There is publicly available data from outlets like FanGraphs.com and BaseballSavant.com that can provide us some, shall we say, just beyond the basic stats information.

My curiosity yesterday led me to this question: How did opponents pitch the Orioles this season? Did they get more fastballs than other teams saw or less? Which pitches did they see more than others?

Here is what the O's batters were thrown this year and how that ranked in MLB and the ranking is from first (as in they saw the most fastballs to 30th, they saw the least) to least.

* Fastballs - 47.6 percent, 16th in MLB.

* Sliders - 20.1 percent, 30th in MLB.

There was a point late this summer when it looked like there was a legitimate two-man race for National League MVP. Yes, Shohei Ohtani was doing his usual thing in Los Angeles, but Francisco Lindor was playing out of his mind as well for a Mets club making a surprise run at the postseason.

Could Lindor actually beat out Ohtani for the most prestigious individual award in baseball?

In the end, the answer was a clear no. While Lindor did help get New York into the playoffs, he missed eight key games down the stretch with a back injury. Ohtani, meanwhile, had a closing stretch for the ages: seven homers, 11 stolen bases and an insane .547/.586/1.057 slash line over his final 12 games, during which he became the first player in major league history in the 50/50 Club.

So it came as no surprise Thursday night when Ohtani was named the 2024 NL MVP in a unanimous vote. It’s the third MVP of his illustrious career, and he joins the immortal Frank Robinson as the only players in history to win MVP in both leagues.

That historic performance made Ohtani an easy decision for me on my MVP ballot, which I was fortunate enough to receive this year as one of two designated voters from the Baltimore/Washington chapter of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. I’ve voted for MVP several times before, and sometimes it’s been a tough call. I remember waiting until the final day of the 2007 season before picking Jimmy Rollins over Matt Holliday. This one really wasn’t a tough call in the end.

Jumping around the baseball world with a few random notes and takes.

Well at least this year the narrative that the top teams don’t win in baseball and that it’s hard to have a five-day layoff before the playoffs for division winners, were blown all to heck.

We need a new narrative!

Last year wild card teams played in the World Series when No. 5 seed Texas beat No. 6 seed Arizona.

This year’s matchup is the top-seed New York Yankees from the American League and No. 1 seed Los Angeles Dodgers from the National League.

LOS ANGELES – As the Orioles get ready to play at Dodger Stadium for the first time since 2016 tonight, we can look back at a week of baseball and realize it’s not very dull around here.

Two walk-off losses at Citi Field against the Mets and two come-from-behind wins with huge bases-loaded hits versus Houston at Camden Yards.

Some big ups and downs in the last seven games as the Orioles went 3-4.

If the O’s can win this series against the club with the current best record in the majors and take two of three from the Dodgers, a 4-3 mark against Houston and L.A. would be quite solid.

And maybe mean the Orioles are getting back on track for the playoff push in the final weeks.

The Dodgers’ baserunning tonight helped put them in position to win.

The Nationals’ baserunning tonight left one of their regulars limping and ultimately departing the game due to injury, then cost them one final chance to pull off what would've been a dramatic comeback in the ninth.

So it was the three key moments in a 4-1 series-opening loss to Los Angeles came on the bases. In the first two cases, those runners were successful at stealing second, but the Dodgers’ Teoscar Hernández eventually came around to score the go-ahead run while Lane Thomas eventually came out with a left leg injury that will require an MRI. Then in the third case, a late stop sign from third base coach Ricky Gutierrez forced Luis García Jr. to slam on the brakes in the bottom of the ninth, with trailing runner Joey Gallo not paying attention, leading to a killer rundown. 

"That's a tough lineup," manager Davey Martinez said of the Dodgers. "When we have a chance to put some runs on the board, we've got to capitalize."

With a crowd of 27,806 in attendance to see the mighty Dodgers and their star-studded lineup, these two teams played another low-scoring, tight game, not all that different from last week’s series on the West Coast. The Nats took two out of three at Chavez Ravine; they’ll need to win the next two nights to pull off the same achievement on South Capitol Street.

Now that he has moved from the American League to the National League, if Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Dodgers wins an MVP award while wearing Dodger blue, he will join the one and only one player in baseball history to have won MVP awards in both leagues.

That player is former Oriole Frank Robinson, who won the NL MVP with Cincinnati in 1961 and the AL award in his first year with the Orioles in 1966 when he both hit for the Triple Crown and led the Orioles to their first World Series championship.

But oddsmakers say Ohtani is not the favorite for the 2024 NL MVP. Atlanta outfielder Ronald Acuna Jr., the 2023 winner, is. SportsBetting.ag released early MVP odds on Wednesday and listed Acuna at 3-1 and Ohtani at 6-1 to win in the NL. Ohtani and his two new teammates are the second, third and fourth betting favorites. Mookie Betts is at 7-1 with the Dodgers Freddie Freeman at 9-1.

In 2023, Acuna produced the first 40-70 season in MLB history. He hit .337/.416/.596/1.012 with 41 homers, 73 steals, 149 runs and 106 RBIs.

Ohtani won the AL MVP honor this year while with the Angels and it was the first time both winners were unanimously selected. Each got all 30 first-place votes. Acuna is the first player born in Venezuela to win the NL award. Two other Venezuelan-born players were winners in the AL, Miguel Cabrera (2012-13) and Jose Altuve (2017).

Hey, O’s fans look at it this way – the O’s Opening Day opponent just became a weaker team. The O’s host the Los Angeles Angels on March 28 to start a new season. And look at it this way – Shohei Ohtani is not coming to the American League East.

Juan Soto is headed our way, but Ohtani is not after agreeing to a staggering deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers for 10 years and $700 million.

When free agency began it was thought Ohtani’s deal might start with a five in front of it. But not a six, right? Well right, it was not a six.

While we wait to find out if this deal does indeed include a massive amount of deferred money, the $70 million dollar average annual value tops the Oakland Athletics entire season payroll for 2023 of $62.2 million per Sportrac. The Orioles, per that outlet, were at $71.1 million for last season.

Ohtani’s deal is such a whopper it doubles the combined totals of the previous two biggest MLB free agent contracts which were the Aaron Judge deal last year of nine years for $360 million and Bryce Harper’s Phillies deal of 13 years for $330 million.

What a night for the Orioles.

Big plays, big pitches, big hits and a big win. One that put them in sole possession of first place in the American League East. They did against a Tampa Bay squad that started this year 13-0 and 27-6.

But while the Orioles (59-37, .615) have now won 10 of their last 12, Tampa Bay (60-40, .600) has lost five in a row and 12 of the last 15. 

In July, the Orioles are 11-5 and the Rays are 3-12. Over the past 33 games, the Orioles are 20-13 while the Rays are 13-20. Tampa Bay is 31-33 its last 64 games.

It was a night where there were more than a few stars. Kyle Gibson provided an excellent start. Gunnar Henderson keyed a three-run inning with a hustle triple and played outstanding defense. Ramon Urias played excellent D and made what might have been a game-saving play with his diving stop that ended the last of the eighth. Rookie Colton Cowser, in his 11th big league game, got behind 0-2 but still hit a go-ahead sac fly in the top of the tenth. And the big man, Félix Bautista, who saved the game Wednesday on 12 pitches, got six big outs on 15 pitches in the ninth and tenth. Remarkable to do that with so few pitches, but he's still probably not available tonight.

The Orioles don’t need a closer at the trade deadline. And I mention it only to link to the title of this article.

The bullpen must get stronger, and not in the eighth and ninth innings. The club has prioritized middle-to-setup territory to shorten games for its rotation, which led to last night’s acquisition of Japanese right-hander Shintaro Fujinami from the Athletics. A plan steeped in logic.

Fujinami can audition over the 11-12 days or however many times he's told to get warm and pitch. The blazing fastball and the splitter could make him a weapon. The Orioles have a track record in this area. And it's low risk with Fujinami signed only through 2023.

Cole Irvin’s switch back to long relief could pay big dividends, at least judging by the four innings he covered Tuesday night against the Dodgers.

Austin Voth is trying to begin an injury rehab assignment in the Florida Complex League, but his start Tuesday was rained out and the club didn’t play yesterday. He also could provide length with a healthy elbow.

Don’t be fooled by the smile.

Logan Gillaspie knows when it’s appropriate to be a nice guy. Like, for instance, when teammates, club employees and reporters walk over to his locker. When he’s around his family or is approached by a fan.

Pretty much anytime except when he’s pitching.

The Orioles recalled Gillaspie from Triple-A Norfolk Monday morning and gave him another chance in their bullpen. They kept him busy after taking him north, with appearances made on March 30 and April 1, 4, 7, 9, 11, 12 and 15.

Gillaspie didn’t allow a run or hit in his first three games over 1 2/3 innings. Four of the next five were harsh, including his final outing in the 10^th inning in Chicago. The automatic runner scored, and so did pinch-runner Seby Zavala after back-to-back singles by Jake Burger and Oscar Colás.

Shohei Ohtani the pitcher didn’t impress tonight at Camden Yards.

Shohei Ohtani the hitter was a destructive force.

The walk and single were tame compared to the 456-foot three-run homer in the fourth inning that further shredded Grayson Rodriguez’s much-hyped start opposite baseball’s two-way terror.

A two-out triple off Logan Gillaspie in the fifth, followed by Hunter Renfroe’s second double of the night, built on the legend of Ohtani. The single in the ninth on a two-strike pitch from Mike Baumann made him the first starting pitcher to reach base at least five times since the Yankees’ Mel Stottlemyer on Sept. 26, 1964 in D.C.

The crowd groaned. It wanted the cycle.

Grayson Rodriguez’s last swing as a senior at Central Heights High School in Nacogdoches, Tx. resulted in a home run in a game that his team was losing by a huge margin. The opposing pitcher was working on a perfect game. The details remain fresh in his mind.

They also bring a smile years later, as he marvels at Shohei Ohtani’s dominance on the mound and at the plate with the Los Angeles Angels. A two-way All-Star player who intrigues Rodriguez, an accomplished prep hitter whose days holding a bat in his hands are far behind him.

The Orioles are invested in the right arm that could make him a staff ace.

Rodriguez will do more than face Ohtani tonight when the Angels visit Camden Yards. They’re also the game’s starting pitchers.

“That’s going to feel like the big leagues for sure,” Rodriguez said yesterday. “Obviously, seeing somebody like that, of that caliber who’s arguably the face of baseball right now. It’s going to be pretty different to see the guy you’re going against on the mound also step up in the box. I’m pretty ready for that.”

ANAHEIM, Calif. – The Nationals got to experience their first taste of the international sensation that is Shohei Ohtani pitching (and hitting) tonight. And though they put up an admirable fight against the Angels’ two-way star, they ultimately were rendered helpless against him just as everyone else has this young season.

Ohtani allowed just one hit over seven scoreless innings. He wasn’t necessarily overpowering, issuing five walks and hitting a batter, but he was mostly unhittable en route to a 2-0 victory over a Nats club that just wasn’t up to the stiffest challenge it has faced in its first 12 games of the year.

"I think it's amazing," said Nats starter Josiah Gray, a position player himself only a few years ago in college. "I was talking about it today: I wonder what his routine is. How does he fit in time to throw? How does he fit in time to hit? To see him go out there and sit 97, with a sweeper/slider and hit the ball 110 mph if not harder, it's really impressive. Every time you can sit down and watch a Shohei Ohtani start or watch him hit, it's must-watch TV. Being able to see him today and being able to face him today was an honor."

Gray wasn’t to blame for the loss; the 25-year-old right-hander allowed just two runs on four hits himself over 5 2/3 strong innings, certainly giving his team a chance. But as was the case five days ago in Denver, Gray got zero run support and was handed an undeserved loss, leaving him 0-3 overall despite a respectable 4.32 ERA.

"It stings. It's always going to sting to get an L and have your name attached to it," he said. "But I know I'm going out there, doing my job keeping the team in the game. I'm just making it simpler on myself. I'm seeing the results I want to see."

ANAHEIM, Calif. – The Nationals pitching staff did an excellent job containing Shohei Ohtani the hitter Monday night. Now we’ll find out how the Nationals lineup fares against Ohtani the pitcher.

It’s the biggest attraction in baseball right now, Ohtani pitching and serving as the Angels DH on the same night. And tonight, we’ll get our first look at that phenomenon when the Japanese right-handed pitcher/left-handed hitter takes the mound before what should be a raucous crowd.

Only one member of the Nats has ever faced Ohtani before: Jeimer Candelario, who went 2-for-9 against him as a member of Tigers. Everyone else will be going in blind but hoping to keep putting the bat on the ball like they’ve done the last four days, both here and in Colorado, and trying to manufacture their way to enough runs to win.

They’ll need another good start from Josiah Gray, who was excellent last time out but suffered a hard-luck 1-0 loss to the Rockies due to a fly ball lost in the sun. The right-hander pitched here last season and fared all right, allowing three runs in 5 1/3 innings and earning the win. He’ll have to keep the ball in the yard to be successful tonight against an Angels lineup that has Anthony Rendon back after the former Nats great was a late scratch Monday with a sore shoulder.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at LOS ANGELES ANGELS
Where: Angel Stadium
Gametime: 9:38 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Partly cloudy, 63 degrees, wind 6 mph out to center field

Is Japan's Shohei Ohtani too good to be true? He sounds like it. His move to the major leagues is unique in two huge ways. First, some team will get a player that might be worth $200 million or more on the open market for perhaps $25 million or less, counting the posting fee. Second, Ohtani is a two-way player who might impact games as both a pitcher and a hitter. While Orioles fans are probably disappointed that their team is not on his final list of seven teams, there was never an indication...