And eliminated. On the last day of the season. It could easily have gone the other way.
Probably the best collection of stars in the AL. Problem was that the pitching staff wasn't put together until August and those early late inning losses cost a playoff berth, or maybe even a run at Tampa for the AL-E.
Despite the brilliant talent and potential, the batting order was still not experienced enough to cope with really good veteran pitching consistently and this cost them in the last week against TB and NYY. They dropped out of a solid WC position by going 2-4 against those teams before bouncing back for 3 straight against the shit-awful pitching of the O's.
They did that in a season where promised superstar / team leader George Springer was injured for most of it. Where star pitched Ryu was inconsistent.
So the ? is whether they can afford Ray and Semien and - if they can - whether the players will individually have as outstanding a year in 2022 as they had in 2021.
