Dan Connolly

Get ready — or Buckle Up — for a season of comebacks

By Dan Connolly

Posted on May 15, 2016

You may have to get used to this in 2016. You may want to keep the television on until the last out or stay at the stadium instead of leaving early to beat traffic.

The way this club is put together, expect a whole lot of late-inning fireworks. And that means the potential for a bunch of come-from-behind victories.

Consider this: With Saturday’s 9-3 win against the Detroit Tigers – the Orioles’ seventh straight victory and second, seven-game winning streak already this year — these Orioles now have 13 comeback wins through May 14.

That means more than half of their victories are of the come-from-behind variety.

There’s been no better example of that than this four-game series against the Detroit Tigers, which the Orioles could sweep with a victory Sunday afternoon.

In the first five innings of the first three games versus the Tigers, the Orioles didn’t score a run. From the sixth inning on, they scored 17. On Saturday, they scored all nine runs from the sixth through the eighth.

This club has scored 28 runs in the seventh inning alone – the most of any frame in 2016 — and that makes plenty of sense. It’s when the opposition’s starter is fading and every club’s underbelly, middle relief, is on the mound. And we all know this club can murder mistakes from tired or inexperienced pitchers.

It also makes plenty of sense that comebacks are in this club’s DNA. The starting rotation is yeoman-like, but, for the most part, has kept the team close. The bullpen is among the best in baseball and often shuts down the opposition to give the Orioles a chance to close any margin. And the offense, which never believes it is out of a game, can strike quickly and score in bunches, especially with the home run as its primary tool.

So, to borrow a phrase from the past, you may want to Buckle Up again. This team looks like it is going to keep you on the edge of your seat, even when you want to go to bed or hit the highway before the rest of the crowd.