Baltimore Orioles: Looking Back at the Tampa Bay Series

Jun 25, 2016; Baltimore, MD, USA; Baltimore Orioles first baseman Chris Davis (19) celebrates with teammates after scoring in the seventh inning against the Tampa Bay Rays at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Baltimore Orioles defeated Tampa Bay Rays 5-0. Mandatory Credit: Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports /

After the Baltimore Orioles swept the Rays this past weekend, is there really substantive reason for encouragement about this team and this season?

Even with a four-game sweep, five straight wins, and a four-game AL East lead, there is no one who can snatch defeat from the jaws of victory quite like O’s fans. But really, how great is it to have beaten a team that came into the series with a seven-game losing streak already in the works?

There is no doubt about it, the Tampa Bay Rays are not a very good baseball as currently constructed. To be honest, I didn’t think they were that great before all of the injuries occurred, but that’s another topic for another day. (However, if you have not seen last night’s scores, they clobbered the Red Sox 13-7 on 18 base hits.)

Yet this is a major league team. At their worst, MLB teams still win a lot of games. Over the past three years (going back), the worst of all teams were the Phillies with 63 wins, the Diamondbacks with 64 and the Astros with 51. So it is still a big deal to sweep a series of four games.

Here are some raw numbers from the Tampa By series: the Birds outscored the Rays 31-14. Baltimore had 50 hits in 139 at-bats for a .360 average, along with nine home runs. There was one great start, one okay start, and two poor outings; but the bullpen was great as always … well, most always. The relievers threw 13 scoreless innings, giving up eight hits and six walks.

So we now have the Orioles team we pretty much expected to see. They out-bomb everyone, hitting 120 home runs – eight more than Seattle and 12 more than Toronto. Their batting average is third-best in the American League, with a second-best OBP. The bullpen is among the best, though we all know the starting rotation is hit and miss as expected.

I’m not a huge believer in WAR and Wins Above Average statistics, but they do illustrate the truth above. The Orioles have a team Wins Above Average (WAA) of 6.6 which ranks them third in the A.L. behind Cleveland and Boston. The bullpen WAA is 3.5, a full point ahead of the next best team (Indians). And the offense for the O’s is 3.3 and good for second-best. But the starting pitching is -0.2 and ranked eighth in the league (which is actually not as bad as you might expect to see).

So what does this hold for the future? There is a lot to like in what has happened. And while the starting pitching is a concern, so also is the need to win on the road. The Orioles have now played more than half of their 2016 home games, sporting a great record of 31-13. But they are 14-17 on the road, the place they go now for nine games on the west coast.