...By the way, this was the Orioles’ 14th straight extra-innings win.

There is literally nothing the Orioles can do to make Keith Law think they are good at winning extra-inning games.

There is literally nothing the Orioles can do to make Keith Law think they are good at winning extra-inning games.

Hell, they won this game without even using Chris Davis in relief. What more does Keith want?

Those two extra-inning losses before the 14 in a row were total heart-breakers, though.

They were hosting the Yankees in the second series of the season, and after dropping the opener, they lost back-to-back extra inning games to get swept.

Has a team ever won a 17-inning and an 18-inning game in the same season before now?

According to BBRef this is the 15th time a team has won at least two games of 17 or more innings in a single season since 1918. 3 of them were both 17 inning games, the other 12 were had at least one game of 17 and 18 innings. The only team to do it exactly like the Orioles and win a 17 and an 18 inning game was the 1972 Pirates.

A bird #### on Tommy Hunter's cap in the 16th inning. Hunter eventually got the win.

THEY'RE STILL NOT GOOD!

ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?!?!?

Thanks, Jose. If you don't mind, who were the 13 other teams (besides this year's Orioles and the '72 Pirates)?

Chris - Here is the BBRef report. And the list itself;

The orioles have played six full games worth of extra innings this year. Is that close to a record?

They won despite their #4-8 hitters going 1-for-36 with 1 BB.

According to BBRef they aren't even in the same hemisphere as a record. Another report.

I did the search of games with at least 28 outs recorded by the pitching staff so I would have missed any games played where the team lost before recording an out in the bottom of the 10th. Anyway, the Orioles have played 16 extra inning games and pitched 199 innings in those games. By comparison 148 teams played 21 or more games with the 1943 Red Sox the easy leaders with 31 extra inning games pitching 346.1 innings in those games.

In fact there was something in the air in 1943. Of the 17 teams that have played at least 26 extra inning games in a season 4 of them were in that year alone including both Boston teams, Cleveland and the Browns. Extend that list one game further to 25 or more extra inning games and you can add the Yankees who played 25 that year. So whatever the hell happened in 1943 5 of the 16 teams played a LOT of extra inning games.

(all of this is data from 1918, that's what BBRef has).

In fact there was something in the air in 1943. Of the 17 teams that have played at least 26 extra inning games in a season 4 of them were in that year alone including both Boston teams, Cleveland and the Browns. Extend that list one game further to 25 or more extra inning games and you can add the Yankees who played 25 that year. So whatever the hell happened in 1943 5 of the 16 teams played a LOT of extra inning games.

That kind of makes sense (at least for four of them). You've only got an 8-team league, so if one team (the Red Sox) are playing an enormous number of extra inning games, that's a lot of extra inning affairs for the other 7 to share.

Doesn't help explain what was in the Bees' bonnet.

Is there a way to sort that list by the number of extra innings played?

Is there a way to sort that list by the number of extra innings played?

Assuming each game was 9 innings, I get the 1918 Senators with 79 extra played, the 1969 Twins with 72, the 1943 Indians with 69 and then a bunch of teams in the mid-60s.

Does no one think that the bird shitting on the cap of the pitcher who eventually won the game is interesting/amusing/Sign of Destiny?

Or has no one heard of it being lucky if a bird shits on you? I took an informal survey in the office. Four people were aware of the superstition, three people were not.

Whatever, I thought it was really neat.

It helps that Eric Wedge's entire reason for being is to give away strategic advantages at every opportunity.

Does no one think that the bird shitting on the cap of the pitcher who eventually won the game is interesting/amusing/Sign of Destiny?

In MLB I think this only applies if it happens to a bird team while they're playing another bird team--which for the Orioles would mean either Cardinals, Blue Jays or Red Sox (now that they have that guy Middlefinger playing third for them).

Can't really say that the M's are (any longer, at least) a team that's "for the birds," either--they're too respectably mediocre for that, at least this year. Would probably work with the Astros, though.

Back in the late 70s, of course, the Tigers would also have counted...

This game ended about half an hour before I got up this morning.

It took 18 innings, lasted 5:44, and ended at 3:55am EDT. At that rate:

If it had lasted 26 innings (tying MLB record), it would have gone 8:16 and ended at 6:27am Eastern.

If it had lasted 33 innings (tying minor-league record), it would have gone 10:31 and ended at 8:42am Eastern.

If it had lasted 60 innings, it would still be going now, as I type this.

Watching the Mariner's bunt was fun.

In fact there was something in the air in 1943. Of the 17 teams that have played at least 26 extra inning games in a season 4 of them were in that year alone including both Boston teams, Cleveland and the Browns. Extend that list one game further to 25 or more extra inning games and you can add the Yankees who played 25 that year. So whatever the hell happened in 1943 5 of the 16 teams played a LOT of extra inning games.

1943 was the year they used the "balata" ball because of wartime rubber shortages. It was a drag on the offense. Lower run scoring means that extra inning games last longer. I'm sure that's part of the reason.

Does no one think that the bird shitting on the cap of the pitcher who eventually won the game is interesting/amusing/Sign of Destiny?

Or has no one heard of it being lucky if a bird shits on you? I took an informal survey in the office. Four people were aware of the superstition, three people were not.

When the seagull #### on my leg in the tenth, I was convinced the O's were going to win; I didn't realize it would take 8 more innings to play out. Had I known that the Oriole hat was a faster-acting target, I would have tried to entice one of the flockers back for Bombing Run Number Two.