With the calendar flipping to September, postseason baseball is officially on the horizon. The Orioles are not the same front-runners they were in 2023 and they’re currently on pace to win eight fewer games this season. The good news for Baltimore is that no one in the American League is truly elite. There isn’t a single AL team on pace to win 95 games and all six teams currently in playoff positions are within five games of each other.
When there isn’t a clear favorite to take home the pennant, who finds success in October becomes more about minimizing weaknesses than highlighting teams’ strengths.