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Baltimore Orioles and the Playoffs: How We Got Here

By Nate Wardle

Oct 2, 2016; Bronx, NY, USA; The Baltimore Orioles spray manager Buck Showalter with champagne after beating the New York Yankees 5-2 to clinch an American League Wild Card playoff spot at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Danny Wild-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 2, 2016; Bronx, NY, USA; The Baltimore Orioles spray manager Buck Showalter with champagne after beating the New York Yankees 5-2 to clinch an American League Wild Card playoff spot at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Danny Wild-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Baltimore Orioles are going to the playoffs. Let’s take a closer look at how that happened.

After many people predicted the Baltimore Orioles to finish last, or close to it, the team finished technically as the third best team in the American League East  If we wanted to call out all the people who predicted them to finish outside the playoffs, it would be a who’s who of the national media.

While that would be entertaining, I want to take a look at how the team got to the playoffs, and what could help or hurt them as they attempt to advance to the American League Divisional Series against the Texas Rangers.

The Baltimore Orioles, managed by Buck Showalter, finished the season at 89-73. Offensively, the team hit .256, the 15th best average in baseball. The team smashed 253 home runs, the most in baseball, and 28 more than the next team.

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The team had the third best slugging percentage in baseball, and the sixth-best OPS, which is a big deal for a team that has previously struggled with walks and getting on-base.

Also, the team scored 744 runs, 12th best in baseball for an average of 4.59 runs per game.

The team finished the season with the team had the 19th best ERA in the game at 4.26.

The team finished with 54 saves, fourth most in baseball, and was, of course, the only team in which their closer did not blow a save all year.

The Orioles’ pitching staff allowed 183 home runs, tied for 14th most in the game, which is an improvement for their staff from previous years. The staff allowed the 16th best batting average against for the year at .258, and struck out 1248 batters, good for 19th best in the game.

While none of these stats, other than saves are notable, the team was out of the bottom ten in almost every stat, a vast improvement for the team.

Finally, the Orioles had the tied for third best fielding percentage, a hallmark of this team.

Now, that is the statistical measure. From a less analytical perspective, the Orioles surged out of the gate behind their potent offense. However, by the middle of the year the pitching struggles caught up with them, and it seemed that when they scored a lot of runs, the pitching struggled, and when the pitching was doing well, they couldn’t score.

By the end of the season, the pitching was an all-around strength of the team, particularly the bullpen, which is in my mind the best in baseball.

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Individually, Mark Trumbo led the team offensively with the most home runs in all of baseball. Numerous other players set career highs in home runs, including Jonathan Schoop and Manny Machado to name a few.

Hyun Soo Kim and Joey Rickard both did quite well. Unfortunately Rickard got hurt and his season ended earlier.

Adam Jones dealt with injuries and was slumping at the beginning of the season, but by year’s end, his numbers look very Adam-like. Matt Wieters was arguably the most clutch hitter on the team, and J.J. Hardy excelled down the stretch.

Zach Britton is a leading Cy Young candidate despite being a closer. Chris Tillman had an excellent year, although he did struggle a little after getting hurt. Kevin Gausman stepped up and into the role he was expected to, and the team got even more than expected from Dylan Bundy.

The same can be said about Donnie Hart and Mychal Givens, two relievers who were relied on heavily, and were very successful. Ubaldo Jimenez was awful for the first few months until he was yanked from the rotation in favor of Bundy. The problem was that Tyler Wilson and Mike Wright were just as bad.

Yovani Gallardo was injured to start the year and struggled to try to pitch through it. After coming back from the DL, Gallardo was a solid pitcher for the Orioles. The team traded for Wade Miley, Drew Stubbs, Michael Bourn, and Steve Pearce at the deadline, not giving up any players who were in the majors at the time.

Miley had a few good starts but overall struggled. Bourn was the biggest piece for the team, and will likely be on the playoff roster.

Next: While Offense Scuffs, Pitching Carries O's

So, there you have it. A great bullpen, lots of power and starting pitching that got better as the year went on helped propel the Orioles to their third postseason in five years. The question now, is how far they can go?

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