The final week of the regular season begins tonight for the Orioles as they head to New York to take on the Yankees. There are really only two goals for the team as they play out the last two series: get everyone healthy, and stay that way. The O’s still have a chance for the best record in the American League and their goal is to win every game, but as we have seen in the last week, all it takes is a high fastball to the back to knock out a player for a few days.
Potential first round opponents
With the O’s still fighting for the chance to have the best record in the American League, this can still change, but more than likely the game’s best hitter in Miguel Cabrera, the reigning Cy Young award winner in Max Scherzer, one of the best pitchers in October in Justin Verlander, and one of this year’s blockbuster trade pieces David Price will be coming to town for the Division Series.
The Detroit Tigers have been an up-and-down team for most of the season, but here they are entering the final week atop the A.L. Central and with the chance to win 90+ games again. This is the one team that I do not want to face in a short series, though I know I am probably giving them too much credit. Verlander has been worse than league average, Price has an ERA over four, their bullpen is near the bottom in all of baseball and even Cabrera has been more human than usual. However, they have stars up and down the roster who have played in big games throughout their careers.
The Orioles need to get healthy this final week, but if they can find a way to overtake the Los Angeles Angels for the best record, I will take my chances against one of the Wild Card winners, even if that means facing the Oakland A’s who have tried to give their season away the last two months.
Playoff rotation clearing up
Roch Kubatko reported that the rotation for the Division Series will more than likely be Chris Tillman, Wei-Yin Chen, Miguel Gonzalez, and Bud Norris with Tillman and Chen being a lock for Games 1 and 2. The only surprise for me would be Gonzalez over Norris. I would swap those two which would guarantee Norris a start in the first round, which I think he has earned. As I mentioned before, a potential backend of the bullpen consisting of Kevin Gausman, Darren O’Day, Andrew Miller, and Zach Britton is downright filthy.
Especially against the Tigers and their questionable ‘pen, the Birds starters just need to keep them in the game through six or seven innings. After that, I’ll take our chances.
Not many sporting events will top last Tuesday’s division clincher
I spent my entire teenage years and most of my 20’s rooting for a baseball team that didn’t matter. I remember producing The Rob Long Show in 2010 when the Orioles started 2-16 and their season was over before it even started and saying that I finally had enough. There was no direction and “The Calvary” looked to be another group of pitchers that would never live up to the hype.
Then Buck Showalter arrived and everything changed. We all know the history so I won’t bore you by rehashing it, but being able to attend last week’s game with my family is something I will never forget.
We enjoyed the 2012 season because that team finally broke the streak of losing seasons, but I truly believe this year’s team has the chance to make a run in October. The starters have been lights out since July, the bullpen has everything a team would want, Showalter has the ability to bring a plus defender off the bench, speed off the bench, and power off the bench, and the lineup itself is deep enough to cause havoc to opposing pitching staffs.
This may be the longest week of the season as we hope there are no injuries and the anticipation of another Orange October finally starts to settle in.
Enjoy this last week of “stress-free” baseball, Baltimore. Starting very soon, we’ll be living and dying with every single pitch yet again.
