At the end of May, the Baltimore Orioles are sitting at a 17-39 record after getting swept by the Nationals in the “Battle of the Beltway.”  The bats aren’t alive, the pitching is where it shouldn’t be (below average), and the fielding is not what it used to be. The gold glove-stacked infield and homerun slugging lineup that we once knew seems to be dead this year. 

A huge highlight of the Orioles’ crumby lineup this year include Chris Davis hovering around a .150 batting average with 75 strikeouts and only 4 homeruns. In 2016, the Orioles signed Davis to a 7 yr/161 million-dollar deal with hopes of more league-leading homerun numbers.  Through the first three years of this deal, Davis has only shown digression. 

Outside of batting, the team’s pitching has been unsurprisingly awful with a team ERA at 5.00 (27th in the MLB). Chris Tillman, who impressed Baltimore with a 16-6 record and 3.77 ERA in 2016, has officially panned out. In his first seven games he is 1-5 with a team-worst 10.46 ERA. As for “ace” Dylan Bundy, who had some spectacular outings in 2017, has disappointed hopeful Orioles fans this year with a 4.46 ERA.  

Enough of pitching. The Orioles have been a tough baseball team to watch this year, from getting shutout by Max Scherzer to getting railed 10-0 by the Royals in the first inning. It really hasn’t been pretty.  

Our hope is still in Manny Machado with a .327 batting average and 18 homeruns without an ounce of motivation in his body.  

We hope to see a better Orioles team this summer, just a slight improvement upon our 17-39 record… please?