I’ve been waiting cautiously before making any post-season predictions about the Baltimore Orioles. We are now into the first week of August and here they are at the top of the East Division with the best record in the American League (2 wins behind the Atlanta Braves for the best record in all of Major League Baseball).
Most Orioles fans got an idea in the second half of last year’s campaign that this year might finally be the culmination of GM Mike Elias’ building plan that gets the O’s to the playoffs. Elias has done a masterful job building the the franchise from the ground up. I can remember just a couple of years ago when the team team was piling up over 100 loses a season, how critical many fans were that Elias wasn’t turning around the Orioles fast enough.
I likened the Orioles rebuild to be like a cruise ship on the ocean or a 747 flying on a route that has to make a turn-around. It takes time to make those big turns because of the size of the vehicle and the speed that it is going when the direction needs altering. Elias said that it was going to take years before we would see results from his makeover plan. The Old Coach thinks I’m safe in saying that Baltimore is at last heading in the right direction.
How has that happened? First, you need to decide what kind of character do you want your ball club to have. As a small market team, you are somewhat limited by the kind of players you can afford to stock your team with. Baltimore could never hope to be able to spend on super-stars like Aaron Judge, Mike Trout, Ohtani, or an ace pitcher like Scherzer. Instead, they needed to trade some of their most expensive players for some much cheaper young talent that you can control for 4-5 years.
Creating a minor league system that identifies the kind of player that fits the Orioles mold and then hones their skills with good coaching and computer analysis has proven a good plan by Elias. If you look at who the O’s have drafted during the Elias Era and the players that they have added through clever trades/free agents, you’ll notice that the position players are selected based on being athletic enough to play multiple positions on defense and to be able to hit for a high on-base percentage , as opposed to just raw home run power.
Orioles pitchers are mix of young arms that were selected because of their command and veterans that have plenty of experience that can be models for the youngsters. The emphasis is on not giving any free passes and rely on a solid defense to be able to stifle most opponents.
Since Adley Rutschman arrived on the squad last May, the Orioles have won more games than any other American League team. They do it with versatility, armed with valuable data supplied by techies, and with team chemistry. The Orioles play well together.
At the present rate, the O’s are projected to win between 94 to 100 games. That should guarantee a place in the playoffs and possibly be enough to outlast the Tampa Bay Rays for the A.L. East. A lot will depend on how long the young pitchers can go during the final six weeks of the season.
Remember, Elias didn’t predict that this team would be a World Series contender, but that their goal for 2023 would be to make the playoffs. The Birds seem to be right on schedule and with a little luck maybe a bit ahead. After all, there are at least another 4 or 5 players that are at Norfolk and Bowie who will likely be upgrades on their present roster next year or the year after.
It’s finally fun to be an Orioles fan again.