Baltimore Orioles: 5 Players Who Need a Big September to Make Playoffs
By Joe Serpico
The Baltimore Orioles are four games back in the American League East and tied for the final AL Wild Card spot on the first day of September. Here are five players the Orioles need to step up in order for them to make the postseason.
It’s crunch time in Major League Baseball. The strong will survive and the weak will begin to fall out of the postseason chase over the course of September.
The Baltimore Orioles are teetering right on that line. After leading the AL East for the majority of the season, they have squandered the lead to the Toronto Blue Jays. They are now four games back after losing the home series to the Jays, and have allowed the wild card teams to creep back into contention.
Heading into the season, we knew September would be the month that would ultimately decide the fate of this team. The schedule is filled with playoff hopefuls. Baltimore will see the Jays, Boston Red Sox, Detroit Tigers and New York Yankees over the next month, all teams in the hunt.
The Orioles will have earned their postseason berth if they are fortunate enough to be there come October. However, it’s going to be no easy task with how this team has played as of late.
A relatively healthy team for most of the season is being hit with injuries at the wrong part of the season. Joey Rickard and Darren O’Day have been out for some time. The more troubling news is that Chris Tillman is on the disabled list and Adam Jones hasn’t played in nearly a week.
General Manager Dan Duquette made a bunch of moves before the Sept. 1 deadline to add players eligible for the postseason roster, but are they enough to get the Orioles into the playoffs? Starting pitching has been the problem for most of the season and they still haven’t fixed it. Drew Stubbs and Michael Bourn are good players, but they cannot do much when a team is giving up home runs in the first inning on a consistent basis.
In order for the Orioles to make the playoffs, they need certain players to have an excellent September. Here are the five guys that need to play well for Baltimore to make the show this season.
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