Had their best pitcher been able to log 180 innings instead of eight, and had they not needed to wait until late-May for Rutschman to be ready for his MLB debut, it's not that unreasonable to say Baltimore could have won the AL East. And they did so despite losing their ace (John Means) to Tommy John surgery just one week into the regular season.
They're going to miss the playoffs, but they legitimately held their own in baseball's best division. Like the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Baltimore Orioles were expected to be awful.Īfter going 178-368 over the previous four seasons and with nary a noteworthy offseason acquisition outside of Jordan Lyles, what else were we supposed to expect?īut the Orioles finally broke through with a young nucleus of solid hitters led by rookie catcher Adley Rutschman and "veteran" 27-year-old outfielders Anthony Santander and Cedric Mullins II.
#JORDAN 1 LOW SPADES FREE#
Even in a tough division, Arizona could be a contender as early as next season with just one or two semi-significant pickups in free agency.Īnthony Santander and Adley Rutschman (Mitchell Layton/Getty Images) And basically everyone should be back in 2023. It was a sub-.500 season, but a productive one. Recent call-ups Corbin Carroll (OF), Drey Jameson (SP) and outfielders Alec Thomas and Jake McCarthy are all in their age-24 season or younger and look like legitimate building blocks for long-term success. First baseman Christian Walker racked up 62 extra-base hits. This in spite of paying Madison Bumgarner a whole lot of money for little return on investment for the second successive season.Ĭenter fielder Daulton Varsho and starting pitcher Zac Gallen both had major breakout seasons. If you take out games against the postseason-bound Dodgers and Padres-against whom Arizona went a combined 10-28-they actually had a winning record. The Diamondbacks were supposed to be one of the worst teams in the majors, but they had a surprisingly competent 2022 campaign. What We've Learned: They might just be a piece or two away from legitimately contending.
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