The Baltimore Orioles have just 21 games remaining on their regular season schedule. With that in mind, they are still locked into a battle with the New York Yankees in the American League East division race.
As of right now, the Orioles hold a half-game lead over the Yankees. However, even with 21 games left, there is a lot of baseball to be played to decide who will end up winning the division.
Heading into the final stretch of the regular season, can Baltimore hold off their rivals to win the AL East?
Fox Sports MLB analyst Mark Sweeney believes they have what it takes. He made the bold prediction that the Orioles will end up winning the division when it’s all said and done.
“I think the Orioles are going to win, and the reason why is there’s something going on with the Yankees. And you can see they’re not playing inspired baseball when they have to.”
Here is a video of Sweeney making the prediction for anyone who would like to watch it:
Looking at the final games for Baltimore, they will play a lot of winnable series’ before the playoffs. However, there is one series that could end up deciding the division winner.
From September 24th to September 26th, the Orioles will face off head-to-head against New York. That could very well be the three-game stretch that ends up being the deciding factor in what has been an extremely entertaining competition all season long.
Baltimore has had stretches where they looked invincible, but then have come back to earth in other moments. Over the past month, they have been a very up-and-down team with no real consistency.
Hopefully, the Orioles are able to get back to playing the dominant brand of baseball that they showed off earlier this season.
All of that being said, it will be interesting to see if Sweeney’s prediction ends up coming true. The Yankees have had their fair share of struggles throughout the year. This race will come down to which team can get back to playing at their full potential first.
Expect to see this race remain heated until the final series they face off against each other. That truly looks to be the series that will decide which team heads into the playoffs as division winners.
