The Baltimore Orioles have been one of baseball’s pleasant surprises this season.
After being projected by most to finish in last place in the American League East, the Orioles have come out of nowhere and now find themselves right in the thick of the race for the postseason.
At 69-61, they’re only a game and a half back of the third Wild Card spot, currently occupied by the Toronto Blue Jays.
But if you look at other divisions, such as the AL Central, you’ll see that the Cleveland Guardians are 68-61, a half-game behind Baltimore.
Simply put, if you took the Orioles out of the AL East and put them in the Central, then they would be in first place.
If the Baltimore Orioles were in the AL Central they would be in first place, a win ahead of the Cleveland Guardians.
— Chelsea Janes (@chelsea_janes) September 2, 2022
O’s Could Win AL Central
That’s all great and good.
The Orioles have proven that they are good enough to win a division.
Unfortunately, you can’t take them out of the AL East, which happens to be one of the tougher divisions in all of baseball.
Four teams, including the Orioles, are above .500.
The only team not above .500 is the Boston Red Sox.
But it’s at least cool to see that this Orioles team is a good one and could potentially win a division, just not the East.
New York, Tampa Bay, and Toronto are all standing in the way.
But given that they just beat the Guardians in a three-game series, it’s interesting to see that they could easily be the best team in the Central.
Again though, unless MLB decides to actually move the Orioles there, that isn’t going to happen.
It’ll be interesting to see what happens here in September, as these Orioles, despite being sellers at the trade deadline, look like a dark horse team that could make some noise in October should they get in.
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