe as high as the second best rated pitching prospects and all the baseball when he was in the race system. All right, when we come back, I want some predictions. I want some thoughts and no one is allowed to waffle. We will not waffle on those predictions. And if you are waffling on some hiring, maybe indeed is the place to go workplace chaos, deadline stacking up inbox overflowing in the one position you have to fill. It's still sitting open when the pressure's on you need the right hire. This is a job for indeed sponsored jobs. They help you reach the people who actually fit what you are looking for. Skills, experience, location. So you're not just hoping the right candidate stumbles across your post. And here's a stat that says it all in the minute or so. I've been talking to you companies like yours made 27 hires on indeed.
According to indeed data worldwide. So if you're hiring, spend less time searching, more time interviewing candidates who check all your boxes with indeed sponsored jobs and listeners of this show either of our shows. We'll get a $75 sponsor job credit to help get your job. The premium status it deserves and indeed.com slash podcast. That is indeed.com slash podcast terms and conditions apply need to hire. This is a job for indeed sponsored jobs. And this crossover episode. Well, it is also brought to you by MLB the show 26. The best game in baseball is back with his newest installment. You're going to have a hard time putting this one down. Well, when I've played MLB the show in the past. This was well back in the day, even on the PSP, the handheld gaming system. I really like franchise mode because I could nerd out in being the GM, making the trades and the waiver claims and signing players and trying to lead the Orioles to a world series that I have still never seen in my lifetime.
But the gameplay is also great as well. You can be Gunner Henderson. You can be Adley Rutchman. You can be Shane Baaz as we just talked about. The gameplay is getting more realistic by the year. You can do that to maybe help lead the O's to the world series. Well, if you're a gamer, you're a baseball fan or you just want to enjoy America's favorite pastime in a new exciting way, you're going to love MLB the show 26. Play as your favorite team and franchise players and see if you have what it takes to win that world series. Visit mobthe.show slash Lockdown and use Code Lockdown to unlock a pack for use and diamond dynasty internet connection is required. Pre-order now available March 17th on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S and X and Nintendo Switch. And it's rated E for everyone. All right, I'm going to tell you my prediction. I think they win 85 games. I think they're in contention for a wildcard spot the entire time. I also think they wind up, I mean, 85 wins.
85 to 87 wins is going to, I think that's going to be the difference between making the playoffs or not in the American League. There's a bunch of very good teams. I don't think there's 100 win team. I don't think there's a hundred loss team. Not, you know, unless you want to look at the angels who are truly bad. But I think that Baltimore has enough players. They're going to score. And I think some of the pictures are going to rebound. I think they're going to win 85 games, be contending right up until the very end. I think they may fall just short of the playoffs. But I think they're going to be a contender. It'll be a fun year in Baltimore. I think they're just going to flip last year's record. 180 degrees. So instead of a 75 and 87, I think it's an 87 win team. And look at its standings. Last year's Sully, you had the Tigers and the Astros tied at 87 and 75. The Tigers had the tiebreaker. So they got into the postseason and Houston did not. So what that's telling me is 87 wins is just enough to sneak into that final wild card spot.
It's all going to depend on really how good the Rodgers' Bradish boss 123 is going to be at the top of that rotation. I believe in a Lonzo ward and bounce backs from the hitters. I think even though they've lost some relievers, they got Ryan Hellsley. They have a bunch of really intriguing, exciting young arms in their bullpen. And I love the back of the rotation, right? You can't feel much better for your four and five guys than the combo of Eflin Bassett and Dean Kramer. It's going to be about those top three. If those guys fumble or get hurt or Rodgers is in the same Rodgers, they're going to struggle a little blood 500 and have to fight their way in. If those guy, if Bradish looks back to Saiyung form and Rodgers is anything close to last year and Boz finally hits his marks, Satine that could legitimately win the AL East. It's a lot riding, I think, on those three guys and Adley Ruchman being somewhat close to what he was a couple of years ago. But this prediction, listeners of Lockdown Orioles, this prediction could change in a week or two when I make my officially official ones. But now as I record with Sully here, two weeks from opening day,
I'm going to go 87 and 75 and the final Wildcard spot. And I'm going to predict that the American League East gets four teams into the postseason with all three Wildcards going to that division. It's a distinct possibility. And what do you think about the new manager? You know, I like Craig Auburnes. He, it's interesting. I thought they'd go the other way. I thought they'd go for someone with that managerial experience, maybe even someone who didn't work out perfectly in their first job. But you know, they learned a lot and now maybe the second job will will be the thing that pushes them over the hump. That's what happened with Frank Kona and Boston and several other managers. But yeah, I thought they're going to do something similar to that. Yeah, and instead they went for the new guy. Now he was seemingly a hot commodity. It sounded like a lot of other teams interviewed him. But you're taking a risk with a team that needs to get over the hump. And a lot of times when you have talent and need to get over the hump, that's when you bring in the dusty Baker type manager. The Joe Madden. Joe Madden, that now what Frank Kona is doing when he's with the reds. That's the kind of, even when they brought in buck show alter last time, they weren't really trying to get over the hump then,
but he got them over the hump finally in Baltimore. And yeah, and instead it's, it's Abernaz. You've heard a lot of players so far and even media members say that kind of the, just the way that spring training is gone definitely looks different. You expect that a different manager down in Sarasota. But it's just the, just the way that the drills go and accountability goes, looks a little bit different, which I think is encouraging. But listen, has he worked under the two-time reigning AO manager the year? Absolutely he has. And I would love if his career goes like Stephen votes, where he can get the last single ounce of possible talent out of every single player on his roster, which is what vote seems to do with Cleveland. And he's got more talent here. I think overall, then Cleveland has on that roster. But it's kind of an unknown. He could be the Ra Ra guy that everybody loves. But Sully, if they're 8 and 15, then in April, and you're starting to get scarred from last year, it's all that Ra Ra kind of goes away. Yeah. Well, we'll see what happens. And pretty soon we will see what happens. Thanks so much for tuning into a lockdown.
And we'll be locked on Orioles crossover. We're going to be doing more predictions. And I'm going to work with the new in Memorium videos. We're going to be bringing that up just a few weeks. And follow us at lockdown and it'll be pods on Twitter, or whatever it's called these days. Where are you located on those on the Twitter verse? It's at locked on Orioles. The posting on the apps is sometimes sparse, because as we know, Sully, it's not great on there, but we don't need to get into that conversation. But you can find the podcast itself, wherever you get podcasts, and the YouTube channel, potentially where you're watching it right now, or if you're over at the locked on mobile YouTube channel, you can go to the locked on Orioles one. And if you've never missed an episode of either one of us showed it's time to join the Everydayer Club. It's built for you to get locked on Orioles or locked on the MLB at free, plus members only Discord access and more. Head to locked on MLB.supercast.com or locked on Orioles.supercast.com. Check out the 1st February 24th 7th National Lockdown Podcast that we're YouTube channel. And for your second listen, either make it locked on MLB or locked on Orioles.
And let's go to the trivia question. Way back when the first World Series I ever saw was 1979, which involved the Orioles. Way back when the Orioles were a regular participant to the World Series, the trivia question is this. What reliever won the first-ever Orioles World Series game? What reliever? Not a starter. You may know it. And if you're an Orioles fan probably, you think this is as obvious as saying, what Oriole broke Lou Gehrig's consecutive game streak. And yes, we know. We know it was Rick Schew. But that's a trivia question for today. Talking about the birds and how this bird wants to fly just one run better than the Blue Jays last year. This has been a locked on MLB, locked on Orioles crossover. He's Connor Nukem. My name's Paul Francis Sullivan. Please call me Sully.
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