It’s hard to find positives lately in Birdland.
The Baltimore Orioles are 10 games under .500 (13-23), have lost five straight and currently sit 7.5 games back of the New York Yankees in the AL East.
To make things appear even worse, the world lost a pope and named a new one since the Orioles last victory.
The Birds have been swept twice in their last four series after going 30 straight without one (that followed a 106-series streak) and the only series wins to their credit are against the aforementioned Yankees and the Cleveland Guardians.
Unfortunately, this week’s The Great, The Good and The Ugly has a slight name change where The Good becomes The Bad. Let’s dive in and hope that next week we can return to your normal edition.
The Great: Dean Kremer
Passover has ended, and Dean Kremer has arrived. With Tomoyuki Sugano carrying the positivity of the pitching staff, Kremer finally took notice and started to produce like we have been anticipating.
Still a victim of the home run ball, Kremer is limiting his mistakes and, over the past week, has logged two quality starts. Unfortunately, the Birds could only win one, their only win in the past week.
After going 1-4 in April, Kremer has bounced back in May. He is currently 1-0 through two games compiling two quality starts, 14 innings of work, allowing just two runs (1.29 ERA) and holding a 0.64 WHIP.
Kremer is holding opponents to a .128 BAA while striking out 10 to three walks this month. He also has thrown 161 pitches with 113 (70.2%) being for strikes.
On the season, Kremer is now 3-4 through eight games covering 44.2 innings. His ERA stands at 5.24, nearly two points down since the start of May. He has a 1.28 WHIP while opponents are batting .261 off him.
The Bad: O’s vs. the AL Central
Anyone who has been a fan of the Orioles since 2000 knows how difficult the AL Central is for the Birds to navigate.
This season, the Birds are having a fit with the AL Central, and it just might be enough to ruin the entire season. After being swept by the Minnesota Twins, the O’s have dropped to 4-11 for the season against that division.
With 16 games left against the Twins, Detroit Tigers, Chicago White Sox and Cleveland Guardians, the Birds would finish 8-23 against the division at the rate they are playing, which could keep them out of the playoffs all together.
There still is time to turn things around, but the sands in the hourglass are dropping fast, and so are the postseason hopes of the Orioles and all of Birdland.
The Ugly: O’s with RISP
The Orioles spent the last couple of years being one of the most explosive and exciting teams to watch in the league. They hit home runs, stole bases and produced runs as one of the top offenses in all of baseball.
This season, the early talk was on the pitching, which has not improved by much. But lately, it has been the production, or shall we say, the lack of production with runners on base.
The Orioles began Thursday hitting .192 with runners in scoring position. Their run differential is -66, which places them last in the AL. These stats are worse than the Colorado Rockies, who are 6-30 with a -91 run differential on the year.
Against lefties, these numbers are even worse, where they are 2-9 against left-handed starters and are hitting a putrid .174/.256/.234/.490, which ranks last in MLB against southpaws.
At this point, there isn’t much room left for error, as the Orioles’ once promising season is slowly turning into one of the most disappointing in all of baseball. Changes have to be made if there is any hope left and players need to start performing.
The Orioles are on pace to win 58 games, which would mark one of the worst seasons in team history with a roster full of talent that is underperforming at its best.
Will the season slip away before they right the ship, or will the Birds find a way to turn things around?
Tune in next week for the next edition and see if The Great, The Good and The Ugly return to form like the Birds need to.
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