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

[FlipTheBird]

10 hours ago, sportsfan8703 said:

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. 

You think teams were taking them lightly?

You think Machado gave the Padres some sort of rousing pregame speech because… Orioles?

None of that is logical. Sometimes you just lose baseball games to talented teams.

[ledzepp8]

On 8/16/2023 at 11:24 PM, 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. 

There over 500 against every division and the NL. I think they’re fine. 

[Uli2001]

On 8/16/2023 at 10:24 PM, 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. 

The O's have a target on their backs now. Those "talented teams" definitely get up to play against the Orioles. Look at SD, it's back to sucking, losing 3-1 to AZ today.

[Uli2001]

17 hours ago, Orioles0615 said:

They really need to sweep Oakland 

One game at a time. First, they need to win tomorrow.

[FlipTheBird]

2 hours ago, Uli2001 said:

The O's have a target on their backs now. Those "talented teams" definitely get up to play against the Orioles. Look at SD, it's back to sucking, losing 3-1 to AZ today.

Yeah, that had nothing to do with the pitching matchup being Zac Gallen against the corpse of Rich Hill.

They faced San Diego’s top 3 arms, in San Diego. It didn’t go their way. The Padres did not suddenly feel the need to try harder. It’s just baseball.

[btownoriole]

20 hours ago, Fan4Life said:

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.  

I do wonder if there is a bit of strategy, especially with bullpen usage, to be more willing to push against AL teams in contention.  Bautista’s four two-inning outings have all come against AL teams in the playoff chase.  After being used pretty liberally against the Rays he wasn’t available in Philly.  
 

I know there are examples of him not being available against AL contenders too but that’s usually been after he’s already been pushed in that series.  

[RavensNOsGuy]

4 hours ago, btownoriole said:

I do wonder if there is a bit of strategy, especially with bullpen usage, to be more willing to push against AL teams in contention.  Bautista’s four two-inning outings have all come against AL teams in the playoff chase.  After being used pretty liberally against the Rays he wasn’t available in Philly.  
 

I know there are examples of him not being available against AL contenders too but that’s usually been after he’s already been pushed in that series.  

I think there is some merit to this. Every game matters but the AL games, particularly the division matter more. 

[Fan4Life]

14 hours ago, ledzepp8 said:

There over 500 against every division and the NL. I think they’re fine. 

I don't think the are .500 against the NL and certainly not NL teams that are .500+

[Frobby]

21 hours ago, FlipTheBird said:

You think teams were taking them lightly?

You think Machado gave the Padres some sort of rousing pregame speech because… Orioles?

None of that is logical. Sometimes you just lose baseball games to talented teams.

Or untalented ones.  Oakland beat Atlanta 2 out of 3, and swept the Brewers.  The baseball season is very long, random players get hot and cold, and weird stuff happens.  In the end, over 162 games, the best teams have the best records, regardless of which exact teams they beat or didn’t. 

[Jammer7]

It is a long season. All teams have highs and lows, for sure. The playoffs are a different thing. Many of our players are playing meaningful competitive games that they may not have encountered before. The term “playoff atmosphere” has been thrown around in some recent series’. The games are more intense and the small things often matter a bit more. Good teams and talented players make you pay for mistakes. I think we have seen that in San Diego and Seattle, to varying results.

I do wonder about our offense some. I know they are tired and banged up a bit. Brian Kenney’s piece was a little eye-opening to me about the chase rate and some other metrics. We do many things right, absolutely. This is not some indictment of the Orioles, but it should highlight the need to keep grinding and working on the their approaches.

I’d like to see Adley get some days off, not even DH. McCann has been excellent recently. We need Adley to be more fresh for September and October. Hays might need some time as well. He is definitely banged up. 

[FlipTheBird]

On 8/17/2023 at 7:41 AM, bpilktree67 said:

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.  

And they’ve actually outdone that. The Orioles are 40-30 against teams above .500. Only Atlanta’s 40-25 is better. Several playoff bound teams (the Astros, for example, at 30-33) actually have losing records against opponents above .500.

[Sanfran327]

3 minutes ago, FlipTheBird said:

And they’ve actually outdone that. The Orioles are 40-30 against teams above .500. Only Atlanta’s 40-25 is better. Several playoff bound teams (the Astros, for example, at 30-33) actually have losing records against opponents above .500.

That's actually a really comforting statistic. But the thread does specify teams outside of the division. Still, 40-30 is a good mark against good teams, and you can only move up one spot from second best. 

[ledzepp8]

17 hours ago, Fan4Life said:

I don't think the are .500 against the NL and certainly not NL teams that are .500+

[drjohnnyfever1]

28 minutes ago, ledzepp8 said:

That's correct, overall against the NL, but against the better NL teams we are 1-2 in series against .500+ teams... Cincy, Atlanta, LA, SD, Phi, Brewers, Cubs...  But we've largely swept the bad ones.  So the eye test for me is that we struggle against the better NL teams.

Edited August 19, 2023 by drjohnnyfever1

[TheWall]

34 minutes ago, drjohnnyfever1 said:

That's correct, overall against the NL, but against the better NL teams we are 1-2 in series against .500+ teams... Cincy, Atlanta, LA, SD, Phi, Brewers, Cubs...  But we've largely swept the bad ones.  So the eye test for me is that we struggle against the better NL teams.

Holy small sample size Batman. We have one of the best records in the MLB against teams above .500, but for some reason you think the team inherently struggles against good NL teams? 

Edited August 19, 2023 by TheWall