Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports
No one has to be told how great of a season Baltimore Orioles’ Chris Davis is having but everything with the powerful offensive team isn’t as great as Davis’ season has been. It looked for a while like they might be the closest challengers for the American League East but it has turned out not to be that way at all. They are still in the division fight but their focus should solely be on the American League Wildcard race instead of the distant division title now.
Everyone wants to win the division but there comes a time when a team has to realize at least to themselves that they are no longer fighting for the division. In the National League everything is nice and stretched out but that is not the case in the American League. Currently the Oakland Athletics and Tampa Bay Rays are in those spots with the Orioles, Kansas City Royals, Cleveland Indians and even a distant New York Yankees all in the hunt. For sure the Orioles would like to be able to say they are focusing on the division and what happens in the wildcard race is secondary. That’s just something that sounds nice in the media.
The fact of the matter is that they are having to focus on the wildcard now and if they do not they might miss out on everything. It isn’t like they are a certainty for the position. Currently they are 2.5 out of the first wildcard and 2.0 out of the second spot. There is plenty of time for that kind of room to be made up but the other teams are in good position as well. Basically the Orioles have quite a fight ahead of them just to make the wildcard round. They should do themselves a favor, focus on that and forget about the division race. It’s all but gone.
David Miller is a Senior Writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @davidmillerrant, “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google
