To Brandon Hyde, the start of a baseball season offers no clear benchmark that calcifies how good a given team is. Ideally, the fifth-year Orioles manager said, a team improves as the year goes on.
That would bode well for what his 2023 squad can accomplish.
Although Tuesday night’s 8-6 loss to the Boston Red Sox ended Baltimore’s seven-game winning streak, the run before it and the rally within it showed what kind of team these Orioles can be. Plenty of time remains for them to prove whether their 15-8 start is truly a reflection of how good they are.
“I had no idea what kind of club we were going to be at this time last year. I still don’t know this year,” Hyde said over the weekend. “I’m excited. I’m happy with our start. I think we’ve played fairly well. Would love just to get better over the course of the year like we did last year. That’s really, really important to me, that we improve, that we just don’t get off to a good start and then stay there, but we improve over the course of the season.
“For me, that’s what the really good teams do.”
Last year, a 10-game winning streak in July surprisingly propelled the Orioles into playoff contention, where they stayed until the final week of the year. But none of those victories came against teams that reached the postseason, with each of the four teams they beat — the Minnesota Twins, Texas Rangers, Los Angeles Angels and Chicago Cubs — finishing with losing records.
The same could prove true of this year’s streak. Before ending it, the Red Sox were 12-12, and the other three teams the Orioles beat in the past week-plus — the Chicago White Sox, Washington Nationals and Detroit Tigers — were all at least five games under .500 entering Tuesday. Throw in taking three of four from the hapless Oakland Athletics before the streak, and the Orioles have done their part by beating up on bad teams.
“You definitely can’t take teams lightly, and anybody can beat anybody on any single day,” Hyde said. “I think when you look at your schedule, you can forecast, ‘Well, this could be a tough stretch right here. These teams are playing really well.’ But if you look at teams like the Baltimore Orioles of last year, teams weren’t expecting us in the second half to be a tough series, and there’s gonna be teams like that again this year.”
Every series in the American League East figures to be a challenge, and that’s been the case so far. Boston’s victory Tuesday means every team in the division once again has a winning record. The reduction in divisional games under Major League Baseball’s new scheduling format — with 52 such matchups rather than 76 — suggests that trend can continue, with fewer opportunities for them to beat each other.
The Orioles’ winning streak moved them to second in the division, but they gained just half a game on the Tampa Bay Rays (20-4), who own the best record in the majors. Entering Tuesday, each of the AL’s three wild-card teams would have come out of the East, though more than five months separate those standings from being finalized.
“The teams in our division are built-to-win teams that [have] huge payrolls, starting pitching, back-end relievers that make a lot of money and superstar middle-of-the-orders, for the most part, and that’s why it’s tough,” Hyde said. “But there’s other major league teams that are really good also, and you’re not going to take anybody lightly ever, and you honestly just try to win every game you possibly can.”
What happens after the streak will far more heavily determine the outcome of Baltimore’s season than what happened during it. Hyde noted that injuries, the trade deadline and other baseball happenings mean “teams could look totally different in the second half than they do in the first half.” But that doesn’t mean those seven games didn’t showcase their capabilities.
A rotation that seemingly didn’t get enough upgrades in the offseason had a stretch in which it allowed one run over 38 innings. The bullpen seems to be on track for a repeat of last season, with unexpected breakouts and nasty stuff. An offense that was dominant early slowed its pace but continued to show improved plate discipline and the ability to come through when needed. Even in Tuesday’s loss, Baltimore’s hitters rapidly put together a five-run ninth, even if it wasn’t enough to overcome an early deficit.
“The talent here is incredible,” said veteran catcher James McCann, one of the club’s handful of offseason additions. “The chemistry from the young guys that have been together is very apparent from the moment you walk in the clubhouse. And now, they’re learning how to win and win together.”
The streak showed those lessons are taking hold. With it over, the Orioles will need to carry them through the rest of the season to get where they want to go.
Red Sox at Orioles
Wednesday, 1:05 p.m.
TV: MASN
Radio: 97.9 FM, 101.5 FM, 1090 AM
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