Baltimore Orioles: Four Bold Playoffs Predictions

Sep 23, 2014; Bronx, NY, USA; Baltimore Orioles relief pitcher

(53) celebrates with catcher

(40) after defeating the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium. The Orioles defeated the Yankees 5-4. Mandatory Credit: Adam Hunger-USA TODAY Sports

The bullpen will either save the day or the lack of offense will lose it.

The great strength of this Baltimore Orioles team is the shut-down bullpen, while its great weakness is that it can be frequently shut down by outstanding pitching.

Much is made of the Orioles’ power-hitting lineup, and indeed, they registered 210 home runs. But they rank #8 in MLB in both runs scored and team batting average, and #17 in on base percentage.

Simply stated, the Baltimore Orioles often prove that the old adage is true that “good pitching will stop good hitting.”

Fortunately, the Orioles have strong pitching as well, particularly in the bullpen. Overall, the O’s are #3 in the American League in pitching.

When all of this is put together in a short playoffs series, it portends low-scoring games. If the starting pitching can hold it together reasonably well, and if the hitting can get some production and runs on the board, the Orioles bullpen of Tommy Hunter, Brian Matusz, Andrew Miller, Darren O’Day and Zach Britton can completely shut out even the best lineup.

But again, you can’t win if you can’t score, so the offense needs to put some runs on the board early in games.

So look for low-scoring games where the O’s starting pitching bends, but doesn’t break. It could be that the Orioles would give up more hits than they gain, yet still score a few more runs over the series.