Orioles injuries, Twins streaky and Nebraska baseball on fire

A lot to unpack for the Little Ball of Hate.

We are basically just past the 1/3 of the MLB season, the Os (33-18) sit in second place in the AL East behind the hated Yankees, the Twins (28-24) sit in 3rd place in the AL Central.

The Huskers baseball team wins the Big Ten Tournament, heading toward the NCAA Tournament.

The Orioles signed Kimbrel for one year to be the closer. After two back-to-back blown saves, Hyde needs a new strategy.

The Orioles streak of not getting swept is gone, but all is ok — kind of

The Orioles got swept in St Louis, which ended a streak of 106 consecutive series of at least two decisions for the Orioles without being swept. It’s a random record, but it proves the Orioles since 2022 have fight. A lot of this has to do with when Adley Ruschman was brought up to the major leagues….he has been the difference for the Orioles.

So the sweep record is gone no biggie, but the Orioles have bigger issues.

Pitching injuries and closer problems

Means is back on the DL, highly questionable if he will return to be the pitcher he was two years ago when he threw a no-hitter. No worries right? Sure Irvin is ready to slide into starting rotation. But then Dean Kramer also goes out with forearm strain. Originally the Orioles were flush with starting pitching….something to watch.

As for the closer situation…ugh. It’s clear that Cano can not handle the pressure of closing out the ninth inning, as we saw last year when Batista was lost for the season and this year as well.

As for Kimbrel, obviously you sign him for one year to fill in the gap until Batista comes back next year. The problem is Kimbrel getting older struggled with back-to-back blown saves. So, shuffling the bullpen roles is now in order.

In the Angry Ball of Hate’s opinion, the Os need to trade for a closer. Trade for this guy now, Oakland Athletics reliever Mason Miller could be the best closer in all of MLB.

The As are sucking and will suck for a long time. Coby Mayo should be on the trade block, after all the Os have no place to put him in the infield. This is exactly the reason you have a great farm system to make tough deals to help your major league team. Bottom line, this team could win the World Series THIS YEAR, so Elias needs to make the move now.

If that happens, the bullpen situation becomes very clear. You have Coulombe as a great lefty situation pitcher, then you vhave Kimbrel as your 7th inning guy. And Cano setting up Miller to close it. And you can mix Kimbrel and Cano depending on the rest situation.

Twins have won 13 in a row and lost five in a row twice, an up and down season to say the least.

As for the Twins, maybe the streakiest team in all of baseball

When the Twins get hot, they are scary good. After all they did win 13 in a row at one point. They’ve also lost five in a row multiple times.

Similarly to the Orioles, the Twins have battled many injuries early in this season. The Twins will only go as far as Buxton and Royce Lewis go. If Lewis returns healthy, he can carry this team on his back.

By the way, I love their new celebration after a victory. They take a team Polaroid behind the pitching mound.

Nebraska won their first Big Ten championship ever on Sunday in front of 13,000 of Husker Nation in Omaha.

Nebraska baseball is legit

A victory on Sunday in the Big Ten Baseball Championship over Penn State capped a streak of five straight wins. The Huskers lost their first game in the tournament and had to battle through the loser’s bracket.

Nebraska has the best pitching staff in the conference and the second best offense as far as scoring runs in the Big Ten.

This team could do some serious damage in the NCAA tournament. They are projected as a No. 2 seed in the first-round regionals.