#mlb 2025

We swept the Orioles! We went 7-1 on a road trip against division rivals! That's awesome! Wait? Am I starting with the bright sides? I guess I sort of am... weird. I usually start with existential angst and misery. There was a small amount of angst. I mean, it's not as though we totally raked and scored a lot of runs and were great with RISP or anything like that. Even Crochet seemed to have to work hard for it. But with all that said, we did win and we did sweep and without much further ado, here are the official bright sides.

Garrett Crochet wasn't as efficient as he's been in the past, but even when he's not looking his sharpest, his lines are pretty good - he went six, giving up 2 runs on six hits, striking out seven and walking one.

The bullpen were solid when Chapman was not available.

Roman Anthony had a couple of hits and scored a run. He is heading towards permanent bright side territory.

Trevor Story hit a dinger!

The double act of Romy Gonzalez and Rob Refsnyder continued to delight, both knocking in runs, collecting three hits in total and scoring a run as well.

We won!

We swept!

Near heart attacks and calamity sometimes result in happy endings. Ceddanne Rafaela gave me TWO heart attacks last night, one when he dropped a catch after looking like he'd hurt his wrist (I don't hold the drop against him - he was going hard - I was worried he'd hurt himself) and the second when he and Jarren Duran combined to not catch what should have been an easy out in the bottom of the seventh which gave the O's the lead. That was mostly Duran's fault, tbh, but still... heart attacks, man. However, it all turned out ok in the end (in spite of a bit of a shallow day at the plate for much of the team), so let's look at the bright sides.

Brayan Bello was good again, dropping his ERA to 2.99, going 6 and 2/3rds, striking out six and walking just the one. Only one earned run on five hits as well. And he just looks solid on the mound these days.

Roman Anthony hit another leadoff dinger. What a dude. It was his one hit of the day and he made it count.

Ceddanne Rafaela, after giving me two heart attacks, then saved the day by hitting a two-run dinger in the top of the ninth to put the Sox in the lead.

Jarren Duran had a couple of hits and happened to be on base when Ceddanne hit the dinger, so it all worked out in the end!

We won!

We won the series!