Mark my words

I don’t know who is going to win between the Rangers and the Orioles today, but I do believe one thing; Joe Saunders will pitch well.  Mark my words.

How do I know this?  It’s really quite simple.  Whenever the so-called experts and baseball analysts of the world come to a consensus on a prediction – they’re usually wrong.  It’s uncanny the way that happens.  I can’t even begin to count how many times their predictions fall short.

It doesn’t matter if their logic is based in sabermetrics or in something more “old school” – they get it wrong a lot.

And to my point - few, if any of them are giving Joe Saunders any kind of a chance.  

Look, I know the “numbers” look bad for Joe.  The experts will tell you that he’s never won in Arlington and his career ERA is above 7.  As a huge Joe Saunders fan, I find some comfort in that because that’s in the past and today is a new day.  Whenever the experts present past performance as a reason for predicted failure, I have to smile.  I mean c'mon - this is America, where the under-dogs always has a chance, right?

After all; life is unpredictable; so why shouldn’t baseball be as well? 

Well, it is and that’s why I believe on this day – we can throw the statistics out the window and believe in the person that is Joe Saunders.  I may be wrong, but I honestly believe Joe will pitch well and give his team a chance to win.  Yes, I’m biased and no, I don’t have any deep analysis to back this up.

This has been a crazy season.  So much of it was totally unpredictable.  Be thankful for that.  If it were that easy to predict outcomes, life – let alone baseball, wouldn’t be much fun.

I’m not an Orioles fan (obviously), but my wife Cheryl and I are huge Joe Saunders fans (and that’s been well documented on this blog).  Are we nervous?  You bet.  Are we excited?  Absolutely. 

Even though our beloved Angels aren’t in the post-season – today’s game holds a great amount of interest for my wife and me.  We’ll be watching, cheering and hanging on every pitch Joe throws.

You have to love post-season baseball.