Brisbee: The Orioles’ 21-game losing streak in 1988 will never be matched
From SABR member Grant Brisbee at SB Nation on April 30, 2018:
Opening Day is a given. It’s the official holiday of hope, when baseball’s anything-can-happen ethos is at its strongest. Absolutely nothing has happened. Of course anything can happen. Literally anything. Sure, when you put it like that. Opening Day, baby.
There’s less written about opening week. There’s nothing about opening fortnight, or opening month. It’s still an absolute right, though. April is when no problem is too great, when no obstacle is too daunting. It’s the first month of the season, after all.
The Baltimore Orioles opened their 1988 season by getting thumped by the Indians, 12-0, in front of the largest regular-season crowd in team history, and it made for a disappointing Opening Day. But opening week was still very much underway. Opening month had just started. And there was still room for the gloriously irrational optimism that fans squirrel away all winter.
“They’re going to be in there all year. They may not be first, but they’re not going to be at the bottom. No way,” one fan told the Baltimore Sun after the loss.
“If they can finish .500, that will be respectable. If Eddie and Cal can produce, that’ll be good,” said another.
Read the full article here: https://www.sbnation.com/mlb/2018/4/30/17277860/1988-baltimore-orioles-losing-streak-21-games-record-zoinks
Originally published: April 30, 2018. Last Updated: April 30, 2018.