The Orioles just finished a seven-game stretch against two of the toughest teams in the major leagues, so it’s tempting to look ahead without trepidation to the six-game stretch against two of the three worst teams in baseball.
The Colorado Rockies may play in the Mile High City, but they are a mile below just about everybody other than the Chicago White Sox and Miami Marlins. The White Sox come next.
Should be a cakewalk, right?
Well, you might think so, especially since the Orioles swept a four-game road series against the White Sox earlier this season, but that was back in May when they were on a 101-win pace. Things are different now, with the front office in a daily scramble to field an adequate pitching staff, the offense very inconsistent and the club struggling to stay above .500 since the All-Star break.
Even before that, the O’s had their stumbles against some of the game’s most beatable teams. When they finally saw their year-plus streak without suffering a series sweep come to an end, it wasn’t against the well-heeled Yankees or Phillies or Guardians. They lost three straight to a St. Louis Cardinals team that was at a low point in its disappointing season.
They also were swept in early July by a Chicago Cubs team that had replaced the Cardinals at the bottom of the NL Central standings.
The canary in the midseason mineshaft might have been the July series in Miami, where they lost two of three against the last-place Marlins, who were 30 games under .500 when the series began.
Of course, the curious thing about all this is that the Orioles have played much better against contending teams than those clubs that have so much less at stake.
After Thursday night’s series finale at Dodger Stadium, they have a 43-28 record against teams that are in contention or were expected to be when the season started. Their record against the weaker competition is just 34-30.
How that augers for what is considered to be a soft early September schedule is anybody’s guess, but manager Brandon Hyde isn’t looking past the Rockies regardless of the game’s 28th-best record
“Those who have been to Colorado to play the Rockies there, it’s challenging,’’ he said before Thursday’s game. “They can really, really hit. I know their pitching has struggled, but most pitchers struggle in Colorado. It’s a really dangerous young team that can swing the bats. We have to pitch really well there.”
Though the Rockies have taken steps over the years to lessen the impact of playing at altitude, it’s still a difficult environment.
“Playing there is different,’’ Hyde added. “It’s video game-ish. It’s so big. The ball travels so much. Balls fall in in the outfield. There’s a lot of things that can happen. No lead is ever too big there. We’re going to play a young, hungry team that’s swinging the bat right now. We’ve got to play well.”
Perhaps the same can’t be said for the White Sox, who will be coming to Camden Yards on Monday, but the Orioles will face the San Francisco Giants and Detroit Tigers for the first time mid-month before closing out the regular season with tough road series against the Yankees and Twins.
Where things stand at that point is anybody’s guess, but the Orioles no longer appear to be in danger of missing the postseason. It’s just a matter of which team shows up in October.