The Orioles Are Straight Up Collapsing
Scott Taetsch. Getty Images.We are witnessing a collapse in real time, the Orioles really are doing it. Another embarrassing loss last night in Boston where we saw two Red Sox go back-to-back TWICE. Once is bad, twice is just rubbing your face in it, and since the All-Star break the O's have had their face rubbed in it a lot.
They didn't look right heading into the ASB and we all said they're a young team and just need a nice, long rest. Well ever since that break they're 24-25 after going into ASB 20 games above .500 at 58-38. Under .500 in the second half while trying to stay afloat in the division race, can't be doing that with 3 weeks left. The Yankees have gotten healthy, added some pieces and probably will win the division now by 5 games or so. O's have been absolutely wrecked by injuries, ripped apart. Ryan Mountcastle, Jacob Webb, Danny Coulombe, Grayson Rodriguez, Jordan Westburg, Ramón Urias have all missed major chunks of the season and the replacements just haven't been up to par. Anything that could go wrong for these guys has, it's polar opposite of last year. The panic button for many is out and has been pressed, we’re watching a full on collapse. They were in first place just last week but as been the problem all second half, they can't string together any successful runs.
They've been stuck right at the 20 games above .500 mark and just can't get any lengthy winning streaks going. They’ve been flirting with first place and bouncing back for forth for a few weeks with the Yankees but I think they may have just run out of steam. They can't win series vs good teams, they're losing series vs bad teams at home, I truly have no clue what the fix is but it has to happen like NOW since the playoffs start in about 3 weeks. They'll make the playoffs still, that I'm confident in…but I don't know how you can look at this team currently and think they can win a postseason series. I just don't see it, not with how they're playing. I love this team, I love the guys, I love the new ownership, but man has it gotten hard to watch. Guys who we have seen succeed now suddenly look lost at sea. They seem frustrated and I don't blame them. They aren't playing like we know they can play. That's the thing that I get stuck on, we know these guys are good, we know they can be the best team in baseball. They just aren't executing and playing like we know they can, and that sucks the life right out of you.
Baseball seasons are such a long grind, it beats the hell out of you, and no one position takes more of a beating than catcher. Adley Rutschman is the face of this franchise, face of the rebuild, Captain America, the perfect guy to have lead this team….but he is stuck in a rut and has been for about 3 months. He knows that he needs to be better and seems to be pressing. You feel for the guy because you know how good he can be, hell the first 2 months he was incredible. Hitting for power, spraying it all over, starting the All-Star Game but since the break he's been bad. In 42 games since the break he's slashing .204/.286/.299 for an OPS of .585. Not great at all. Only 2 homers, 13 RBIs, 6 doubles. and 30 hits since then. His defense has taken a hit too, he's 17/78 catching runners, 22% throwing guys out. Gotta be better than that, but not all that is on Adley. The pitchers are so, so, so slow to the plate. But that's besides the point. We know Adley is beat up, he says he's healthy but it's impossible to be healthy at this point in the season. He took a foul ball off the hand in June and really hasn't looked right since. I think he's tired, I think he's exhausted, I think he's going through it. He'll snap out of it soon but it may be too late for this ball club. It sucks to see Adley go through this but maybe it makes him better down the road, he now knows what it's like to have a long period of time where he struggles. Notice I didn't say it was a slump, slumps don't last 3 months. 3 weeks is a slump, not 3 months. His body language doesn’t look great at times, he looks upset and frustrated. It’s hard to blame him for any of that. He'll get back to where we know he can be, just hope it's soon and he can carry that into October.
The offense suddenly just can't hit with RISP or hit at all really. Last year they hit .287 with RISP, this year it's right at .250. It is odd to look up and see that they're 6th in runs since the ASB even though it feels like they're dead last. Everyone but Gunnar Henderson is struggling, everyone. Jackson Holliday has come back down to earth after his hot start after being recalled, Colton Cowser is slumping, Anthony Santander just became the 8th switch hitter to hit 40 homers in a season but he has slowed his pace. It shouldn't be like this with an offense like this. They're swinging for the fences on every pitch, trying to hit 6 run homers, just not good baseball. They aren't hitting gappers, no productive outs with guys on the bases, it's all strikeouts and pop ups to the right side. Questionable approaches all around. I don't know what happened to these guys at the plate, maybe it's the pressure of being in a tight race with the Yankees or something but man do they look lost and confused at the plate sometimes. I do think that losing Westburg was the biggest factor. That guy fought every at-bat. You knew you'd get a tough AB out of him 4 times a game, plus his solid defense. Take him away and the whole lineup crumbled. They need him back the most, just not sure if he'll have the time to fully rehab that broken hand.
Pitching hasn't been the best ever, but for the most part they do their job. Except Craig Kimbrel, that guy stinks. He should be DFA'd and 100% should not be on the postseason roster. I downplayed a lot of the Phillies fans who told me what would happen, I thought to myself "He can't THAT bad". Well he is. He's awful. Time to eat the $13 million and move on. Hat tip to the Phils fans, you were right. Corbin Burnes had an awful August going 1-3 with an ERA over 7 but has pitched much better in his last 2 times out, so that is encouraging. It's just tough on these pitchers every night knowing that if they give up 2 runs then there's a good chance the game is done, that exact thing happened Sunday vs Tampa. Burnes gives up 2, O's get blanked. He pitched awesome and the offense could't do jack. Hopefully Grayson comes back, hopefully Suarez can keep dealing, hopefully Webb and Coulombe can come back and hopefully Kimbrel is reading a book on a beach in Mexico during October.
What will it take to fix this all? I've got no damn clue. I hope and pray that the guys coming back will inject new life into this roster and they can get a groove going. Playoff baseball isn't usually about who the best team is, it's about who gets the hottest. The O's don't look close to that team right now, but if they can get some pieces back they can still make a run at this thing. We've seen how good they can be, we're currently seeing how bad they can be too. Get healthy and make it to the dance, anything can happen from there. But for now, this is a full on collapse, basically handing the Yankees the division. They won 101 games last year, now they'll be lucky to get to 91 or 92, they do have a weak schedule remanning….but they also just lost a series at home to Tampa so maybe there are no easy series left. 2nd to last series vs NY will decide the division, but maybe the O's have already given it to them by then. Let's hope not and hope Hyde can light some sort of fire under these guys. Closed door meeting? Snap a bat, toss a helmet? Something, just something to help these guys find their pulse again. If not, I have a feeling we're in for another short run in October. Hope I'm wrong though.