Bill Ripken On Why THIS ORIOLES PITCHER Could Be The X Factor Pushing Towards The Playoffs 

Thank you Ryan for building an O's social media channel. Bill is really good with insight and speaking his mind. Keep up the good work

Baltimorean, living in Jersey - it’s been truly awesome seeing Ryan build up the channel. Always rooting for you and love watching the show to fill in the blanks for things I miss bc I’m not “home” Thx for all the great content and thx for being a class act like your dad, uncle, and granddad!

How’s this for an X factor: in 3 games with the Orioles, Eloy Jimenez is batting .555 with an OPS of 1.225 and has driven in runs in back to back games. Eloy also has a career .316BA in October, small sample size, but he’s got a 5 game hitting streak in all 5 postseason games he’s appeared in. So he’s gotten a hit in every playoff game he’s ever played in, and I love the absolute stats, the “every time” or “never has” stats.

One of the best takes from the trade.

Building a baseball channel to scale is tough, let alone a team specific one. Wish him nothing but the best. I’ve also very much enjoyed sparing with a fewX.

Pitching very well 👏

I strongly believe it wouldn't hurt if Elias contacted Madison Bumgarner or his agent about the prospects of bringing him in. I believe MadBum still has something left in the tank.

Dude this was an amazing video. I can’t believe I forgot about Jordon Montgomery even though you talked about getting a “Jordon Montgomery” and even questioned if Montgomery himself would be available if I remember correctly. But I just realized, “what if Eflin pitches so well that he passes Grayson to the 2 slot and Grayson slides to 3, OH MY GOD!” I literally said oh my god out loud when I had this thought process. It invoked an involuntary physical action, literally. I just got so PUMPED UP!! I’ve been thinking about how great it will be to have a #3 that’s not far off from Grayson when we get to October, but if Grayson becomes the third man out, it’s just like Billy said, with this offense and a 3-4 run lead with our bullpen and I’m extremely confident. They might now be great but they won’t be blowing 4 run leads and 4/5 times they won’t blow a 3 run lead either. So you’re going to look up and all of a sudden it’s gonna be 3-0 O’s boom who’s next. I mean even Cleveland, look at what Efflin and Corbin just experienced with Cleveland, and Grayson would be going tomorrow, and if Cleveland was the #1 seed he’d be going home for that game 3 start, forget it. It’s a 3-0 lead with Dean or Rogers, whoever is better. Which is also going to be a nice little competition to determine who’s gonna be potentially starting a game in a World Series this season. In case anyone thinks they don’t understand the stakes. Man things are looking really good. There’s even a competition for that closer role. When you add “possible World Series opportunity” to these in-house competitions, it really changes the game and tends to bring out the best in guys. Like Jimenez and Slater as well. It’s a really big deal. And we still got some big games and big teams like a series in LA against the dodgers coming up, and these guys are going to get a chance not only to further their case for a postseason spot, but do it on a bigger stage where success will build a lot of confidence if they win that spot and have to pitch in those big games. Making it is one thing, believing you will do well is another. That’s why Dominguez was a huge undersung score. He’s got a lot of postseason success. Near flawless. That stuff plays in a major way especially with relievers. Which is why Kimbrel is scary. The postseason was a problem for him when he was the best closer in baseball. It’s just like that for some guys. But Mike made all the right moves as it stands right now. Jimenez becomes a monstrous platoon with OHearn at DH in October, you’re talking about a high probability of getting a .500 BA from your DH in every series. You keep Mounty and Mullins in the field at the 8-9 hole because you have the offense to make the defense more valuable and they could always get a big hit in a big spot we all know the ability is there just having a down year. The bottom line is errors in the field lead to big innings and defensive gems, the big plays, kill rallies and sometimes kill teams altogether or at least slam the door on them. Like that unreal diving play to lead off the 9th in a one run game. Boom all of a sudden the next guy swings at the first pitch sitting on a fastball tryna be aggressive and hits a smoke show liner RIGHT at the center fielder and there’s 2 outs and the next guy feels like the Chrysler building is on his back as he steps into the box. God forbid it’s a home game and he can feel the weight of the Chrysler building on 40,000 peoples backs with him. And sometimes it’s the big play to end an inning with the bases loaded where 3-4 inches away from the glove is a 3 run hit instead the inning ends and the bottom of the order is up the next time up so you lose the fans that would have otherwise been rockin loud. So you keep the D, which is Cowser, Mullins, Tony left to right, Mounty, Holliday, Gunnar and Westy from 1st to 3rd, Ads behind the dish, O’Hearn/Jimenez platooning DH Left/Right. Mayo, Kjerstad, Urias, McCann off the bench. Personally I’d like to see Basallo just come up and get rockin. He’s already in the top 5 on most prospect ranks, 12th by MLB but that hasn’t been updated since June. Top 5 prospect = big league capable. So what’s the hold up? It’s back up catcher, you expect zero production from that role. Let him get the reps now. He will probably throw out bases runners too. I’ll take that for a few pass balls. Our pitching staff is good enough. And the potential upside is adding another MVP at the plate to the lineup that’s coming up one day regardless. Really great times right now, the trade deadline wound up being really impactful, it’s created an effect that’s resonating throughout the club and this team is looking as good as it’s ever looked. A few mental errors less and we win 3/4 in their house, but two very comfortable wins pretty much having our way with their bullpen especially. We go into Roger’s Centre and sweep a team we should have swept last week, especially with Mounty likely hitting a few bombs, we might be at the start of a 7/10 August and September combined and finishing with 105+ wins, but a stretch like that is likely to be a precursor of the postseason with the ever popular, “we tried to tell y’all we been doin it the whole second half when the games mattered,” type speech from players/color commentators. All the story lines are starting to really play out. We had the Yankees storyline going for a while already with the hit batters bench clearing stuff but now Cleveland is in there Seattle Houston Philly and the dodgers aren’t far off with the twins coming the last series of the season. It’s really coming together and I really feel like this is all leading to a season that we will never forget. A season you use to remember things the rest of your life. “No that happened in 24, I remember cuz that’s the year we won it all.” You know what I’m talking about. EXCITING STUFF BABY!! GO O’S!!!

Meanwhile, one of the greatest pitchers of our time is biding his time in Mexico. MLB turns my stomach. I refuse to watch.