SEATTLE – Looking at the MLB standings heading into the second half of the season, several teams have jumped off the page as contenders that likely weren’t on anyone’s radar on Opening Day.
The Arizona Diamondbacks are shocking many with their co-NL West lead with the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Texas Rangers lead the NL West at 52-39 after finishing a dreadful 68-94 just a season ago.
And then there’s the Baltimore Orioles, a team two years ago that had an MLB-worst 52-110 record that currently owns a five-game lead on the first wild card slot at 54-35 while sitting just two games back of the American League’s best Tampa Bay Rays for the AL East lead.
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The Orioles and their fans have been waiting desperately to return to the playoffs. After having a record above .500 last season for the first time since 2016 — which is the last time Baltimore made it to the postseason — the franchise believed it was on the right trajectory to winning baseball again.
Perhaps the Orioles didn’t think they’d be this good after the first half. But if they want to make the playoffs this season and break their drought, Adam Jones, a Baltimore legend that was on that 2016 roster the last time they were represented in the postseason, knows the recipe for success.
He’s confident they have everything they need right now to make it.
“Maintain what they’re doing right now,” he said simply at The Players’ Party in Seattle hosted by the MLB Players’ Association, Lids and Topps. “There’s always talk about making a move or something like that. But do you need to? Do the guys in house think they can do it? I think they can.
“But there’s always the whispers of possibly making a move I’m not the GM. [GM Mike] Elias has done a hell of a job.”
Since taking over in 2019, Elias has been building the roster with tactical moves to get them where they want to be in a tough AL East division. His first big pick was a simply one at first overall that year when Adley Rutschman, who shocked Jones and the rest of MLB with his switch-hitting performance at this year’s Home Run Derby in Seattle, was taken out of Oregon State.
Rutschman has reached borderline superstar status in MLB, as the team’s franchise catcher that has all five tools necessary to build around. But he was just one of four All-Stars that represented the American League at T-Mobile Park on Tuesday, and one of them started center field.
That was Austin Hays, an Orioles third-round pick in 2016 that’s hitting .314/.355/.498 with 22 doubles, nine homers and 36 RBI in 78 games. Another homegrown talent is Felix Bautista, and though he did allow the game-winning homer in his All-Star debut, he’s still notched 23 saves for the O’s (fifth in MLB) and owns a 1.07 ERA on the year.
Finally, Yennier Cano has surprised everyone this season, as the 29-year-old has a 1.48 ERA in 42.2 innings, serving as one of the best stories in the first half, and more importantly, a key member of the Orioles’ bullpen. He was acquired in the Jorge Lopez trade Elias strung together with the Minnesota Twins.
Balitmore has the perfect mix of young talent — Gunnar Henderson, and most recently, Colton Cowser can be added to that bunch — and veteran presence in their lineup, which includes Anthony Santander, Cedric Mullins and Ryan Mountcastle.
It’s a group that’s hungry for the playoffs, and Jones sees them already playing that style of baseball.
“They’re good, they’re scrappy,” Jones said. “A lot of the guys I talk to, they say [the Orioles] just play the game well. They’re a tough a– out. You got to respect that.”
The Orioles have made the postseason just three times since 2000. But this team clearly doesn’t care about the past. They’re living in the present, and a postseason berth is what they would get if the season ended today.
Baltimore will try to make sure that remains the case when Game 162 comes to an end.
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