Well, we have hit the halfway point of the MLB season, and the Baltimore Orioles are in first place in the AL East. Although many pundits claim that the Orioles may be the least likely of the six current first place teams in baseball to hang on to their spot, the Birds are still hitting the ball at a league-best pace and still have one of the bullpens in the league. Still, if this team wants to play in October, there are five main keys to maintain their success.
1. Figure out the rotation
This key may be the obvious one, but it does not make it any less important to address. It is a serious issue when a team that averages around five runs a game can't go into each game knowing that total will be enough to win a ballgame. But that is where the Orioles are at right now. It may be a little harsh to bash the entire rotation. Chris Tillman has been pretty solid, and the Orioles tend to win when they put him out there, even if he is lacking ace quality stuff. Also, for a young gun, Kevin Gausman has looked the part, but has just had some poor luck. That being said, this team cannot be throw out Ubaldo Jiminez to the mound once every five days and expect to hold onto the division. Most teams would try to find an arm down in the farm to remedy the problem. However, this already been tried with Mike Wright and Tyler Wilson and has been proven to be fruitless. The next solution would be to get an arm from another team at the trade deadline, but the lack of depth will make this a challenge. One possible solution would be to have Dylan Bundy come into the rotation on a pitch count and hope he can hit six innings consistently. Bundy, a former #3 overall draft pick, has finally shown the promise that made him such a draft pick. If he consistently eat some innings, the bullpen should be capable of handling the last few innings. In the end, the Birds need to a new arm into this rotation in any way that they can. If they fail to do so, it might be a quiet October at Camden Yards.
2. What to do with Darren O' Day?
Darren O' Day has been an integral part of the Orioles' bullpen for the past few years. He was a huge piece of the team that made an ALCS run in 2014 and even earned a spot on the AL All-Star team last season. For his efforts, the set-up man got a nice raise this past offseason. However, O' Day, while still pitching well, has not performed up to the level he established the past two seasons and is currently sitting on the 15-day DL with a hamstring injury. When he returns from the injury, most would assume he would go right back to his usual set-up role. However, young reliever Brad Brach has taken over the role with flying colors since O' Day's injury. Brach has pitched so well, he even earned a spot on the AL All-Star team. So, the question becomes do the Birds leave Brach as the eighth inning man and place O' Day to pitch in the seventh, or do they revert back to way things had been before the injury. The positive spin on this situation would be that the Orioles will get an elite arm back into their bullpen and does not matter much where you put either of them. The way the Orioles' rotation has been doing so far this year, it would be extremely helpful to have three elite arms to cover the last three innings. However, the Birds must make sure that O' Day's return does not mess up the bullpen chemistry and does not mess with Brach's form.
3. Chris Davis
This one is the wild-card. It is hard to bash a guy that is tied for ninth in the majors in home runs with 22, however, it seems like Chris Davis hasn't been the same player this year. We all know what we get with Chris, a low contact guy that strikes out a lot, but with insane power. That being said, he does seem a bit off this year. After a monstrous 2015, Davis was given the biggest deal in Orioles' history, now he has dropped below Mark Trumbo in the batting order and is trying to regain last year's form. If Davis can show a little more consistency, this squad may be able to hold on the AL East and play far into October.