The Orioles Have Caught The Rays And Are Now In 1st Place In The AL East
Remember that incredible 13-0 and then 29-7 start to the season for the Rays? Remember the commanding lead they had in the division and how everyone thought the AL East (the best division that sports has ever seen) was over in April? Well that whole time the Orioles were keeping pace, staying within striking distance and were right there for the eventual regression. The Rays went 31-32 since that start while the O's continued to do their thing. Since their 8-7 start they're 50-30 and now percentage points ahead of Tampa for first place in the division.
Now I'm not throwing a parade for being in first before the end of July. The end goal for this team right now seems to be a World Series title. Forget playoffs, the Division would be nice, but they have a real chance to really make a deep run in October.
I think it's incredible that A) the Rays have played under .500 over an extended period of time and are out of first B) it was the Orioles who were the team able to chase then down, not the Jays or Yankees.
The O's had a brutal schedule in May and July isn't going to be much easier, but here we are with plenty of opportunity in front of them. They have a gigantic series with Tampa starting Thursday with a chance to put some distance between them. We've seen this team play really well and we've seen them play awful, but more times than not they play really good baseball.
58-37 is a .611 winning percentage baby. The Rays sit at 60-39, but it's that oh so important loss column that is the money maker. It's crazy to think that the Rays have played such mediocre baseball for so long now. Injuries have slowly started to take their toll on that staff. Knock on wood, the Orioles have really only had to deal with Cedric Mullins' 2 IL stints and Ryan Mountcastle's vertigo. Great injury luck has for sure helped propel them while Tampa free falls.
They don't have the best roster, the most money to spend, but have more than held their own thanks to their plethora of talented youth. What they've done in this division with this team, this rotation, and this ownership group is incredible. Everyone in the East is still over .500 and it's just a bloodbath every night. Everyone has kind of made runs and then played flat, but I'll say it again, this team just doesn't go away. Punched in their mouth and they bounce right back and they get that from their manager. I've been screaming it to you all for years, just wait until the Orioles get their guys up and see the fruits of that awful, painful rebuild. It's here now. It's been over 200 games since Adley Rutschman came up and the Orioles have been playing insane baseball since. That is no coincidence. Should be a fascinating weekend of baseball for the Orioles and the AL East.
The other fun news from yesterday is that with the win vs the Dodgers, they have now gone 70 series in a row without being swept. Think about that, 70 straight series winning at least one game. And again, this is no coincidence. The last series the Orioles were swept in was May 13th - May 15th to the Tigers. Adley Rutschman came up on May 21st. 8th team ever to reach 70 straight series without being swept. Just goes to show you that even when they lose they don't let these streaks turn into 4 or 5 game slides. They right the ship immediately and keep on trucking. Speaking of the Rays, they've been swept twice….in July. Crazy run the Orioles are on and they're playing really good baseball at the perfect time with the Rays taking on water and quick. This race for the AL East is going to be so, so fun. We thought it was slammed shut, but the door to the AL East is wide fucking open. Now we go.