The Orioles finally did it. They won a game. It took 20 games but the Baltimore Orioles found a way to beat the MVP in Shohei Ohtani to stop the bleeding at 19 games. Yes, the Orioles lost 19 games before winning one. This is almost impossible. As many baseball bettors say, underdogs still win nearly 50 games a year, give or take.
With the Angels up 6-2, the Orioles found a way to get to Shohei Ohtani and the Angels bullpen. They then pulled away scoring eight unanswered runs and won 10-6 and the Orioles bullpen actually pitched scoreless innings. It has to suck being the manager of the Orioles. Brandon Hyde has done a solid job keeping his composure and it’s really not his fault that the team stinks. It’s the front office and developmental staff.
The Orioles have a fantastic lead-off hitter in Cedric Mullins, a home run slugger in Trey Mancini and a reliable fielder and batter in Austin Hays. It’s really not an offense. They’ve been sneaky all season, especially against lefties and can score runs better than some teams in contention for the playoffs. The Orioles pitching is a disaster. That’s where Baltimore has a problem. They continue to bring up pitchers from the minors who are just not ready for the major leagues. Yet, even after a couple bad outings, the Orioles don’t seem to care. They’ll still throw out the same pitcher regardless.
A guy like Keegan Akin, who has an ERA just below 8 will get another start today. He’s 0-8 on the season and hasn’t won a single game in the majors. He’s not worthy of a rotation spot, yet every five days, Akin will be out there, getting slugged off the mound. Maybe I jinxed it for today, but the reality is, the Orioles pitching staff is horrendous. Hyde spoke after the game on the win. He said, “There was tension in our dugout, there was pressure. Everybody was on the top step. Our guys just really wanted this one. We’re tired of hearing, tired of seeing it on TV. Everybody’s tired of it.”
Except for the organization itself. They’re not tired of it. They put themselves in this position and didn’t care about the repercussions. It got to a point where the Orioles were celebrating a win after losing 19 straight. “It’s electric in there,” Mullins said of the home locker room. I feel for the offense. The Orioles offense has produced. They’ve been fine. Some teams just have poorly run organizations. They’ve got owners who don’t care about winning and general managers who just have no clue what to do with their team. The Orioles need pitching and if they produced or even bought some pitching, they’d be able to stick around .500.
It’s harder in the AL East, I get it. It’s the most competitive division in baseball. But the Orioles have the offense to stick around in many games. However, if they’re still throwing Keegan Akin, Spenser Watkins and the rest of the terrible starters (along with those terrible bullpen arms), there’s no way you can’t convince me that they’re tanking. But tanking isn’t going to help in the future. This isn’t the NFL or NBA. It takes years for prospects to become major league-ready. Stop worrying about prospects and go buy talent. Find guys that can throw quality starts. You don’t need to find aces but guys that can eat innings and pitch through six innings of three-run baseball. The tank job is pointless and the Orioles will realize that as they continue to lose for years.