It's Official, We are Contenders and Probably Favorites

[brianod]

Tampa is a good but flawed team without the resources to take the next step. Toronto is a paper tiger that will probably improve but it looks like the expensive pieces just aren't going to fit well together. The Yankees and Redsox have been flush with home games and have been way over performing. Meanwhile, the O's have played 12 home games and 20 road games against top competition and are sitting pretty. The wildcard in the equation is the ability of the RedSox and Yanks to add players with their huge payrolls. But, by not making any significant acquisitions in the off season, I think we could compete with them for a player or two. If I had to bet right now, I would say O's win the division.

[Satyr3206]

Tampa is a good but flawed team without the resources to take the next step. Toronto is a paper tiger that will probably improve but it looks like the expensive pieces just aren't going to fit well together. The Yankees and Redsox have been flush with home games and have been way over performing. Meanwhile, the O's have played 12 home games and 20 road games against top competition and are sitting pretty. The wildcard in the equation is the ability of the RedSox and Yanks to add players with their huge payrolls. But, by not making any significant acquisitions in the off season, I think we could compete with them for a player or two. If I had to bet right now, I would say O's win the division.

I see some things that point that way too, but the naysayers are going to come out of the woodwork. Get ready.

[brianod]

I see some things that point that way too, but the naysayers are going to come out of the woodwork. Get ready.

That's fine. If I was Nostradamus, I would own the internet, not post on it:) I predicted 97 wins and I'm sticking to it.

[luismatos4prez]

Nice post! I have to remind myself of that after browsing the internet sometimes.

Jones, Davis, Machado, and McLouth are carrying the offense right now. I expect the rest of the lineup (Wieters, Markakis, Reimold, Hardy) to step up as the season goes on. Those guys won't keep up their collective raking, but the offense is formidable.

The pitching will be an interesting topic once Gausman starts getting tough to keep down and Wada gets healthy. And could Garcia be this years Gonzo? I feel good about the situation as a whole.

[brianod]

It's baseball. A lot of things can happen. I'm pretty happy with the way we look so far. Tampa Bay just needs Price to be Price. If he is, they'll be in it. Toronto is definitely in trouble. Machado is even better than I hoped. The O's are a pretty well rounded team right now. And we have some depth in Norfolk and Bowie. Still, if Davis's injury had been major it would have been a huge hole in the offense.

Well, I'm assuming an equality of injuries. I don't think the Yanks get any break because they are ancient. Anyone really think Pettite pitches an entire season?

[SteveA]

Since August 22, 2011, a span of 232 games -- nearly a season and a half -- we have played .577 baseball (a 94 win pace).

The sample size just keeps getting bigger and bigger. At some point we have to shed the 14 years of losing and realize that THIS IS WHO WE ARE. A 90+ win team that has the talent to contend in the AL East.

Until we brought up Freddy Garcia, the OLDEST player on our team was Chris Snyder, who is 32. When you think about the re-treads and has-beens and never-were's that we used to put out on the field and pretend to be a major league baseball team... that era is over. We are a good team, a contender, with more young players than old, with a core of stars that for the most part hasn't hit their prime. And some exciting players on their way in our minor league system.

Suspend your disbelief. Let go of the losing mindset of 1998-2011. We aren't some upstart bunch of nobodies trying to pull off some kind of miracle Cinderella story. We are a major league contender with as good a shot as anybody else.

[orioles942]

Overall overview is the Orioles have more talent then being credited with.

Infield A- offense and defense: Machado + defensively Hardy + defensively, 2nd base (a nightmare) Davis solid glove, Weiters GG.

Outfeild A- Offensively and defensively McClouth, Jones and Markakis all + defenders.

DH-Bench average ( alot depends on Reimold regaining form, and Betemit back from injury)

Starters- B No Aces- 4 decent starters then ?????? (like most teams) nobody has 5 good starters.

Pen B+ Inconsistent (great closer) setup men solid, but a few ???'s (better than most)

This team has decent speed.

Thier is alot more talent on the Orioles than people realize, but those in know, know. It isn't magic.

Buck gets the credit for winning with the F-troop, dirty 12 type team, but they hit for power, steal bases, play GREAT defense, pitch solidly and have good releif.

I credit McPhail and DD for good moves the past 3 years, this year I would of liked to have seen another bat added (MORSE) and another starter should injuries happen. Big thing was expecting Roberts and Reimold to come back. Roberts experiment failed, Reimold wait and see.

My god if they had Morse, that lineup would be a nightmare.

They are good, but right now I have Boston ahead of them by an inch, and Tampa will make a run with that pitching. Tampa is going to go on a 14-2 streak at some point with that staff. Matter of time.

[Satyr3206]

Overall overview is the Orioles have more talent then being credited with.

Infield A- offense and defense: Machado + defensively Hardy + defensively, 2nd base (a nightmare) Davis solid glove, Weiters GG.

Outfeild A- Offensively and defensively McClouth, Jones and Markakis all + defenders.

DH-Bench average ( alot depends on Reimold regaining form, and Betemit back from injury)

Starters- B No Aces- 4 decent starters then ?????? (like most teams) nobody has 5 good starters.

Pen B+ Inconsistent (great closer) setup men solid, but a few ???'s (better than most)

This team has decent speed.

Thier is alot more talent on the Orioles than people realize, but those in know, know. It isn't magic.

Buck gets the credit for winning with the F-troop, dirty 12 type team, but they hit for power, steal bases, play GREAT defense, pitch solidly and have good releif.

I credit McPhail and DD for good moves the past 3 years, this year I would of liked to have seen another bat added (MORSE) and another starter should injuries happen. Big thing was expecting Roberts and Reimold to come back. Roberts experiment failed, Reimold wait and see.

My god if they had Morse, that lineup would be a nightmare.

They are good, but right now I have Boston ahead of them by an inch, and Tampa will make a run with that pitching. Tampa is going to go on a 14-2 streak at some point with that staff. Matter of time.

Good Post. I agree with almost everything but Boston and Tampa have the same problem. Hitting. I don't think either teams can help carry them to the playoffs.

[Aristotelian]

No doubt about it, the offense and defense are excellent, about as good as anyone in the league. We just keep scoring runs. Manny has taken the team to a new level with his bat and his glove. McClouth at the top of the order has been huge. AJ has become a base hit machine. And of course Chris Davis looks like he is going to have a career year (and we dodged a bullet with him only missing one game).

The bullpen is great, just like last year. If Strop could get it together we would truly be lights out.

The major hole is starting pitching. We need an ace who can be depended upon to stop a losing streak. Tillman has the best chance of stepping up to that role. When he has had his good stuff, he has looked like a true #1 starter. So far the hitting has picked up the team when the starters have gotten into trouble (like today) but I do question whether we can sustain that.

[orioles942]

No doubt about it, the offense and defense are excellent, about as good as anyone in the league. We just keep scoring runs. Manny has taken the team to a new level with his bat and his glove. McClouth at the top of the order has been huge. AJ has become a base hit machine. And of course Chris Davis looks like he is going to have a career year (and we dodged a bullet with him only missing one game).

The bullpen is great, just like last year. If Strop could get it together we would truly be lights out.

The major hole is starting pitching. We need an ace who can be depended upon to stop a losing streak. Tillman has the best chance of stepping up to that role. When he has had his good stuff, he has looked like a true #1 starter. So far the hitting has picked up the team when the starters have gotten into trouble (like today) but I do question whether we can sustain that.

I agree, but I think it will harder to find a starter than a another good bat. I think they should add hitting and outscore teams like the 90's Indians and Yankees did-then you don't need your starters to be as good.

[VeveJones007]

The O's need consistently better starting pitching if they are going to sustain this pace.

[brianod]

The O's need consistently better starting pitching if they are going to sustain this pace.

There is nothing unsustainable about the current performance imo. I agree that the starters need to get better. I agree that the Strop role is in flux. The 5th starter role isn't solved after one good start. But, there aren't many teams without similar problems. We are in it to win it and given our management, I'm very confident.

[El Gordo]

We need to do something about DH. The SP will get better once we settle on a decent #5 SP. Between the options of Garcia, Johnson, Jurrjens, Britton, and Wada, we should find someone who can do the job. We need better offense from 2B without sacrificing defense(defense from 2B is very good BTW. The weakest position on defense is CF ironically). If Roberts can't come back fairly soon we need to make a trade. The bullpen is fine even with Strop's struggles. I think the club is solid and will improve. Should make the playoffs if injuries aren't too bad.

[Ommaculate]

Let's talk about favorites when the O's are sitting in first place. This was a good day toward achieving that goal.

[VeveJones007]

There is nothing unsustainable about the current performance imo. I agree that the starters need to get better. I agree that the Strop role is in flux. The 5th starter role isn't solved after one good start. But, there aren't many teams without similar problems. We are in it to win it and given our management, I'm very confident.

The margin for error is just so small for the O's. An uptick in starting pitching will help out the bullpen and rely less on the bats. I think they'll need better starting pitching than they've had this far to make the postseason.