Close to death and taxes on the list of certain things in life is the idea that the Orioles will receive no respect from the myriad preseason projections. This was demonstrated yet again on Tuesday morning with the release of the 2017 PECOTA projections, which asserted, after a brief hiccup, that the Orioles will win 73 games in the upcoming season.
PECOTA does not hate the Orioles. It’s just continually wrong about the Orioles, missing by 10+ wins in four of the last five years and by 15+ in three of the last five, including last year, when a 72 win projection turned into an 89 win season.