MLB 2K7 Nightmare

They say games aren't played on paper, and thankfully for the Baltimore Orioles, they aren't played on a video game console either. ESPN played the entire 2007 season on MLB 2K7 and the results were not pretty. The Birds finished 60-102, 40 games behind Boston for the division title in the AL East. The game not only predicts the O's to be the worst team in baseball, but far worse than any other team. That means 8 games worse than Kansas City & Colorado, 9 back of Tampa Bay & Pittsburgh, and 12 behind our own Nats.

I will now take a few minutes for rebuttal. First, I would like to borrow a quote from the Geico Caveman... "yeah, I have the response... what??!" Who loaded the skill ratings for this game? I realize that they probably won't challenge for the division title this year, but I also don't think that a .500 record or better is out of the question. It is early, but the pitching looks much improved. The starters have delivered eight consecutive quality starts including the 8-1 win Friday over the Royals. Take away last Saturday's nightmare in New York and Kurt Birkins' implosion in the 12th on Wednesday and the bullpen has been near perfect. The hitters have struggled mightily and yet the team is 5-6 at the moment. With the proven hitters in the lineup and the near-future additions of Ramon Hernandez and Jay Payton off the DL, there is legitimate hope for improvement. And by improvement, I mean finishing the rest of the season with a record better than 55-96.