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Baltimore Orioles: Five Ways to Win the American League East

By Randy Buchman

Aug 14, 2016; San Francisco, CA, USA; Baltimore Orioles celebrate their 8-7 win over the San Francisco Giants at AT&T Park. Mandatory Credit: Lance Iversen-USA TODAY Sports
Aug 14, 2016; San Francisco, CA, USA; Baltimore Orioles celebrate their 8-7 win over the San Francisco Giants at AT&T Park. Mandatory Credit: Lance Iversen-USA TODAY Sports /
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Jul 16, 2016; St. Petersburg, FL, USA; Baltimore Orioles starting pitcher Chris Tillman (30) thows a pitch during the second inning against the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
Jul 16, 2016; St. Petersburg, FL, USA; Baltimore Orioles starting pitcher Chris Tillman (30) thows a pitch during the second inning against the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports /

#4 – Sufficient Starting Pitching

Such a theme of the 2016 season has been the sketchy starting pitching. The Orioles would indeed be lost and out of the race were it not for the stellar contributions of Chris Tillman.

It has been quite an adventure beyond the O’s ace. Yovani Gallardo has come back to help. Kevin Gausman has been better than his record, though room for consistent improvement exists. And Dylan Bundy has brought some tremendous relief and contribution, hopefully having enough innings left in him to carry through safely to whatever end the season brings.

Having a tremendous starting rotation is a great asset for a team, especially when the season turns into playoffs and two or three outstanding pitchers can return with greater frequency. But there are other ways for a team to win a championship and compete well, even deep into the playoffs (as proven by the Royals last year).

The Orioles starters do not have to be fantastic, but they do need to be good enough to regularly – dare we we say even almost always – give the team a quality start. That is not an incredible number, talking a 4.50 ERA and under.

The talent is on the team to do this. And September call-ups could help, particularly to bridge a few games with less than the best starting efforts. The O’s simply cannot afford to have the starters implode.

The Orioles’ starters are now 12th in the AL in ERA, though are in position to move up a couple more places. The Blue Jays are the best, so if starting pitching is the end-all of baseball, the Orioles are in trouble. But again, they just need to be sufficiently good.

Next: Good teams win the close games...

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