As Good As This Team Has Been, They Seem To Have Trouble Beating Talented Teams Outside The Division.

[ORIOLE33]

Not a gripe, just an observation I've noticed. Despite their record, SD is one of those talented  teams. I think that's the only thing keeping TB alive for the AL East title. They way the O's have taken care of the AL East, their lead should be more than two games. 
 

This could be an issue in the playoffs. Winning the division is vital. 

[FlipTheBird]

15 minutes ago, ORIOLE33 said:

Not a gripe, just an observation I've noticed. Despite their record, SD is one of those talented  teams. I think that's the only thing keeping TB alive for the AL East title. They way the O's have taken care of the AL East, their lead should be more than two games. 
 

This could be an issue in the playoffs. Winning the division is vital. 

Of course, Tampa *also* having one of the top 5 records in baseball has had *nothing* to do with the AL East remaining close.

[baltfan]

Meh, 3-3 on a West Coast trip so far.  It’s fine. 

[dystopia]

Mixed bag IMO. We've done well against Seattle, MN, and Miami. The 3-3 against Texas and 1-2 road series at Atlanta isn't awful either.

[Orioles0615]

They really need to sweep Oakland 

[clapdiddy]

7 minutes ago, Orioles0615 said:

They really need to sweep Oakland 

Two of three would be fine.

[maybenxtyr]

The pitching for the most part has been good to great. The offense has been really spotty. There's a lot of guys that have gone cool at the same time and of course that makes them look worse than they really are.

[Bahama O's Fan]

How have other teams fared against good teams? I've also noticed that we have played several teams when they were "hot"-Milwaukee, Cincinatti, Dodgers, Braves (well, they have been hot all season) and Seattle. There may be more, but I just remember those.

[Sanfran327]

I do think this team tends to have a little brother mentality against the superstar squads, regardless of how those teams are performing. I had a feeling we'd lose 2 of 3 in SD because we have a hard time pitching to this type of loaded up lineup because of the way our average to above-average pitchers have to nibble away to have success. If the stars don't inflict the damage, they set it up. SD is a team that has beaten itself more than anyone else has though. They're a good team.

Not sure what there is to do about this problem though. Snell pitches well against everyone, that's why he's good. Same can be said for other good pitchers and good lineups. Hopefully the bullpen reinforcements are here soon and we can get back to a place where SPs only have to give us 5 innings again before the BP locks it down.  

Our biggest hope is that we go on one of our torrid runs through mid October when nobody can beat us in a series no matter what they throw at us. We've positioned ourselves pretty well to at least get there so far. Whatever happens will happen once we're there.

[sportsfan8703]

We’re not under the radar anymore. We’re getting a  team’s best punch. Especially, when it’s their captain’s former team. Outside of Atlanta, SD is the most talented team we’ve played this season. 

[SilentJames]

2 hours ago, maybenxtyr said:

The pitching for the most part has been good to great. The offense has been really spotty. There's a lot of guys that have gone cool at the same time and of course that makes them look worse than they really are.

They have also run into some really good pitching, that does happen. 

[dystopia]

6 minutes ago, SilentJames said:

They have also run into some really good pitching, that does happen. 

Agree. The matchups were really bad for us in the SD series, it's not a surprise they lost 2 out of 3. Not a huge deal either. If they score 2 or 3 runs a game against Oakland, then we can be concerned.

[Fan4Life]

They have trouble with NL teams. Luckily we won't play one in the WS.

 

My rough count 19-16 and that's with 5-0 against the Mets, Nats. Losing record against winning teams.  

Edited August 17, 2023 by Fan4Life

[Natty]

10 hours ago, ORIOLE33 said:

Winning the division is vital. 

This^

[bpilktree67]

You want to play .500 vs the good teams while you beat up on the bad teams.  That is how you have a good season so far we have done a good job with that.  Your not going to score a lot of runs against good pitching teams that is why they are good pitching teams.  The pitching has been fine so far this road trip minus the one Flaherty start.  The offense does need to pick it up though as some of the older vetren guys need to start hitting better if we are going to have a successful post season.  Santander, Hays, and Mullins are gonna have to play better down the stretch and in the playoffs.