Why You Should Bet the House on the Baltimore Orioles

For the first time since 2016, the Baltimore Orioles have secured the season series against the New York Yankees. The Orioles, having not played on the nationally broadcasted Sunday night baseball since 2018 put on an offensive clinic easily beating the Yankees 9-3. With their young talents shining on offense, and a strong bullpen shutting down their rivals, this game in particular showcased why this Orioles team will bring it home come October. 

With Felix Bautista, a potential reliever of the year and current reliever of the month, and Yennier Cano leading a strong Orioles bullpen, the Orioles have remarkably unexpected depth throughout the pen. In 2022, through 65 innings pitched, Bautista had an impressive 2.19 ERA, to go along with 15 saves on what was a potentially wild card team. Now, with a .90 ERA, Bautista has cut his average in half from an already impressive 2022. With great competition in the postseason, games will be close. There is nobody I’d rather have closing out baseball games than Felix Bautista during playoff baseball. Furthermore, Mike Baumann has been very reliable this season as a middle reliever for Baltimore. Baumann is 8-0 on the season, coming out of the bullpen, and adds lots of depth to the rotation.

The Orioles are 23-11 this year in one-run or extra-inning games. With a knack for winning close games, the Orioles have that X-factor needed for the postseason. Along with the dominant bullpen described above, I don’t see them choking too many late games. 

This year’s Orioles’ team chemistry is extremely rare. The team seems to gel together in a way that produces win after win. In modern baseball, it is becoming harder and harder to create a good baseball team. A prime example of this is the Padres. Coming into the season, the Padres had all the talent in the world. With stars like Juan Soto, Fernando Tatis Jr., Manny Machado, Xander Bogaerts, Blake Snell, and Josh Hader it was all but expected that the Padres would be a team to reckon with. Now, sitting in fourth place, with a losing record in the NL West, Padres management is left wondering: What went wrong?

With John Means set to come back on September first, the Orioles look to add a fresh arm to the roster. Once the ace, on a mediocre team, Means looks to rejoin the current AL East leaders. Having said he is comfortable playing any role on the team, Means should be a key piece for the Orioles’ pitching staff, regardless of his role on the team.

As the year goes on, it seems as if this Orioles offense just improving. This past Wednesday, Orioles’ young star Ryan Mountcastle got on base four times, with 2 walks, 2 hits, and 1 stolen base. The day before he was 3 for 4 with a walk, two doubles, and 3 runs scored. It seems as if every game, an Orioles player is erupting for incredible offensive performances. Be it Santander’s grand slam on Tuesday, or the team’s collective whopping against the Yankees on Sunday night, the team’s offense just has that spark. 

I would lock in the Orioles to win the World Series ASAP. As of now, the best odds are +1400, on FanDuel. If it is too early, and you would like to see how some of the following games play out before placing your bets, I would recommend placing your bet slip before the ending of the Orioles-Houston series which starts August 8th. With two of the best teams, clashing against one another, I would not be surprised to see Baltimore come out on top in the series, which could dramatically change their World Series odds.