The Orioles had 8/9/1 coming up in the 7th. If he shits the bed then you bring in Varland.
There is 0 reason to ever keep Hoffman for the 9th inning by choice. Sorry, 0 argument for that with the long track record we have here.
You are missing the important part where I said the Orioles had 8/9/1 coming up. This also leaves you with 2 elite relievers in Rogers and Varland to clean up his mess immediately.
Not sure why youre choosing to die on this hill but kudos on being part of the 1% who thought Schneider handled the pen pretty well minus the very end lol.
Im sure youre smart enough to realize if you bring Hoffman on earlier then you have Varland/Rogers behind him to help clean up the mess. You burn those 2 then youre left with what we saw today.
Absolute joke how he managed the pen and there's no sugarcoating it so please read the room and stop lol.
Its the fact he CHOSE to save Hoffman for the 9th when he was literally pulled from the role because he couldnt be trusted. Rogers and Varland hardly threw any pitches and you burned them for the biggest stain on this franchise for the past 1.5 season.
The problem is our idiot manager puts Hoffman on the same level as Rogers and Varland thinking all 3 are interchangeable. You keep guys like Rogers/Varland to put out fires from scrubs like Hoffman.
Hoffman 100% needed to pitch the 7th when it was 8/9/1. Or even the 8th inning because you had a 3 run lead so you can bring in Varland if he chokes.
Keeping Hoffman gives you no other outs and there was a reason he was pulled as a closer. 0 excuse for continuing this stupid blind trust in a player who has not earned it.