National media is worse than Wikipedia

Dear Orioles Fans,

I have a sincere question for you all. Why the hell do you all care so much about what ESPN or anyone else in the national media says? I don't get it. Explain it to me. Explain to me why after a great win like the Orioles had over the Yankees on Wednesday night, all the focus is on how ESPN doesn't give the Orioles credit, they are in love with New York and Boston, and on and on and on. I see and hear things like, "the Orioles are never on national T.V.!" (No, not at all. They were only on ESPN this week and last. And on Fox 1 Saturday. The blasphemy). Or how about, "No one picks the Orioles to win anything!" Really?

Have a look at this. http://espn.go.com/mlb/preview14/story/_/id/10638313/espn-expert-team-predictions-2014-baseball-season

The Orioles are picked here by 2 experts to win the division, by 3 to win the wild card, and even picked by one to go to the World Series. And yet "no one ever picks the Orioles"?

And finally, "The Orioles are not high enough in the power rankings!" I am at a loss as to why these things matter to people.

Is it nice to be talked about? Sure. But I don't see it as important at all. If the national media isn't giving the team attention what does it matter? The team is in first place. They have the biggest lead of any division leader in baseball. So they aren't getting as much attention as other teams, some of which (the Yankees) are not as good as them. So what? What does all that attention do for the Yankees? It's not gonna make them win anymore games. Being picked to win by the “experts” doesn't mean the team is going to win anything. If you go back and look at who is picked every year you would be surprised how few predictions they actually get correct. So I don't know why anyone pays these predictions so much attention.

The power rankings are an arbitrary list that means nothing (and not to mention a list that is different for every single media outlet). People constantly get worked up over them. I say let them not pay attention to the Orioles. The only rankings I care about are the AL East rankings and in case people hadn't noticed, the Orioles sit at the top of those.

I also wonder why anyone is still going to ESPN for anything. By now we should all understand the way ESPN works. They have gotten worse and worse year after year in their pursuit of ratings. They drool over a few select teams or players and gloss over or ignore everyone else. It shouldn't be a surprise to anyone. There are too many other options out there for me to waste my time with ESPN and their poor coverage.

Maybe it's just me, but I really don't get concerned with this stuff. It doesn't matter one bit to me and I don't get why it matters to other Orioles fans. It's not going to make the team better if they are talked about more, or worse if they're seemingly ignored. Sometimes (see: the Angels of 2012 and 2013) too much attention and hype can be detrimental. All that really matters is that the team keeps playing well on the field. None of the talk or predictions will change how they play on the field. And hell, isn't it more fun to prove them all wrong anyway?

-Matt Baggette @mlb930