By Jordan Long
The Baltimore Orioles were the worst team in all of baseball. They ended the season at 47-115, a full 61 games behind the Boston Red Sox for 1st place in the American League East Division. With such a disappointing season, changes were coming. Baltimore decided to fire manager Buck Showalter for the lost year.
Showalter had been with the Orioles since the 2010 season. Prior to this year, the Orioles made the playoffs 3 times. The season started with optimism. They were coming off a 75-87 record. This was a team loaded with talent in Chris Davis, Manny Machado, and Adam Jones. These batters were going to help the offense with base hits and to score runs. The goal was to reach the postseason as at least a Wild Card team.
The pitching was going to be the question mark. Dylan Bundy was the ace of the pitching staff since he had won 13 games in 2017. Andrew Cashner could also help the staff since he had the ability to win 10 plus games.
The Orioles season went south fast. They finished the month of April at 8-21, a start they wouldn’t recover from. With them not making a run at the playoffs, they traded Manny Machado to the L.A. Dodgers on July 18th, which basically waved the white flag this season.
A lot of the struggles are on Showalter. The team had trouble hitting the baseball. They ended with a .239 batting average 24th in baseball. Baltimore hitters couldn’t stop swinging at pitches outside the zone, equaling 1,412 strike outs, the 10th most in all of baseball. It seemed when they took batting practice, it didn’t help them in games. That is on Showalter for not having the team prepared.
Orioles’ pitchers struggled with a combined ERA of 5.18, dead last in all of Major League Baseball. Showalter left starting pitchers in way too long, costing them games. Relievers didn’t fair much better. When they came into games, they gave up hits which added to the deficit with an ERA of 4.78.
The Orioles needed to make a change at the managerial position. Showalter proved he couldn’t manage this team to a playoff spot. He had plenty of time to do so and failed. Showalter leaves the Orioles with a combined record of 669-684, a disappointing win percentage of .494.
The Orioles will begin a search for the new manager. They know it might take a few years for them to become a winner. Baltimore needs to be patient and give him at least 3 or 4 years to reach the postseason. Hopefully, whoever they bring in makes this team a consistent playoff team for years to come.
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