The Baltimore Orioles were able to wrap up the weekend on a high night by taking the rubber game of their series with the Colorado Rockies. However, this is an Orioles team that isn’t playing their best baseball as of now.
After winning two out of three games against the Rockies, Baltimore finds themselves right in the middle of a tight race with the New York Yankees for the American League East. The Yankees and the Orioles aren’t playing great baseball right now, and that has resulted in neither team taking over the division.
The summer hasn’t been kind to Baltimore, as after a great start of the season, they were under .500 in both July and August. However, the games in the beginning of the season count just as much as they do now, and that is why the Orioles are still in an excellent position to make the playoffs.
Zachary D. Rymer of Bleacher Report recently released his updated Power Rankings and had the Orioles dropping a spot to fifth.
“If the Orioles can be grateful for anything right now, it’s that the Yankees aren’t running away and hiding with the AL East lead. There are worse places to be going into September than in second place with only a 0.5-game deficit.”
“All the same, following a 12-13 July with a 13-15 August makes for the bad kind of trend for the Orioles. And the wrong guys are cold right now, as Gunnar Henderson has a .430 OPS for his last 13 games and Corbin Burnes coughed up a 7.36 ERA in August.”
The slight drop for the Orioles was certainly warranted, as this isn’t a team that has been able to put a good stretch of baseball together in quite some time. While some of their stars are struggling, that also can provide hope that they will get it figured out soon.
With September kicking off, the Orioles will have an excellent opportunity to get things figured out and perhaps take the lead in the American League East. This coming week, Baltimore will be playing the Chicago White Sox and the Tampa Bay Rays, as there should be at least four wins in the next six games.
Even though they have been struggling, the Orioles being right there with the Yankees for the AL East crown is a good position to be in. If they take advantage of a soft schedule to start the month, we could see Baltimore leading the East by the end of the week.
