Have the Baltimore Orioles Already Hit Rock Bottom in May?
By Nate Wardle
The Baltimore Orioles will start their series with the Oakland Athletics as the worst team in the American League.
Many expected a lot from the Baltimore Orioles this season after upgrading their starting rotation this offseason in Alex Cobb and Andrew Cashner.
The offense was expected to be more consistent, despite the end of 2017 season. Furthermore, the bullpen had lofty expectations as usual.
The Orioles defense has also failed. Quite frankly, I expected the Orioles to be on the fringe of contention at worst.
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Even if you had lesser expectations, let’s just say how much of a dumpster fire this season has been.
The Orioles still have only won in two towns, Baltimore and New York.
The Boston Red Sox, Houston Astros, Los Angeles/Anaheim Angels, and, most egregiously, the Detroit Tigers have all swept the Orioles this season.
The Orioles starters have been a mess. Chris Tillman has an ERA approaching 10, despite a seven-inning shutout on the books. Alex Cobb just got his ERA under 10.
Dylan Bundy was good, but his last two starts have been bad, bad, bad. Kevin Gausman started bad but is getting better. Cashner isn’t much different from what was expected.
The offense has been more consistent, but not in a good way. The offense doesn’t get hits for several innings at a time, rarely have breakout innings or games, and often let good starts go all-for-naught way.
The relief pitching has been the worst it has been in years, which is amazing when Richard Bleier has been one of the best relievers in baseball.
Brad Brach, Mychal Givens, Miguel Castro and Pedro Araujo all have ERAs over 4.50.
The defense? Below the league average in terms of errors and fielding percentage. Sure, some of this is because Danny Valencia and Pedro Alvarez are playing third base, but a lot of other guys have errors too.
So, what is going to happen from here? I don’t think anyone knows.
Dan Duquette says he is still assessing the roster and thinks they can turn it around. Uh, Dan, the team is FOURTEEN games out of first place and it’s only May 4.
There is only one team in the major leagues who is worse than the Orioles. That team, the Cincinnati Reds, already fired their manager. I don’t expect the Orioles to follow suit.
Orioles manager Buck Showalter seems to be staying around, despite his contract ending and enough evidence as to why that may not be the best decision.
Maybe the team decides a shakeup is needed and fires Duquette, moves Buck to a management position and brings in a new manager.
You are right, I’m grasping at straws.
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To think the Orioles would be this bad through just 31 games, I wouldn’t have believed it.
Sadly, it is true. The Baltimore Orioles are the worst team in the American League and one of the worst in baseball.