Kelley L Cox- USA TODAY Sports
Over the last couple of days, the Baltimore Orioles have watched their AL East rivals struggle as the Boston Red Sox have slowly come back to the pack over the last 10 games, and the Tampa Bay Rays have lost four straight. But the Orioles continue to shoot themselves in the foot as they lost a close one to the San Francisco Giants 3-2 on Saturday.
The Orioles are now 64-52, and are 5.5 games back of the Red Sox in the AL East, and are 1.5 games back of the second AL Wild Card spot. It’s really frustrating to watch because the Orioles have tiebreakers over the Oakland Athletics, and the Texas Rangers due to the O’s accumulating series wins over both teams earlier in the season.
As the postseason nears, it becomes more, and more critical how the Orioles’ record against teams below .500 has come back to haunt them. The Orioles have a staggering 24 losses this season against teams with losing records, and if the team misses the playoffs this year that statistic would be the number one reason for any critic.
Who really is to blame for these woes? Does it fall on Orioles manager Buck Showalter? To some degree yes, but the majority of the blame should go to the players. It makes no sense how this team has winning records against the Red Sox, Rangers and Athletics, but stink it up against inferior teams.
It would be such a shame to see all of the talent the Orioles have this season go to waste. But it looks like it is heading in that direction.
Wola Odeniran is a writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on twitter at WolaOdeniran52, or add him to your network on Google
