30 MLB Teams in 30 Posts - 2022 Edition: #17

Welcome back to the next post in my 30 MLB Teams in 30 Posts countdown (plus the contest - see the bottom of the post for details on that).

#17:  Baltimore Orioles (Previous Rankings - 2019, 2020: #7, 15)

One thing that I've kind of learned about myself while compiling this year's MLB ranking is that I definitely love a good underdog - but I don't love a team that doesn't bother to try (even my Reds are testing my patience this year).  Case in point - today's #17 team - the Orioles - was once a top 10 team for me but they've slowly fallen farther and farther down the list thanks to them seemingly never trying to actually win.  Couple that with the fact that by the Orioles constantly losing means that the Yankees (and Red Sox) get lots of free wins and I'm not likely to be overly happy with Baltimore!

On the bright side, I would consider the Orioles one of three AL East teams that I actually like - kind of a "anyone but the Yankees/Red Sox" situation but I'm guessing Baltimore will take it.  I'm wondering out loud now but it might be interesting for to go back through my previous MLB rankings and figure out the average ranking for each division.  In fact, I'm inspired in real-time here so I'm going to go do that quickly.  Be right back (in the words of someone who spent his teen years on AIM).

Average MLB Rank by division (2019, 2020):

What can I make out of that data?  Well, for starters the NL Central is weighted heavily in favor of the Reds (#1 in both 2019 and 2020) and yet that division still has terrible average placement.  That's probably a testament to how often the Reds have to play their divisional foes, especially in 2019/2020.  The biggest surprise to me was my (apparent) love of the AL Central teams - in 2020 the average placement was well within the Top 10!  Looking at my 2022 list thus far, you can see that I am still quite high on AL Central teams - we are nearly done with the bottom half of all MLB teams and the AL Central has yet to show up in the rankings.

My 2022 MLB Rankings (so far):

#30:  St. Louis Cardinals

#29:  New York Yankees

#28:  Boston Red Sox

#27:  Washington Nationals

#26:  San Francisco Giants

#25:  Chicago Cubs

#24:  Milwaukee Brewers

#23:  Miami Marlins

#22:  Atlanta Braves

#21:  Texas Rangers

#20:  Arizona Diamondbacks

#19:  Philadelphia Phillies

#18:  New York Mets

#17:  Baltimore Orioles

#16:  ??

Contest entries to date (see here for details):

Brett Alan 18

Fuji 18

John Sharp 15

Crocodile 15

bbcardz 14

Matt 14

hiflew 12

The Lost Collector 11

Night Owl 6

Mike Matson 5

Wilson 3

Nick Vossbrink 3

Jafronius 2

Adam Kaningher 2

Alan Deakins 2

madding 1

Wrigley Wax 1

From a team like the Orioles who seemingly never try to win to our next team which has been "all-in" for a number of years now.  This team also happens to be the favorite team of my plumber who came to fix the broken pipe in my man cave earlier this past week.