Last weekend, the Orioles got everybody’s hopes up by winning the first three games against the Rays. They’ve spent the days since stumbling around and not doing a whole lot and so they’ve squandered the opportunity they created for themselves to stay ahead of the wild card competition.
The O’s have 34 games to play. They’d need to be 20-14 over those 34 to finish at least .500. You can talk yourself into thinking they might be able to do it if you are doing this right after watching them win a couple of games in a row. It’s a tougher sell after having watched the last few games, where the problems in the offense and defense and bullpen have bitten the team a lot.
It is still hard to know just what to make of these guys. Why can’t they be consistently better? They should be better! Many things are frustrating. They haven’t been able to overcome their challenges often enough, even in this weak year for the middle of the American League.
Reminder: This game’s only video broadcast will be on Apple TV. If you do not subscribe to that, you cannot watch. It will still be on the radio as normal.
This is the lineup supporting Trevor Rogers, who, as you’ve probably heard by now, has been pretty darn good since June 1. Whether he continues this through the end of the season will probably have a lot to do with how much money he makes as a free agent.
The Rays starting pitcher, Freddy Peralta, wasn’t bad in his last game against the Orioles, giving up two runs over 4.2 innings, though the Rays got blown out in that game anyway.